George MacKay (actor)
George MacKay | |
|---|---|
 MacKay at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival | |
| Born | George Andrew J. MacKay[1] 13 March 1992 London, England, United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 2002–present |
George Andrew J. MacKay (/məˈkaɪ/;[2][3][4] born 13 March 1992) is a British actor. He has appeared in the films The Boys Are Back (2009), Private Peaceful (2012), How I Live Now (2013), Sunshine on Leith (2013), For Those in Peril (2013), Pride (2014), Captain Fantastic (2016), Where Hands Touch (2018) and Ophelia (2018). MacKay stars in the Oscar-nominated 1917 (2019). He is on-screen for nearly the entire movie.
At the Cannes Film Festival MacKay received a Trophée Chopard in 2017, and he was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2014.[5][6]
Life and career
MacKay was born in London, the son of Kim Baker, a costume designer, and Paul MacKay, an Australian who works in lighting/stage management.[7][8]
In 2002, MacKay was spotted while at The Harrodian School by an acting scout, who asked him if he would like to audition for a role in P.J. Hogan's 2003 film adaptation of Peter Pan. He attended a workshop, and won the role of one of the Lost Boys, Curly, in what was his big break. In 2005, at the age of 13, he won the role of Riccio in The Thief Lord, the film adaptation of Cornelia Funke's best-selling children's novel. He was also cast in the lead role in Johnny and the Bomb, a BBC three-part television drama adapted from Terry Pratchett's novel of the same name. He later applied unsuccessfully to both RADA and LAMDA.[9]
MacKay had some work in television, including roles in Rose and Maloney, Footprints in the Snow and The Brief.
In the 2008 film Defiance, MacKay played Aron, the youngest of the four Bielski brothers. MacKay was then only 16 years old, and director Ed Zwick describes how impressed he was by him because on his way to the film set from the airport in Lithuania, MacKay was injured in a car accident that left him with a blackened eye he could barely open, yet he was "so game" to immediately start shooting his first scene. [10]
In 2009 he played Harry in The Boys Are Back starring Clive Owen. He co-starred in the Marc Evans-directed musical film Hunky Dory opposite Minnie Driver, Aneurin Barnard and Kimberley Nixon, which is set in 1970s Swansea.
In 2012, he played the main character, Private Tommo Peaceful, in Private Peaceful and appeared in the inspirational film The Best of Men.
In 2013, MacKay played Eddie in How I Live Now opposite Saoirse Ronan and directed by Kevin Macdonald, and starred as Davy in the musical film Sunshine on Leith, featuring songs by The Proclaimers, directed by Dexter Fletcher.
In 2014, MacKay played the role of Joe, a 20-year-old struggling to come out in a homophobic Britain in 1984 in the film Pride (based on a true story) also starring Bill Nighy. In the film Joe finds friends in the form of a group called LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners) and a small Welsh mining community finds some unlikely friends.
From 14 April – 23 May 2015, Mackay took the lead role as Richard Miller in Eugene O'Neill's coming-of-age play, Ah, Wilderness! directed by Natalie Abrahami at The Young Vic. Reviewing the play for The Daily Telegraph, Dominic Cavendish was unimpressed by the staging but wrote: "In misfit modern dress, George Mackay is an absolute delight as the callow boy-wonder, catching all the wide-eyed innocence and insecurity of youth, by turns arrogant, self-dramatising, vulnerable".[11]
In July 2015, MacKay played the title role of Lewis Aldridge in the BBC's two-part television adaptation of Sadie Jones' debut novel The Outcast.[12] In February 2016, he portrayed the part of Bill Turcotte in the Hulu production of Stephen King's sci-fi/suspense thriller 11.22.63.
From 29 March – 14 May 2016, MacKay played the part of Mick in Harold Pinter's play The Caretaker directed by Matthew Warchus at The Old Vic Theatre in London opposite Timothy Spall and Daniel Mays.
In the 2016 film Captain Fantastic, MacKay played Bodevan, eldest son of Ben Cash (Viggo Mortensen).
In 2017, he played Jack, the main character in Marrowbone, psychological horror directed and written by Sergio G. Sánchez, and also starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton and Mia Goth.
In the 2018 film Where Hands Touch, MacKay played the role of Lutz, a member of the Hitler Youth in Nazi Germany who falls in love with a biracial girl, portrayed by Amandla Stenberg.
The period from 2016 to 2018 was marked by a breakthrough in MacKay's career. Projects he was involved in during these years helped him draw attention of casting directors outside the United Kingdom.[13] In 2019, he played outlaw Ned Kelly in True History of the Kelly Gang directed by Justin Kurzel. He also played a young World War I soldier named William Schofield in 1917, directed by Sam Mendes.[14][15]
Filmography
Film
Television
Stage
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Rose and Maloney | Young Calum | Episode 1: "Rose and Maloney — Part 1" |
| 2005 | Footprints in the Snow | Nathan Hill | TV Movie |
| 2006 | Johnny and the Bomb | Johnny Maxwell | Miniseries |
| 2006 | Tsunami: The Aftermath | Adam Peabody | Miniseries |
| 2007 | The Old Curiosity Shop | Kit Nubbles | TV Movie |
| 2012 | Birdsong | Private Douglas | TV Movie |
| 2012 | The Best of Men | Private William Heath | TV Movie |
| 2015 | The Outcast | Lewis Aldridge | Miniseries |
| 2016 | 11.22.63 | Bill Turcotte | Miniseries |
| 2018 | To Provide All People | Father | TV Movie |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | The Cement Garden | Jack | Heritage Arts Company |
| 2015 | Ah, Wilderness! | Richard | The Young Vic Company |
| 2016 | The Caretaker | Mick | The Old Vic |
References
- ^ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV41-3TBH
- ^ Wells, John C. (2008). "Mackay, McKay". Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
(i) mə ˈkaɪ [...] In British English usually (i).
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). "Mackay(e), MacKay(e)". Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
məˈkaɪ, məˈkeɪ Note: /məˈkeɪ/ mainly in the US.
- ^ "'1917' Cast & Creators Discuss Making The Ambitious One-Shot Film". Entertainment Weekly. 23 December 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
- ^ "BAFTA EE Rising Star in 2014". BAFTA. 12 September 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ^ "Trophée Chopard 2017". Chopard Diary | Our official blog. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
- ^ Siobhan Synnot (30 September 2013). "Interview: George MacKay, star of Sunshine on Leith". The Scotsman. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
- ^ "The Harrodian Eye – December 2010". Harrodian.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
- ^ Charles Gant (3 October 2013). "George MacKay: yours sincerely". The Guardian.
- ^ "Director Sam Mendes discusses 1917". dga.org. Directors Guild of America. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
- ^ Cavendish, Dominic (22 April 2015). "Ah, Wilderness!, Young Vic, review: 'nice acting, shame about the sand'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- ^ "BBC One: The Outcast: Episode 1 credits". BBC. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- ^ Brown, Debra (7 July 2018). "Interview: George MacKay". The Scotsman. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ^ McNary, Dave. "Russell Crowe, Nicholas Hoult, George MacKay Join 'True History of the Kelly Gang'". Retrieved 8 August 2019.
- ^ "DREAMWORKS PICTURES TO BEGIN PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY ON 1917 FROM OSCAR®-WINNING FILMMAKER SAM MENDES". FilmInk. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
External links
- George MacKay at the British Film Institute
- George MacKay at IMDb
