Robert Carlyle was born on April 14, 1961 in Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland to Elizabeth and Joesph Carlyle, a bus company employee and a painter/decorator. In 1965, when Robert was just four years old his mother left and his father then raised him. Even though Robert was brought up in different hippie communities and he has never spoken to his mother since she left, he always has said he felt a great deal of love growing up.

At age 16, Robert started to rebel, left school and went to work as a painter/decorator for his father, then briefly as a butcher. He still continued his education by attending night school classes at Cardonald College in his hometown. At the age of 21, Robert enrolled in acting classes at the Glasgow Arts Centre and then enrolled in the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama soon after. He was inspired to pursue acting after he read Arthur Miller‘s novel ‘The Crucible‘. He knew that acting was what he wanted to do and he decided to go for his dream. Around the time Robert enrolled in acted classes, he was estranged from his father and they did not speak for eight years until 1990.

In 1990, Robert left the Royal Academy of Music and Drama and formed a theatre company with four of his friends call ‘Rain Dog‘ named after this favourite Tom Waits song in 1991. Robert guest starred in ‘The Bill‘ and his talent attracted director Ken Loach who cast him in his first starring role in ‘Riff-Raff‘ in 1991. In this film he starred as an ex-con construction worker who falls in love with an unemployed pop singer drug addict. A few years later Robert went on to star in the TV film British drama ‘Safe‘. It was a darker role for Robert, playing an alcoholic leader of a homeless gang. This was the beginning of many dark roles Robert would take on in the future.

In 1994, Robert experimented with his range of roles by playing the gay lover of Catholic priest Father Greg, in the film ‘Priest‘ (1994). It became clear that Robert was trying to expand the types of characters he aspired to play for variety, like any great actor would do and by now he had done this in a growing number of TV and Films. Following ‘Priest‘ Robert started to come to the attention of the public and his audiences by playing a murder who vows to kill ninety-six people in an episode of ‘Cracker‘ and went on to star in two others as the episode was in three parts on A&E. It became evident that Robert had found the type of characters and roles he was best at and typically most enjoyed, which were the darker and disturbed characters.

In Robert‘s compelling performance in ‘Go Now‘ (1995), he played a young man who learns he has multiple sclerosis and soon after landed a part in what is named to be his most significant role as Begbie in ‘Trainspotting‘ (1996). He starred as a drunken sadist psychopath who is friends with an addict that is trying to diminish his friendships in attempt to give up his addiction. This role is one of the two most high-profile roles of his career to date as said by the public and critics because of Robert‘s remarkable performance, which also awarded him critical appreciation. Soon there after Robert went back to TV and landed a role in ‘Hamish Macbeth‘ as a policeman. This comedy-drama was a change from the darker roles he was taking on and in 1997 he starred in the second most high-profile role of his career to date as Gaz in ‘The Fully Monty‘. This was a huge turning point in Robert‘s career although he was not sure about taking the role at first because he didn‘t think it would benefit his acting career. It became one of his most prominent roles and it gave Robert international fame as he played a steelworker who organizes a group of amateur male strippers who were in desperate need of money.

In 1997, Robert married his wife Anastasia Shirley and after Robert shot to fame from starring in two of his biggest roles, he starred with Ray Winstone in ‘Face‘ (1997) and played roles such as ‘Looking After Jo Jo‘ (1998), which was made for TV, ‘Plunket & Macleane‘ (1999) and ‘Ravenous‘ (1999) which he played a cannibalistic soldier. Robert then snagged another great role, starring next to Pierce Brosnan as Renard in ‘The World Is Not Enough‘ (1999), the 19th installment of the James Bond films where his character, another villain, was a rabid anti-capitalism terrorist. Another film in 1999 that Robert is most noted for is his role as Malachy McCourt in the memoir ‘Angela‘s Ashes‘ where he is a drunken, unemployed father who moves his family from Brooklyn back to Ireland and is still unable to provide for his family. During 1999 he was also awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire), for his services to drama which was a big accomplishment for Robert.

In 2000 he took a role in ‘The Beach‘, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, where he played a Scotmans who sends him on a quest to find a secret island off Thailand inhabited by majuana growers and in 2002 he played an American crook in the action comedy ‘The 51st State‘ or most notably ‘Formula 51‘ (2002). During this time his wife gave birth to a daughter, Ava and when he was ready to get back to acting, Robert decided to go back to TV in the TV film ‘Hitler: The Rise of Evil‘ (2003), which was a rather different and important role, but still he stuck to his signature character type, a villain.

In 2004 Robert‘s wife gave birth to their second child, a son they named Harvey and during the rest of 2004 and into early 2005, Robert starred in films such as ‘Dead Fish‘, ‘Marilyn Hotchkiss‘ Ballroom Dancing & Charm School‘ and ‘The Mighty Celt‘ before taking his choice of characters to a new level in ‘Human Trafficking‘. In this Miniseries, he portrayed a trader who runs a model agency scam to lure young girls into brothels across the United States. The film is seen through the eyes of a cookie cop played by Mira Sorvino. Robert‘s role in this film earned him a 2006 Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries. Also in 2006, Robert‘s father passed away. This was a very hard time for Robert as his father raised him on his own for most of his life.

Robert‘s third child was born in April of 2006, another son that him and his wife named Pearce Joseph and next came roles in ‘Eragon‘ (2006), the fantasy adventure film, ‘Flood‘ (2007), where he plays the lead role as a marine engineer attempting to save London from a massive flood and ’28 Weeks Later‘ (2007) about a virus which turns humans into zombies. Robert broke his vow to never participate in sequels which this film, which is a continuation of ’28 Days Later‘ (2002), in which he turned a role down in. He plays one of the main characters that abandons his wife after she is infected by the virus, causing a troubled relationship between him and his children. In 2007, Robert also took on theater projects that involved stage productions at the Glasgow Arts Centre, where he first started acting and he made his debut as Oberon in ‘A Midsummer Night‘s Dream‘. He also merged his film company ‘Rain Dog‘ into 4way pictures.

In 2008 he starred as the character Charlie in ‘I Know You Know‘ and he took on another TV series role for five episodes as David Russell in ‘The Last Enemy‘. Robert also starred in a lot of TV films during this time and into 2009, such as ’24: Remdemption‘, a TV film of the popular show ’24‘, ‘Zig Zag Love‘ and ‘The Unloved‘, before yet another great role when he portrayed Father Joseph Macavoy in the film ‘The Tournament‘ (2009).

In fall of 2009, Robert came back to TV as Dr. Nicholas Rush in the television franchise ‘Stargate Universe‘. Despite his first instinct to not do another TV series, especially as a starring role in twenty episodes rapping up a whole reason of the show, Robert felt that Dr. Rush would be a very interesting character to portray and couldn‘t turn it down.

‘Stargate Universe‘ is currently being picked up for an additional twenty episodes for fall 2010 and Robert has confirmed to be doing voice work as Gabriel, the hero from the video game, in ‘Castlevania: Lord of Shadow‘ for 2010.

Last updated on February 7, 2010
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