Kevin McKidd

McKidd can make a man seem troubled before he has explained a thing. In Rome (2005–2007), his Lucius Vorenus relies on physical presence and spare dialogue to convey the conflict within him. We rate that economy: there is something to watch even when there is little being said. It also makes him useful in an ensemble, where he can hold our attention without needing the longest speech.

Early screen work included Small Faces (1996), but Tommy in Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (1996) was the breakthrough. We found Trainspotting frightening because its actors keep the Edinburgh addicts human, even as the film makes us laugh at them. McKidd belongs to an ensemble whose collective achievement is to keep that humanity visible through the speed and the jokes. The editing sometimes moves on before suffering has had enough time to register. That is a substantial reservation, but the actors give us good reason to care, and the film remains an inviting starting point for his work.

The lead in Dog Soldiers (2002), as Private Lawrence Cooper, gave him more of a film to carry. Then came the sustained dramatic work of Rome, followed by Grey's Anatomy, which he joined in 2008 as Dr Owen Hunt. Those longer television roles make sense for an actor so comfortable suggesting that a man has more going on than he will say. His Scottish dialect also finds a different use in Brave (2012), voicing Lord MacGuffin and Young MacGuffin rather than supplying another troubled live-action presence.

Good ensemble casting cannot correct everything. In Justin Baldoni's It Ends with Us (2024), McKidd plays Andrew Bloom in a film that treats its serious subject carefully for about an hour, then becomes too concerned with glossy appearances. Blake Lively is better than the material, but McKidd's involvement is not a reason to overlook the film's failings. It is worth distinguishing an actor we welcome from a film we would recommend. For McKidd with more space to work, choose Rome.