Andrew Scott

Andrew Scott (born October 21, 1976) is an Irish film, television, and stage actor. He received the 2005 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs production of A Girl in a Car with a Man, and an IFTA award for the film Dead Bodies. Scott's notable television roles have included Paul McCartney in the BBC television drama Lennon Naked and arch-villain Jim Moriarty in Sherlock, for which he was awarded the 2012 British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Early Life
Scott attended Gonzaga College, a private Jesuit Catholic school on the south side of Dublin. He took Saturday classes at a drama school for children, and appeared in two ads on Irish television. At seventeen he was chosen for a starring role in his first film, Korea.

Career
Scott dropped out of his drama degree at Trinity College, Dublin to join Dublin’s Abbey Theatre.

After filming a small part in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, Scott worked with film and theater director Karel Reisz in a 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. He won Actor of the Year at the Independent/Spirit of Life Awards and received an Irish Times Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. 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, alongside Diana Rigg and Matthew Modine, before making his London theatre debut in Conor McPherson’s Dublin Carol with Brian Cox at the Royal Court Theatre. He was then cast in the BAFTA winning drama Longitude, opposite Michael Gambon, and the multi-award winning HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. Scott has described the working atmosphere on Band of Brothers as "awful".

In 2004 he was named one of European Film Promotions' Shooting Stars. After starring in My Life in Film for the BBC, he received his first Olivier award for his role in A Girl in a Car with a Man at The Royal Court, and the Theatregoers' Choice Award for his performance in the National Theatre’s Aristocrats. He then created the roles of the twin brothers in the original Royal Court production of Christopher Shinn’s Dying City, which was later nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2006, he made his Broadway debut opposite Julianne Moore and Bill Nighy in the Music Box Theater production of The Vertical Hour written by David Hare and directed by Sam Mendes, for which he was nominated for a Drama League Award.

In 2008, Scott appeared in the award-winning HBO miniseries John Adams, opposite Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti. In 2009, he appeared in Sea Wall, a one-man show written especially for him by Olivier award-winning playwright Simon Stephens.

He starred alongside Ben Whishaw, Katherine Parkinson and Paul Jesson in a sell-out run of Cock at the Royal Court in late 2009, a production which won an Olivier Award in 2010. He has recently been seen in Foyle's War as a prisoner determined to allow himself to hang for a crime he may not have committed, which was described in Slant magazine as a "standout performance." Other recent appearances include a role in Chasing Cotards (a short film made for IMAX presentation by director Edward L. Dark), as well as a portrayal of Paul McCartney in BBC film Lennon Naked. He also starred in the critically acclaimed 2010 film Anton Chekhov's The Duel.

His most recent credits include an appearance as Sherlock Holmes' nemesis Moriarty in the BBC drama Sherlock, and a guest role in the second series of Garrow's Law. In 2010 he appeared with Lisa Dillon and Tom Burke in the Old Vic production of Noël Coward's Design for Living.

In 2011 he played the main role of Julian in Ben Power's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's epic Emperor and Galilean at the National Theatre in London.

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

He won a BAFTA in 2012 for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Moriarty in Sherlock. In addition to his stage and TV work, Scott is also known for his voice acting in radio plays and audio books, such as the roles of Jay Gatsby in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Stephen Dedalus in James Joyce's Ulysses.

Personal Life
Scott commented "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. I am a private person; I think that's important if you're an actor. But there's a difference between privacy and secrecy, and I'm not a secretive person. Really I just want to get on with my job, which is to pretend to be lots of different people. Simple as that."