Ruaraidh Murray (born 18 September 1975) is a Scottish actor, writer, and comedian.

Early life

Murray was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

to Fiona (née Grant) and Graeme Murray. Raised in

Stockbridge, Edinburgh Stockbridge is a district of Edinburgh, located north of the city centre, bounded by the New Town, Edinburgh, New Town and by Comely Bank. The name is Scots ''stock brig'' from Anglic languages, Anglic ''stocc brycg'', meaning a timber bridge. ...

, he was educated at Stockbridge Primary School and Broughton High School before studying drama at the

Oxford School of Drama The Oxford School of Drama is a drama school in the United Kingdom. It is based at Wootton, ten miles north of Oxford. The school is an independent, vocational drama school which runs a three-year acting course and a one-year acting course, bo ...

. Murray was also a member of the

Traverse Theatre The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded as The Traverse Theatre Club in 1962 by John Calder, John Malcolm, Jim Haynes, Richard Demarco, Terry Lane, Andrew Muir, John Martin and Sheila Colvin. The Traverse Th ...

and

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

’s Young Writers Group.

Career

Acting

Murray's acting career began at age 10, when he starred opposite John Hannah,

Stratford Johns Alan Edgar Stratford Johnson (22 September 1925 – 29 January 2002), known as Stratford Johns, was a British stage, film and television actor known for playing the role of senior CID officer Charlie Barlow, a character he originated in the lo ...

, and

James Cosmo James Ronald Gordon Copeland (born 1947), known professionally as James Cosmo, is a Scottish actor. Known for his character work, he has played supporting roles in films such as '' Highlander'' (1986), ''Braveheart'' (1995), '' Trainspotting' ...

in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

TV series ''

Brond Frederic Lindsay (12 August 1933 – 31 May 2013) was a Scottish crime writer, who was born in Glasgow and lived in Edinburgh. He was a full-time writer from 1979 and previously worked as a lecturer, teacher and library assistant. He was acti ...

'', directed by

Michael Caton-Jones Michael Caton-Jones (born Michael Jones; 15 October 1957) is a Scottish director and producer of film and television. Biography Caton-Jones grew up in Broxburn, near Edinburgh. He moved to London and squatted in Stoke Newington. He attend ...

. Murray's theatre roles include playing Tommy in the 2006 No. 1 UK Tour of

Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist and short story writer. His 1993 novel ''Trainspotting (novel), Trainspotting'' was made into a Trainspotting (film), film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, ...

’s ''

Trainspotting Trainspotting may refer to: * Trainspotting (hobby), an amateur interest in railways/railroads * ''Trainspotting'' (novel), a 1993 novel by Irvine Welsh ** ''Trainspotting'' (film), a 1996 film based on the novel *** ''Trainspotting'' (soundt ...

,'' performing in such venues as

King's Theatre, Edinburgh The King's Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. History of the theatre The King's became famous for being a venue belonging to the theatre empire Howard & Wyndham. The theatre was originally commissioned by the Edinburgh Building Comp ...

Dundee Repertory Theatre Dundee Repertory Theatre, better known simply as the Dundee Rep, is a theatre and arts company in Dundee, Scotland. It operates as both a producing house with some shows co-produced by other theatres and a receiving house – hosting work from ...

, His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen,

Grand Opera House, Belfast The Grand Opera House is a theatre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed by the most prolific theatre architect of the period, Frank Matcham. It opened on 23 December 1895. According to the Theatres Trust, the "magnificent auditorium is probabl ...

Sherman Theatre The Sherman Theatre () is a venue in the Cathays district of Cardiff. It was built as a twin-auditorium venue in 1973 with financial support from University College Cardiff (now Cardiff University). Sherman Cymru was the name of the Sherman Thea ...

Cardiff,

Birmingham Repertory Theatre Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre ...

The Lowry Lowry is a theatre and gallery complex at Salford Quays, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is named after the early 20th-century painter L. S. Lowry, known for his paintings of industrial scenes in North West England. The complex opened ...

Manchester,

Oxford Playhouse The Oxford Playhouse is a theatre designed by Edward Maufe and F. G. M. Chancellor. It is situated in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum. History The Playhouse was founded as ''The Red Barn'' at 12 Woodstock Road (Oxford), W ...

Leicester Haymarket Theatre The Leicester Haymarket Theatre is a theatre in Leicester, England, next to the Haymarket Shopping Centre on Belgrave Gate in Leicester City centre. History The Haymarket Theatre was opened by Sir Ralph Richardson and the opening season started ...

Theatre Royal, Bath The Theatre Royal in Bath, England, was built in 1805. A Grade II* listed building, it has been described by the Theatres Trust as "One of the most important surviving examples of Georgian theatre architecture". It has a capacity for an audien ...

and the

Hackney Empire Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in Hackney in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as "the most beautiful theat ...

London. Murray played the role of Nicky in Time Out London's Critics Choice play ''Disintegration'' at the award-winning Union Theatre, London; the role of Scott in Time Out London's Critics Choice play ''We’re All Doing'' also at the

Union Theatre, London The Union Theatre is a fringe theatre situated in the borough of Southwark in London, England. It was established in 1998 by Sasha Regan, and has a reputation for staging musicals. Original premises In 1998, Sasha Regan took the initiative to c ...

; the role of Magadus in award-winning

Tom Kempinski Thomas Michael John Kempinski (24 March 1938 – 2 August 2023) was an English playwright and actor best known for his 1980 play '' Duet for One'', which was a major success in London and New York City, and much revived since. Kempinski also wr ...

’s play ''High Jumpers'' at the

New End Theatre The New End Theatre, Hampstead, was an 80-seat fringe theatre venue in London, at 27 New End in the London Borough of Camden which operated from 1974 until 2011. It was founded in 1974 by Buddy Dalton in the converted mortuary of the now-defun ...

, Award-winning King's Head Theatre's; and the role of Jim and Adam Kruger in Lord Arthur's Bed Kruger in ''F*cked.com'' at the award-winning

. In 2016, Murray became the face of

Paddy Power Paddy Power is an Irish gambling company founded in 1988. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. Business operations are led from its headquarters in Dublin, alongside a satellite office ...

in the widely circulated ''Scotland's 2016 Euro Anthem'' spot directed by Academy Award Nominated

Peter Cattaneo Peter Joseph Cattaneo Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 1 July 1964) is a British filmmaker. He is most known for directing the comedy film ''The Full Monty'', for which he won the MTV Movie Award for Best New F ...

. Murray's other commercial work includes working with Coca Cola,

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

Evian Evian (, ; , stylized as evian) is a French brand that bottles mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. Evian is owned by Danone, a French multinational corporation. In addition to the miner ...

, Wrigley's Big Red,

Fanta Fanta () is an American-owned brand of fruit-flavored carbonated soft drinks created by Coca-Cola Deutschland under the leadership of German businessman Max Keith. There are over 200 flavors worldwide. Fanta originated in Germany as a Co ...

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

, BT Cellnet,

Ikea IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services. IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...

Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

Party Poker A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature fo ...

, and

Old Speckled Hen Old Speckled Hen is a Bitter (beer), bitter beer originally made by the Morland Brewery, but now brewed by Greene King Brewery. Old Speckled Hen was first brewed in 1979 in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire in England, to commemorate the 50th ann ...

. In 2017, Murray narrated the Codemasters video game ''

Dirt 4 ''Dirt 4'' (stylised as ''DiRT 4'') is a simcade racing video game developed by Codemasters for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in June 2017, and for Linux and macOS in March 2019 by Feral Interactive. A sequel, ''Dirt 5'', was released i ...

''. Murray's video game voice work also includes Ubisoft's ''Magic & Magic Heroes VII,'' playing hero Bart Brimstone.

Actor/writer

In 2014,

Diana Rigg Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg (20 July 1938 – 10 September 2020) was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series ''The Avengers (TV series), The Avengers'' (1965–1968); Countess Tracy Bond, Teresa di ...

saw ''Boxman'' at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

and awarded Murray the top festival prize. Murray also performed in ''Big Sean, Mikey and Me'' and Bath Time live at

Soho Radio Soho Radio is an independent online radio station that broadcasts live from London and from New York. Its studios are based in Soho, London, and in Rockefeller Center in New York City. It was founded in 2014, with the New York branch opening in N ...

London in 2015. Murray is also known for writing dark comedies incorporating strong Scottish themes, with Allie being Murray's first drama. He played a fishmonger in the 2020 movie " Then Came You".

Critical acclaim

Alex Eades said in his 4-star '' The List'' review of Murray's play, ''The Club,'' starring Murray and English actor Mark Farrelly, "The performances are magnetic, sparking a wonderful chemistry in this exhilarating and utterly intoxicating razor-sharp dark comedy." Nick Awde's 4-star review in ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...

'' of ''The Club'' said: “There’s a huge amount of promise in this one-act-er and you can see this effortlessly expanded to TV.” ''The Stage''s Thom Dibdin wrote in his review of ''Big Sean, Mikey and Me:'' "MUST SEE! Murray illuminates the psyche of Scottish youth culture." ''

Metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

''s Damon Smith wrote in his 4-star review of ''Big Sean, Mikey and Me'': "Murray's bravura performance goes from the sublime to the ridiculous in his impressive one-man show." The Herald's theatre critic Neil Cooper's 4-star review of Bath Time said: "It's a bleak and brutal picture that Murray paints, but this exquisitely constructed little firecracker of a show is possessed with an energy and a common touch that makes it irresistible."

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 ...

critic Robert Jackman's 5-star review of Irvine Welsh's play ''Trainspotting'' said of Murray's performance: "Welsh's wit is transferred perfectly to stage as Renton and Tommy's blend of horror and humour reaches almost schizophrenic level. However, the self-denial and delusion of Ruaraidh Murray's Tommy makes his decline even more harrowing."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Ruaraidh 1975 births Living people 21st-century Scottish male actors Scottish male child actors Scottish male film actors Scottish male television actors Place of birth missing (living people)