People

Ewen Bremner

Acting · follow into films and chains

Biography

Ewen Bremner (born January 23, 1972) is a Scottish character actor. His roles have included Julien in Julien Donkey-Boy and Daniel "Spud" Murphy in Trainspotting and its 2017 sequel T2 Trainspotting. Bremner was born in Edinburgh, the son of two art teachers. He attended Davidson's Mains Primary School and Portobello High School. He originally wanted to be a circus clown, but was offered a chance at screen acting by television director Richard D. Brooks. One of his first notable roles was as a Glasgow schoolboy in Charles Gormley's Heavenly Pursuits (1986). He also played the lead in the BBC Scotland feature-length adaptation of the William McIlvanney short story "Dreaming" (1990). Bremner portrayed Spud in Danny Boyle's film adaptation of Irvine Welsh's 1993 novel Trainspotting, and later Mullet, a street thug in Guy Ritchie's Snatch. In the 1994 stage version of Trainspotting, Bremner played the lead role of Mark Renton, the role played by Ewan McGregor in the 1996 film. He has played supporting roles in blockbusters such as Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down. In 2017 he produced the short film No Song to Sing. He has one daughter, with actress Marcia Rose, whom he met during the filming of Skin.

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

The Dog Stars

As Crossbow Hunter

Snatch

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Trainspotting

Appears in a KinoChain journey

T2 Trainspotting

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Naked

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Black Hawk Down

As Nelson

Wonder Woman

As Charlie

Pearl Harbor

As Red

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

The High Was Never the Point

When Trainspotting arrived in 1996, it was quickly labelled as the ultimate "drugs movie". Decades on, its true subject matter is far clearer. It is not fundame...

8 films

The Perfect Needledrop: Ten Moments That Own the Screen

From sudden silences to euphoric choruses, these are the film moments where a song doesn't just score the scene, it becomes the scene.

10 films

Rewinding the Reel: How VHS Championed British Independents

From Thatcher's Britain to the video shop era, discover how VHS gave gritty, daring British films a second life and a devoted audience.

9 films

Criminal Alliances

A chain tracing the anti-hero ensemble film from its war-movie origins through heist, western, and genre mutations to the modern comic-book iteration, examining...

8 films

Growing Pains: Sequels That Leap Through Time

From a Parisian afternoon to a boxing ring, these sequels skip years ahead and find their characters changed, challenged, and achingly familiar. A journey throu...

6 films

20 Home Video Releases Every Film Obsessive Should Own

There was a brief, glorious period in the late 1990s and early 2000s when buying a film on home video felt less like acquiring a product and more like being han...

20 films

Signals in the Ash

From a father's vigil to a robot's devotion, eight films trace the fragile threads that hold humanity together when the world falls quiet.

8 films

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