He is known for his roles as DCI Matt Burke in the STV detective drama series Taggart, Eric Baird in BBC Two sitcom Two Doors Down, DCS Wallace in Extremely Dangerous, Gerard Findlay in Waterloo Road and Eddie in the Renford Rejects.
Norton's very first TV appearance was in the early 1960s on STV's live lunchtime show The One O' Clock Gang,[2] He discovered acting at the age of fourteen via an out-of-school drama group.
He has appeared in numerous films including Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl (1981), Local Hero (1983) and Comfort and Joy (1984), A Sense of Freedom (1981), Comrades (1986),[3] Hidden City (1987), Scandal (1989), Countdown to War (1989), Robin Hood (1991), Chernobyl: The Final Warning (1991), Blame It on the Bellboy (1992), Squanto: A Warrior's Tale (1994), Little Voice (1998), Orphans (1998) and Beautiful Creatures (2000), as well as Hollywood blockbusters such as White Hunter, Black Heart (1990) with Clint Eastwood, Patriot Games (1992) with Harrison Ford, Braveheart (1995) starring Mel Gibson and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) with Johnny Depp.
In addition to his role as DCI Matt Burke in Taggart, he had previously appeared in the same series as murder suspect George Bryce in the episode "Knife Edge" in 1986.
Norton also provided the voice-overs for the ill-fated channel Sky Scottish that only ran for 18 months from November 1996 before closing down in May 1998[4] He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2003 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel.
[citation needed] In 2005, Norton was presented with the opportunity to play a part in Peter Jackson's King Kong; however, he could not accept the offer because it happened to interfere with the TV project he was working on at the time.