Bio
Robert Carlyle is a Scottish actor best known for his roles as the psychopathic Francis Begbie in Trainspotting (1996) and as Gaz, the mild-mannered leader of a group of amateur male strippers, in The Full Monty (1997).
He also starred in the science fiction television series Stargate Universe, from 2009-2011.
He currently stars as Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold in the fantasy television series Once Upon a Time, since 2011.
Born in Maryhill, Glasgow, Carlyle broke into the international eye in the 1996 film Danny Boyle's Trainspotting. As the drunken, raving psychotic Begbie, Carlyle imbibed the character with the type of rage that made many filmgoers unable to separate the character from the actor who gave him life.
The film was the object of both critical adulation and controversy.
However, it was Carlyle's turn as the down-and-out Gaz in Peter Cattaneo's The Full Monty that brought him fully into the spotlight. The film was a sleeper hit, winning both box-office millions and five Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture.
Carlyle himself won the BAFTA award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his performance and the cast won the SAG award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast.
The film was nominated for Best Dance Sequence at the MTV Movie Awards.
Other notable works include Antonia Bird's Priest with Tom Wilkinson, the critically acclaimed and very controversial story of the moral struggles of a gay priest, in which he played the priest's lover; Alan Parker's adaptation of Frank McCourt's Pulitzer winning autobiography Angela’s Ashes as Malachy McCourt, the author's father; the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough with Pierce Brosnan; 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to Danny Boyle's zombie film directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo; and the Emmy nominated television movie Hitler: The Rise of Evil, in the title role of Hitler.
In 2005, he was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for Human Trafficking, a Lifetime Network movie dealing with the horrible reality of the buying and selling of young girls into prostitution.
Carlyle lives in Glasgow with his family.