James McAvoy

Even though it probably doesn't seem that way, there are an abundance of actors who have made their way in the film industry outside Scotland, who hail from Glasgow and its surroundings. Gerard Butler, Robert Carlyle and Robbie Coltrane have been in some massive films such as Trainspotting and (obviously) Harry Potter for Coltrane but Gerard Butler has more frequently been in Hollywood movies such as The Ugly Truth, P.S I Love You, The Bounty Hunter, Law Abiding Citizen and Gamer... clearly the Americans love him! But, one Glaswegian actor who I think will probably turn out to be the most promising is James McAvoy.

Born in Drumchapel, Glasgow, McAvoy is a born and bred Glaswegian and his acting career began with a talk at school from David Hayman, another Scottish actor, which got him interested in acting. Hayman offered a then 16 year old McAvoy a part in his film "The Near Room". After this, he joined a youth theatre group and applied for both the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, as well as the Royal Navy. He was accepted to both and, lucky for us, chose to attend RSAMD, the highly prestigious drama school in the city. During his time there he was in a few small movies and TV episodes before moving to London in 2000. He appeared as a tiny role in HBO's mini series "Band of Brothers" and steadily worked his way up; starring in the Chronicles of Narnia as half man/half deer Mr Tumnus before playing the lead role in 2006's "The Last King of Scotland". It was his first big role and he proved to be very promising indeed. Since then he's filmed with Angelina Jolie in "Wanted", Keira Knightley in "Atonement" and was even in "X-Men: First Class".

Mr Tumnus in "The Chronicles of Narnia"

"The Last King of Scotland" was the first time he was able to use his own Scottish accent; before that he had been English or American and in an interview with comingsoon.net McAvoy certainly has a strong opinion on the opportunities for actors in Scotland:


"I cannot deny that was I not able to do whatever accents I'm required to do, I wouldn't have had a tenth of the career that I've had. There's just not enough work out there for Scottish actors. There's hardly any work out there for Scottish actors. And people go, "Yeah, but come on, there's Ewan McGregor and Dougray Scott and Gerard Butler," but that's four people, guys. There's 5 million Scottish people, and there's probably about 300,000 Scottish actors."


He goes on to say that he has always been good with accents but clearly believes there needs to be more opportunities for Scottish actors.It's true that sometimes all actors are required to change their accents, even if they are English or American but the fact that 12 years into his career was the first time McAvoy played a lead role with his own accent, is slightly shocking. That either means not enough Scottish films are being made or that there isn't a lot of room for Scottish actors. It seems wrong that all the promising young Scottish students currently attending RSAMD, just like McAvoy did all those years ago, will eventually either be forced into English/American accents or just won't find jobs. And yes, maybe there just aren't enough Scottish roles written into films, or maybe people struggle to understand the accent but it seems sad that someone like James McAvoy who so greatly represents young Glasgow actors, will probably be best known for roles in which he is English. 


So why are there so few big Scottish actors? Either it's in direct relation to our small (by England/American standards) population or these actors simply aren't good enough. In my opinion, the fact that the majority of Glaswegian actors left the city to pursue their acting career,in London or America, sums up the film opportunities for young people in Glasgow just now. Why should they have to leave their country to find acting opportunities? Although it's a small country, it's full of culture and with the Glasgow film scene seeming to come back to life over the past few months with Hollywood films coming our way, this should be the right time for young Scottish actors.