Happy Birthday to Irish Actor Andrew Scott

photo by Teri Pengilley

Andrew Scott was born today, October 21, in 1976. He is an Irish film, television, and stage actor. He he widely known for playing Jim Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' nemesis in the BBC series Sherlock.

Scott has received various awards including two Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for his roles in A Girl in a Car with a Man at the Royal Court Theatre, along with his role in Cock, also at the Royal Court. He has also won two IFTA awards for his roles in the films Dead Bodies and The Stag, a British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Sherlock, and a BIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Pride.

After filming a small part in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, Scott worked with film and theater director Karel Reisz in the Gate Theatre, Dublin, production of Long Day's Journey into Night taking the role of Edmund, the younger son, in the Eugene O'Neill play about a tortured American family in the early part of the 20th century.

Scott appeared in the small part of Michael Blodgett in the film Nora, with Ewan McGregor, and in a television adaptation of Henry James’s The American, before making his London theatre debut in Conor McPherson’s Dublin Carol at the Royal Court Theatre. He was then cast in the BAFTA winning drama Longitude,  and the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. Scott described the working atmosphere on Band of Brothers as "awful".

In 2008, Scott appeared as Col. William Smith in the HBO miniseries John Adams.  In 2009, he appeared in Sea Wall, a one-man show written especially for him by playwright Simon Stephens.

He starred alongside Ben Whishaw in a sell-out run of Cock at the Royal Court in late 2009, a production which won an Olivier Award in 2010. Other film appearances included a role as Paul McCartney in the BBC film Lennon Naked. He also starred in the critically acclaimed 2010 film The Duel.

He had a part in BBC2's original drama, The Hour, as Adam Le Ray, a failed, secretly gay, actor.

In 2015, he appeared in the James Bond film Spectre, as Max Denbigh, a member of the British government intent on shutting down the Double-0 section of MI6.

Scott is gay, and has commented that "mercifully, these days people don't see being gay as a character flaw. But nor is it a virtue, like kindness. Or a talent, like playing the banjo. It's just a fact. Of course, it's part of my make-up, but I don't want to trade on it."