Biography of Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle is a Scottish actor who has won many awards for his work in theater and film, including the BAFTA, Gemini, Sant Jordi and Mayfest Theater Awards.
Legendary Scottish actor Robert Carlyle
For his contribution to the dramatic arts of Scotland, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire from the hands of Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, as well as an honorary doctorate of arts from Edinburgh Napier University.
Critics call the film “Trainspotting” by Danny Boyle a film break, while other best works include his roles in the comedy film “Male Striptease” by Peter Cattaneo and the action movie “The World Is Not Enough” by Michael Apted. He himself believes that his path to the cinematic Olympus began on television with the detective series “The Cracker Method” by Jimmy McGovern. For his role in this project, he received RTS Television, BAFTA Scotland and three BAFTA TV awards.
Difficult childhood
The future successful artist was born on April 14, 1961 in Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, in the Maryhill district. His father, Joseph, was a decorative artist who did not have a steady income or his own home. Their family was barely making ends meet. Unable to bear the hardships of such a life, Elizabeth’s mother left her husband, leaving a four-year-old son in his care.
Robert Carlyle as a child
Father and son continued to lead an almost beggarly existence, huddling in abandoned houses and empty apartments. Then they joined the local hippie movement and wandered around the cities of Great Britain with them. Once they even had to live in the open air for a year and a half, on the beach of the English city of Brighton.
Robbie enjoyed watching his father work with passion, amazingly able to transform depending on the situation and in an effort to get a customer, showing real artistry, as well as listening to his breathtaking stories. It is worth noting that, despite all the hardships of life that he had experienced in childhood, he always treated his father with great respect and love, unlike his mother, who, according to him, died for him.
Robert Carlyle in his youth and now
At 16, Robert dropped out of school and tried to earn money. The first money did not have the best effect on his behavior. He began to slowly fight back, to be daring, to use alcohol and illegal drugs, and made dubious acquaintances. However, the tragic death of a friend from a drug overdose forced him to stop in time and reconsider his life priorities.
He continued his education by attending evening classes at Cardonald College in Glasgow, during which time he discovered the wonderful world of books. He was particularly impressed by Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, which tells the true story of the execution of young women who were declared witches. In an interview, he once mentioned that it was the works of this American playwright that played a decisive role for him in choosing a profession.
Creation
If in childhood Robert dreamed of a football career, then as an adult he became seriously interested in theater. In 1982, he enrolled in acting classes at the City Center for the Arts, and a year later became a student at the Royal Academy of Music and Drama.
Young Robert Carlyle in Dead Dad Dog (1988)
In 1991, he and four buddies formed their own troupe, naming it after Tom Waits’ Raindog album. Carlisle was engaged both in directing and performing on stage, and innovating in the staging process – when creating sketches of costumes, scenery, many of which he did himself, choosing lighting, landscape, and general design of an artistic action. Their first performance, a stage version of Ken Kesey’s novel Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, about a mental hospital, brought him victory in his school’s annual alumni competition for young directors.
At the same time, the film debut of a young man took place in the film “Riff-Raff” by Ken Loach, and he immediately got the main role, reincarnated as Steve, a handyman at a London construction site. His game was so brilliant that many viewers perceived him not as a character, but as a real worker invited by the director.
Robert Carlyle’s first film role (“Riff Raff”)
In 1994, Carlyle starred in the drama The Priest as Graham, Greg’s father’s gay lover who unsuccessfully tried to overcome his homosexuality. He then appeared in the detective series The Cracker Method, where he played the highly acclaimed role of the killer Albert Kinsell, again demonstrating a deeply truthful portrayal of the screen hero. Shortly thereafter, he landed a leading role in the BBC comedy-drama Hamish Macbeth, for which he received a BAFTA Scotland Award.
In 1996 and 1997, he played the most famous roles of his career – the violent alcoholic and psychopath Bagby in one of the best British tapes of recent decades – the tragicomedy Trainspotting, as well as Gaz in the 4-time Oscar-nominated comedy “Male Striptease”, earning a BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Award for the last of these works. He perfectly coped with the difficult and provocative plot of the film about unemployed steelworkers, who, led by his hero, decide to organize a striptease show.
“Trainspotting”: the loudest role of Robert Carlyle
The actor also starred in the film “Authority”, where his partner on the set was Ray Winstone. In 1999, he appeared in Plunkett & McLain, where, along with Jonny Lee Miller, he embodied two consummate rogue adventurers. In “The Beach” by Danny Boyle, he played the role of the character Duffy, who, before his death, gave the hero Leonardo DiCaprio a map to the mysterious island.
Shot from the movie “The Beach”
In the film “The Cannibal” he could be seen as a cannibal, in the film “The World Is Not Enough” – in the image of Renard, opposing James Bond, played by Pierce Brosnan. In the drama Angela’s Ashes, an adaptation of Frank McCourt’s memoirs of the same name, he played the drunken father of a family who lost his children.
Fans of the Scottish artist in 2002 could see him in the video for the song “Little By Little” by Oasis, along with the founders of this rock band, brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher.
In 2003, he was cast as the Fuhrer in the Canadian mini-series Hitler: The Rise of Evil, and in 2006 he played an intruder in the thriller Human Commodity, earning an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor for his role.
Robert Carlyle as Hitler
In 2007, he appeared as one of the leading characters in the sequel “28 Weeks Later” – a horror film about the epidemic of the rage virus that turned people into ruthless madmen. You could also see him in the disaster film “The Flood” based on the novel by Richard Doyle. And in 2009, he appeared as McAvoy’s father in the action movie Tournament of Survival about assassin fights.
In “28 weeks later” the actor played the main role
From 2009 to 2011, the sexy Scotsman starred as a mathematician on the television series Stargate Universe, proving the critics’ claim that the days when Cast Actors scornfully turned down TV shows are over.
In 2010, in the video game franchise Lords of Shadow, the artist played the main character Gabriel Belmont, a medieval commando who saves the soul of his beloved, and at the same time the whole world. In the fantasy series Once Upon a Time (2011), he played the role of the dwarf Rumpelstiltskin.
Robert Carlyle in Once Upon a Time
In 2015, he first appeared as a director in the black comedy Killer Haircut, where he also played the main role of a hairdresser who accidentally became a murderer.
Robert Carlisle in his own film Killer Haircut
Why We Love Robert Carlyle
The actor has always been distinguished by his commitment to creating deeply truthful, life-like images. To better understand and play his character, he often changed his appearance and lifestyle. In particular, in preparation to portray Hitler, he spent hours revisiting the films of the film director Leni Riefenstahl, an adherent of the Third Reich, and listening to the music of Richard Wagner, which the Reich Chancellor admired.
Hitler at Robert Carlyle came out convincing
Before playing the homeless character Nosti on The Script, he briefly lived on the streets in London’s Waterloo area.
To convincingly play a homeless man, he lived on the street
For the image of the bus driver in the film “Song of Carla”, he received a corresponding driver’s license.
Shot from the film “The Song of Carla”
For the realism of his character, a cryptographic mathematician in the Stargate: Universe series, he went to classes at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver for six months.
Professor Nicholas Rush
Before filming the sequel to the legendary T2: Trainspotting, he removed two of his teeth.
Personal life of Robert Carlisle
The artist is happily married and has three beautiful children – daughter Ava and two sons, Harvey and Piers Joseph, born in 2002, 2004 and 2006, respectively. With his chosen one, makeup artist Anastasia Shirley, he met while working on a role in the television series The Cracker Method. In 1997, young people officially got married and live in Glasgow.
Robert Carlyle’s wife’s name is Anastasia Shirley
The head of the family is very fond of football and science fiction, believing that she has the smartest fans in the world. After filming in the film “And the whole world is not enough” he had a new hobby – firearms. The gun was an obligatory attribute of his character, the charismatic scoundrel Renard.
Robert Carlyle with children
Robert Carlyle now
In 2016, the artist starred in the fantastic television series Once Upon a Time, renewed for the 6th season due to high ratings.
In 2017, the sequel to the cult film Trainspotting by Danny Boyle was released, the worldwide release of which brought 72 million dollars (with a budget of 2.2 million), called “T2: Trainspotting”. It is based on the book “Porno” by Irvine Welsh, a continuation of his sensational novel, taken as the basis of the original film of the same name.
Trainspotting: Begbie then and now
According to the plot, its heroes – the heroes of Robert Carlisle, Ewan McGregor, Ewan Bremner and Jonny Lee Miller – meet 20 years after the events that took place in the finale of the first part. Reviews published on the film news website Rotten Tomatoes note T2’s box office lead in the UK and continental Europe. The rating of the tape, according to the first reviews of critics and viewers, reached 79 percent.