James McAvoy is one of the best actors to come out of Scotland, starring in big blockbuster hits like the X-Men franchise and M. Night Shyamalan's Split.
The 42-year-old actor studied Music and Drama at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, before moving to London after graduating in 2000.
The Glasgow -born star spends most of his time living in either London or America, but is set to take to the stage in his home city from this weekend.
Following a sold-out West End season in 2019, James is reprising his role in the Jamie Lloyd Company’s exciting production of Cyrano De Bergerac at Glasgow's Theatre Royal.
Here's a recap of James hugely successful two decade long career ahead of his return to Scotland..
Early career
Before the actor had even finished high school, he managed to bag his first film role in the 1995 film The Near Room.
James went onto study at the city's Royal Conservatoire, but had a part time job at the weekend in Glasgow's Trash nightclub and reckons the toughest moments came when he had to collect glasses at the same time as the DJs played more energetic numbers.
James said: "I worked at Trash in Glasgow, which I completely erased from my memory until I was speaking to some pals at a wedding recently and was like 'oh so I did'.
"It was round about the same time Blur had Song 2 out, and Song 2 would be on all the time.
"You'd be out collecting glasses, cause me and my mate Alex were buss-boys and we'd be out collecting glasses.
"We'd have stacks of glasses all the way up high."
He added: "I'd have glasses stacked and you'd just hear the intro, and I'd be like 'awww f***'.
"And I'd look for Alex, and he'd be like 'f****** move, f****** move' because you'd have like 30-40 seconds until people just started bouncing up and down.
"When you've got all these glasses, you've got 30 or 40 seconds until you make an absolute a*** out of yourself."
James, who made the comments during a promotional tour for It Chapter 2 in 2019, also revealed he worked in Glasgow's Monkey Bar around the same time.
Trash Nightclub on Bath Street burnt down in 2004, before being demolished a few months later.
Hollywood
James had his first film credit at the early age of 15, after starring in The Near Room in 1995.
After this, James went onto star in mostly television roles until being cast in Walt Disney Pictures The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
McAvoy starred in the fantasy adventure film based on C. S. Lewis's children's novel as Tumnus, a faun who befriends Lucy Pevensie, played by Georgie Henley, and joins Aslan (Liam Neeson)'s forces.
The film that really launched James' career into stardom was Atonement, Joe Wright's 2007 adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel of the same title
At one point, James made quite an outrageous lie to get out of an audition for Queen's musical We Will Rock You.
The X Men star was asked to meet casting directors for the hit West End show in London and realised on the way to the audition that he didn't want to be in musicals and made up a story to allow him to escape.
The Glasgow-born actor said: "I just suddenly got hit by this realisation that 'I don't really want to be in musicals, it's not who I am, I think I want to do something else.' I just went 'I can't do this' but I went into the audition because I thought 'I can't not show up either.'
He continued: "I strummed the guitar for the beginning of my audition and then, proper actor that I am, burst into tears and said 'I'm really sorry, I've just come from a terrible accident, my pal got knocked down by a car.'
"I said I had got him to the hospital in the ambulance and rushed right there but told them I wasn't in the right headspace for it.
"They were like 'Go, go, you must go and be with him.' I was like 'Thank you,' and I hightailed it out of there with my guitar.
"Then my agent got a call saying 'We loved him, he was great, such passion, if he wants to come back tomorrow we will have him back.'
"I had to confess that I had put on a whole performance in order to get myself out of there. She went 'Right I'm never putting you up for a musical again, you pain in the a**e.'
"She made me promise her that I would never do anything like that ever again and I never did."
Love Life
James met his first wife Anne Marie Duff while working on Shameless in 2003 where she played the love interest of her future husband's character.
Anne-Marie played Fiona, all peroxide hair and tarty Gypsy earrings, while James played Steve.
Ironically, Anne-Marie almost turned down Shameless (which went on to run for 11 series) - it was only after her mother read the script that she was convinced.
The two married in 2006, and were together for ten years before filing for divorce in 2016.
Speaking a year after their wedding, McAvoy revealed they liked to have "a normal life".
He told The Washington Post: "We don't talk about each other much and we don't turn up together at lots of events. We both really rejoice in having a normal life."
The X-Men: Apocalypse actor and his then wife - who welcomed a child, Brendan, into the world together in 2010.
Since the split, James and his ex Anne have remained on good terms as they co-parent their son.
He said at the time: "Me and Anne-Marie, when we were together, it was our policy not to speak about each other in public. We rarely broke that and if we did, it was for tiny things — ‘Yes, we are cooking turkey this Christmas’ — and that policy still stands.
"Even separated, we’re still respectful of each other and committed to doing that publicly and personally,” he explained.
However, McAvoy stunned fans as he announced the happy news he recently married his American flame Lisa Liberati.
Rumours surfaced in 2019 that the X-Men actor wed the personal assistant just one year after meeting, but hadn't commented on his relationship status until now.
The Scots actor told The Guardian that he recently married Lisa, 42, in a secret ceremony six years after splitting from his ex-wife Anne-Marie Duff.
He and Lisa first hooked up in 2018 after they met on the movie set of Split in America in which James had a starring role and Lisa was working as a director's production assistant.
Politics
In a recent interview with The Guardian, when asked if Scotland should aim for independence now, he said: “The fact that Boris and his company of people who enjoyed a drink while they were telling everybody not to isn’t necessarily something that will make me go, ‘Oh yes, Scottish independence’ – even though he is iconic of an educational and elitist class system that plays into Scottish independence massively.
"Independence could be a fantastic thing but it needs to be done for the right reasons. Don’t choose it because we don’t like Boris. Choose it because we want it. We can’t just define ourselves by our relationship with England. I’m sick of that.”
“I’ve been disappointed in our political system for decades. So the fact that it’s letting us down isn’t a massive shocker.”
When asked if he is more disappointed by the political system, rather than Boris Johnson, he stated: “I think the system relentlessly produces people that disappoint.
“We’re not even asking that they be held to a higher standard – and they can’t even f****** do that.”
Despite having lived in London and America, the My Son actor still feels Scottish at heart.
McAvoy told the publication: “It’s where I was born, where I grew up. I’ve still got a place there and all my family there. I see myself as a Glaswegian and a Londoner – a Glaswegian Londoner.”
James McAvoy is due to take to the stage in Cyrano de Bergerac at the Theatre Royal between March 18-26.
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