Stephen Dougray Scott (born 26 November 1965) is a Scottish actor. He has appeared in the films '' Ever After'' (1998), '' Mission: Impossible 2'' (2000), '' Enigma'' (2001), '' Ripley's Game'' (2002), ''

Hitman Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...

'' (2007), and '' My Week with Marilyn'' (2011). He is a recipient of the International Emmy Award for Best Actor and a

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

for his performance in the Scottish

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

series ''

Crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

'' (2021).

Early life

Scott was born in Glenrothes, Fife, Scotland, the son of Elma, a nurse, and Alan Scott, a travelling salesman of refrigerators and freezers, and a former actor. He then gained a place on the full-time acting and performance course at Fife College's

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

Campus.

Career

Scott began his acting career in national theatre, television, and puppet shows. He appeared in his first role on the television series ''

Soldier Soldier ''Soldier Soldier'' is a British television drama series. Created by Lucy Gannon, produced by Central Television and broadcast on the ITV network, it ran for a total of seven series and 82 episodes from 10 June 1991 to 9 December 1997. It ...

'' and made his film debut in '' Twin Town''. His first major film roles were as Prince Henry in '' Ever After'' and the hero in the film adaptation of the Robert Harris novel '' Enigma''. He played the villain in '' Mission: Impossible 2'' (and was selected to do so by

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and film producer. Regarded as a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood icon, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Tom Cruise, various accolades, includ ...

). He was cast to play

Wolverine The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...

in the feature film version of ''

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 (September 1963). Although initial ...

'', but ''Mission: Impossible 2'' went over schedule, and he was injured in a motorbike accident while shooting the chase scene. He was forced to drop out of the project and was replaced by

Hugh Jackman Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian and British actor, singer, and producer. Beginning in theatre and television, Jackman landed his breakthrough role as Wolverine in the ''X-Men'' film franchise and the Marvel Cinem ...

in ''X-Men''. After the 2002 release of '' Die Another Day'', Scott was a candidate to replace

Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He was the fifth actor to play the fictional secret agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bond in the List of James Bond films, James Bond film series, starri ...

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

. Despite the numerous reports that

Eon Productions Eon Productions Limited is a British film production company that primarily produces the ''James Bond'' film series. The company is based in London's Piccadilly and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the UK. ''James Bond'' films Eon wa ...

was leaning towards naming Scott as the new Bond in the 007 adventure '' Casino Royale'', the role eventually went to Daniel Craig. In January 2006, he appeared in the miniseries '' The Ten Commandments'' as

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

. He also appeared in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

series '' Heist'', which aired in March 2006 for five episodes. From 2006 until 2007, he starred in the third season of ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Marc Cherry, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...

'' as

Teri Hatcher Teri Lynn Hatcher (born December 8, 1964) is an American actress best known for her portrayals of Lois Lane on the television series ''Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' (1993–1997). She also played Paris Carver in the ''Production ...

's character's new love interest. In 2007, he played the primary antagonist in the film ''

'', based on the ''

'' video games. He appeared in the title role(s) of a modern re-telling of '' Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde''. In May 2009, it was announced that he was to play ex-con Michael O' Connor in the new

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

- ITV drama '' Father & Son''. Scott starred in '' The Day of the Triffids''."Vanessa Redgrave to star in BBC's The Day of the Triffids"
''The Daily Telegraph'', 11 February 2009 The drama was broadcast in December 2009 as part of the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

Christmas schedule. In 2011, Scott featured in the film '' Love's Kitchen'' alongside his wife Claire Forlani. In April 2011, Scott portrayed football manager

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish football player and manager, who managed Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 1970–71 season. He was the first manager of an E ...

in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

TV drama '' United'', which was centred on the

Munich air disaster The Munich air disaster occurred on 6 February 1958, when British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. The aircraft was carrying the Manchester United F.C., Manche ...

of 1958, in which Busby was badly injured but survived. In 2013, he guest starred as para-psychological researcher/ghost hunter Alec Palmer in the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' episode " Hide". In 2014, Scott portrayed the main villain in '' Taken 3''. In March 2016, Scott became the voice of Orby in adverts for the oil and gas company BP. In April 2016, Scott appeared in the second season of ''

Fear the Walking Dead ''Fear the Walking Dead'' is an American post-apocalyptic horror drama television series created by Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson for AMC. It is a spin-off to '' The Walking Dead'', which is based on the comic book series of the same na ...

'' as Thomas Abigail, Victor Strand's business partner and lover. In 2019, Scott joined the CW series ''

Batwoman Batwoman is a name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies of Batman similarly to Batgirl. The original version of the character, Kathy Kane (eventually given t ...

'' as Jacob Kane, the title character's father, set in the

Arrowverse The Arrowverse is an American Superhero fiction, superhero media franchise and shared universe that is centered on various interconnected television series based on DC Comics superhero characters, primarily airing on The CW as well as web series ...

. He left the series during its second season. He appeared on the show

, for which he received a

and an International Emmy. In 2025 Scott played in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

movie ''Exterritorial'' his first German-speaking role alongside Jeanne Goursaud.

Personal life

Scott is the father of twins (b. 1998), with former wife Sarah Trevis. On 8 June 2007, he married actress Claire Forlani in Italy. They have a son born 27 December 2014. Scott is a fan of Hibernian Football Club, stemming from a grand-uncle being a scout for the team. Three maternal great-uncles were football

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

s, Tom Dougray being the most prominent.

Politics

Scott is in favour of Scottish independence. "The question a lot of people always ask is, how can Scotland pay for itself? That's not the question to ask, we can look after ourselves. We could outlast the English purely based on Irn-Bru profits..." he told ''

The Big Issue ''The Big Issue'' is a United Kingdom–based street newspaper founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991 and published in four continents. ''The Big Issue'' is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer ho ...

''. "The question is, would it serve the country better to have its own government? We have a particular vision of the world, which is why I think it makes sense to have independence and we have many great stories to tell."

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Dougray 1965 births Living people 20th-century Scottish male actors 21st-century Scottish male actors International Emmy Award for Best Actor winners Male actors from Fife People from Glenrothes Scottish male film actors Scottish male television actors Scottish male voice actors