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Rory McCann (born 24 April 1969) is a Scottish actor, best known for portraying Sandor Clegane on the HBO series Game of Thrones, Michael "Lurch" Armstrong in Edgar Wright's crime-comedy Hot Fuzz (2007), Jurgen the Brutal in the adventure comedy (2019) and the voice of Megatron in .
Before becoming an actor, McCann was a painter who studied at the Scottish School of Forestry near Inverness. He also worked as a bridge painter (on the Forth Road Bridge), landscape gardener and carpenter. Rory McCann was first trained as an actor by writer-artist Robert Parsifal Finch in The Actor's Workshop, Glasgow in 1998.
Since then, he has taken television roles as Detective Inspector Stuart Brown in State of Play, Peter the Great in Peter in Paradise, and a priest in the award-winning British comedy-drama series Shameless.
He made his Hollywood debut in the 2004 film Alexander, which required the actors to go through training in the African desert, and included shooting in Thailand, Morocco, and a London studio. In 2007, he appeared as Michael "Lurch" Armstrong in Hot Fuzz. In 2008, he played Moby in The Crew and Attila the Hun in the BBC docudrama Heroes and Villains.
McCann portrayed Sandor Clegane in 7 out of 8 seasons of the HBO series Game of Thrones.
Other projects include a BBC TV series by writer Jimmy McGovern called Banished, set in Australia in the 18th century. McCann plays a blacksmith named Marston.
In 2022 he became the narrator of the ITV1 series DNA Journey.
McCann will star in the upcoming second season of the Star Wars series Ahsoka. He will portray Baylan Skoll, succeeding the late Ray Stevenson in the role.
In 1990, McCann broke multiple bones in a near-fatal rock climbing accident in Yorkshire.
McCann is the former frontman of a defunct band called Thundersoup. He plays the piano, guitar, banjo and mandolin.
McCann lives a solitary, transient lifestyle. He often lives on his boat or in places without modern conveniences. In 2006, he went to Iceland with Gerard Butler to attend the premiere of Beowulf & Grendel. He ended up living in Iceland for a year, part of the time in a tent after losing his apartment, and working as a carpenter.
| 2003 | Young Adam | Sam | ||
| 2004 | Alexander | Craterus | ||
| 2005 | Beowulf & Grendel | Breca | ||
| 2006 | Sixty Six | Policeman | ||
| 2007 | Hot Fuzz | Michael "Lurch" Armstrong | ||
| 2008 | The Crew | Mobey | ||
| 2009 | Solomon Kane | McNess | ||
| 2010 | Clash of the Titans | Belo | ||
| 2011 | Season of the Witch | Soldier Commander | Credited as Rory MacCann | |
| 2015 | Slow West | John Ross | ||
| 2017 | Tennyson "The Torch" | |||
| 2019 | Jurgen The Brutal | |||
| 2023 | Jackdaw | Armstrong | ||
| 2024 | The Damned | Ragnar | ||
| Gladiator II | Tegula | |||
| 2025 | Tornado | Kitten |
| 2000 | Randall & Hopkirk | Bouncer | 1 episode | |
| 2000 | Monarch of the Glen | Roger | 1 episode | |
| 2002 | London's Burning | Keith | 1 episode | |
| 2002–2003 | The Book Group | Kenny McLeod | Main role, 12 episodes | |
| 2003 | State of Play | Stuart Brown | 1 episode | |
| 2003 | Rockface | Adam | Recurring role, 6 episodes | |
| 2006 | Shameless | Father Critchon | 2 episodes | |
| 2008 | Heroes and Villains | Attila the Hun | 1 episode | |
| 2011 | The Jury | Derek Hatch | Main role, 5 episodes | |
| 2011–2014; 2016–2019 | Game of Thrones | Sandor Clegane | Main role, 38 episodes | |
| 2015 | Banished | Marston | Main role, 4 episodes | |
| 2021 | The Irregulars | Arthur "the Birdmaster" Hilton | 2 episodes | |
| The Legend of Vox Machina | Duke Vedmire (voice) | 3 episodes | ||
| 2022 | Megatron (voice) | Main role; 3 seasons | ||
| 2024 | Knuckles | "The Buyer" | Miniseries, 3 episodes | |
| TBA | Baylan Skoll |
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