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So you're on a road trip - just you and a lonely dirt road - and your vehicle breaks down. Scary? Stressful? Ewan McGregor loves when that happens. He says it makes him feel like someone whose days aren't so scheduled, so choreographed, so managed.
For a guy who's been a successful actor from a young age, those moments are rare. Ewan grew up in Scotland and left school early to pursue acting. And it wasn't long before he booked 'Trainspotting'. Aah, Iggy! 'Trainspotting' was a defining moment in '90s cinema, and in Ewan's life as well.
But he found the early stardom too much to handle. He started drinking heavily, partying, and showing up drunk to work. Fortunately, something else came early to Ewan: love sweet love. At 23-years-old, he met his future wife. And he says that the responsibilities of marriage and fatherhood helped him straighten out.
For Ewan, 'risk-taking' started taking on a whole new meaning: sure, he fought the dark side of The Force in the 'Star Wars' movies, but he's also known for playing real people who bare their souls (among other things...AHEM, we're looking at you, 'Pillow Book').
He more than held his own opposite Oscar-winner Christopher Plummer in 'Beginners', and much to the dismay of his agents, he's spent a good part of the last few years riding around the world on a motorcycle.
His film 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,' debuted at last year's Toronto International Film Festival and was, for George, one of the festival's highlights. The guy who finds peace at the edge of the road has found a new challenge at the edge of a river. In his latest film, 'The Impossible', he stars opposite Naomi Watts as a family man caught in the December 26, 2004 tsunami in Thailand.
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