Ewan McGregor, born March 31, 1971, in Crieff, Scotland is probably most well known for his role in The Phantom Menace and its two sequels as Obi-Wan Kenobi, but came to prominence for his role as the heroin addict Renton in the film version of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting (1996). This role followed hard on an impressive movie-debut performance in Danny Boyle's 1994 film Shallow Grave. He is married to Eve Mavrakis.
A keen motorcyclist since his youth, in 2004, with his friend Charley Boorman (son of director John Boorman), he undertook a marathon motorcycle trip from mid-April to the end of July, from London to New York, via central Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia and Canada, for a cumulative distance of 18,887 miles (30,395 km). The only sections of the trip not undertaken by motorcycle were 580 miles by train in Siberia, due to lack of roads, and a 2505 mile flight from Magadan, Siberia to Anchorage, Alaska. The trip formed the basis of the TV series Long Way Round.
He has been named as a candidate for the next James Bond in 2006.
