For his dual role as brothers Ray and Emmit Stussy in the third season of the anthology series Fargo (2017), he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film.

He voiced Lumière in Beauty and the Beast (2017), and played the title role in Christopher Robin (2018), Dan Torrance in Doctor Sleep (2019), and Black Mask in Birds of Prey (2020).

[9][10] His father, James Charles Stewart "Jim" McGregor, is a retired physical education teacher and careers master at the independent Morrison's Academy in Crieff.

[3] Six months prior to his graduation from Guildhall, McGregor began a leading role in Dennis Potter's six-part Channel 4 series Lipstick on Your Collar (1993).

[3] Not long afterwards, he starred in the BBC adaptation of Scarlet and Black (also 1993) with Rachel Weisz and made his film debut in Bill Forsyth's Being Human (1994).

His international breakthrough followed with the role of heroin addict Mark Renton in Boyle's Trainspotting (1996), an adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel of the same name.

(2001) as the young poet Christian, who falls in love with the terminally-ill courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman), for which his performance was widely praised and nabbed McGregor his first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination.

[3][24] He also portrayed the younger Edward Bloom in Tim Burton's critically acclaimed film Big Fish (2003) alongside Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman and Billy Crudup.

In the same period, he also received critical acclaim for his portrayal of an amoral drifter mixed up with murder in the drama Young Adam (also 2003), which co-starred Tilda Swinton.

[28] Also around this time, McGregor played two roles – one a clone of the other – opposite Scarlett Johansson in Michael Bay's science fiction action thriller film The Island (2005).

[32] McGregor starred opposite Colin Farrell in the Woody Allen film Cassandra's Dream (2007),[19][33] and he co-starred with Jim Carrey in I Love You Phillip Morris and appeared in Amelia (both 2009) alongside Hilary Swank.

In 2013, McGregor starred alongside Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in August: Osage County, which was based on Tracy Letts's Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name.

[40] McGregor played Lumière (originally voiced by Jerry Orbach in the 1991 animated film) in the live-action adaptation of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, directed by Bill Condon, with an ensemble cast featuring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens in leading roles, alongside Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Stanley Tucci, Ian McKellen, and Emma Thompson.

[44] In 2020, he appeared opposite Margot Robbie in Warner Bros.' DC Comics film Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), directed by Cathy Yan, as the main villain Roman Sionis / Black Mask.

[45] On 23 August 2019, Lucasfilm announced that McGregor would reprise his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in a new Star Wars television series, due for release on Disney+ in 2022.

[51] From June 2005 to April 2007, McGregor starred alongside Jane Krakowski, Douglas Hodge and Jenna Russell in the Donmar Warehouse revival of Guys and Dolls after it transferred to the Piccadilly Theatre in London.

[55] McGregor made his Broadway debut in a 2014 production of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing at the American Airlines Theatre.

[57] A motorcyclist since his youth, in 2004 McGregor undertook an international motorcycling trip with his best friend Charley Boorman, accompanied by cameraman Claudio von Planta and a support crew.

From mid-April to the end of July, they travelled from London to New York via central Europe, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Canada, and the United States on BMW R1150GS motorbikes, over a cumulative distance of 22,345 miles (35,960 km).

[58] The trip included visits to several UNICEF programmes along the route, and formed the basis of a television series and a best-selling book, both called Long Way Round.

[59] McGregor and Boorman reunited with this team in 2007 for another international motorcycle trip, from John o' Groats in Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa.

In 2019, McGregor and Boorman – with their principal support crew from the previous two Long Way journeys – undertook a third international trip, this time on Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycles.

In 2012, he travelled with UNICEF immunization workers to remote parts of India, Nepal and the Republic of Congo for a BBC2 documentary entitled Ewan McGregor: Cold Chain Mission.

He also mentioned this in an interview with the Irish Independent in 2008, stating that he would often turn up to sets drunk or hung over in the late 1990s, and that he decided to stop altogether to avoid spiralling down further.

[105][106] McGregor was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to drama and charity.