Born in Glasgow, Scotland and raised by his parents in East Kilbride, his mother was a midwife and his father was a Royal Air Force mechanic and prosthetics engineer. At a young age he started lifting weights and became a competitive junior Scottish bodybuilder, winning several championships in his late teens.
He enrolled in evening acting classes and joined a local drama group before attending drama school in Glasgow. Shortly after he started work in the theatre, touring with Harold Pinter's classic, 'The Birthday Party', in the role of the menacing McCann followed by Jerry in Edward Albee's 'A Zoo Story', and Tambo in the world premiere of 'The Ringer', to rave reviews.
He soon progressed to numerous T.V and film roles and making his own short films, notably Scene. (2006) playing a hapless actor trapped in a movie within a movie, for which he won his first BAFTA Award. A variety of diverse roles followed in American and British independent films, depression-era caper/heist The Red Machine (2009) then the self-penned Running in Traffic (2009) as the grief-stricken, drug dealing, Cullen, alongside Kenneth Cranham for which he won his second BAFTA and Trailblazer awards. He demonstrated his leading man versatility in the action heist Battleground (2012) and then again as the aged Bruce Callaghan in To Our Bright White Hearts before gaining over 40 lbs of muscle for the towering Russian, Dolokhov in Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz (2013)
His recent career has been marked by playing on the duality of vulnerable but tough types. Often showing a depth and complexity to an otherwise two-dimensional character. Let Us Prey (2014) as the brutal but broken cop Jack Warnock opposite Liam Cunningham and for Starz Outlander (2014).
Future work will see him starring opposite Ciarán Hinds and Douglas Henshall in Shetland (2016)_ and also his first Hollywood movie with Gerard Butler in _London has Fallen (2016)_
