Early life

Stott was born in Edinburgh. His mother, Antonia (née Sansica), was a Sicilian lecturer whose own father had previously been a priest. His father, David Stott, was a Scottish teacher and educational administrator. Stott was educated at George Heriot's School. For three years in his youth he was a member of a band called Keyhole, members of which later went on to form the Bay City Rollers. After attending Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London, Stott began working in the theatre for the Royal Shakespeare Company, but for some years his earnings from acting were minimal and he was forced to support himself by also working as a double glazing salesman. This is echoed in the character he plays in Takin' Over the Asylum.

Career

Stott's early work focused on theatre with a notable leading role in the dramatization of Dominic Behan's play about the Northern Ireland troubles The Folk Singer (Belfast Lyric Theatre). Stott appeared in small roles in BBC series such as Secret Army (1977), The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare (King Lear, 1982), and Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective (1986). He also featured in an advert for the British COI's "Drinking And Driving Wrecks Lives" campaign, playing a fireman. He eventually began to earn starring roles on television in the 1990s. He created the leading role in The Prince's Play, a translation and adaptation by Tony Harrison of Victor Hugo's Le Roi s'amuse, for the National Theatre, London, 1996.

His highest-profile television roles have included hospital radio DJ Eddie McKenna in BBC Scotland's Takin' Over The Asylum the leading character, DCI Red Metcalfe, in the BBC crime drama series Messiah (BBC One, 2001-05); DI Chappell in ITV police drama The Vice (1999-2003); as a drunk who fantasises about finding redemption by joining the Salvation Army in Promoted to Glory (ITV, 2003); as Adolf Hitler in Uncle Adolf (ITV, 2005) and as a fictional Chancellor of the Exchequer in Richard Curtis's The Girl in the Café (BBC One, 2005). 2006 saw him take over the title character in detective series Rebus, a television adaptation of the Ian Rankin novels which had previously starred John Hannah. In 2008 Stott was nominated for a Scottish BAFTA for his performance as comedian Tony Hancock in BBC Four's Hancock and Joan. His played the father of cookery writer Nigel Slater in the BBC One adaptation of Slater's autobiographical novel Toast, opposite Helena Bonham Carter and Freddie Highmore. In 2015, Stott played Arthur Birling in Helen Edmundson's BBC TV adaptation of J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls.

On the big screen, he has tended to play mostly supporting parts, such as DI McCall in Shallow Grave (1994), Ted in Fever Pitch (1997), Marius Honorius in King Arthur (2004), an Israeli arms merchant in Charlie Wilson's War (2007) and Trufflehunter, a badger loyal to Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008). However, he has had occasional starring roles in the cinema, most notably opposite Billy Connolly and Iain Robertson in The Debt Collector (1999) and Plunkett and Macleane of the same year. Most recently, he has starred as Balin in the live-action adaptation of The Hobbit, and played the role to critical acclaim. Stott played a supporting role as Dexter Mayhew's father in One Day (2011) starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.

Stott has continued to act on stage, and in 1997 was nominated for Best Actor at the Laurence Olivier Awards for his role in the Yasmina Reza play Art in which had appeared with Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay. In 2008 Stott starred in another West End production of a Reza play, this time God of Carnage, alongside Tamsin Greig, Janet McTeer and Ralph Fiennes at the Gielgud Theatre. He starred in a revival of Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge at the Duke of York's Theatre in early 2009 and reprised his role of Michael in God of Carnage on Broadway (as a replacement for James Gandolfini) at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York.

He is a popular choice for voice work, as narrator for series such as Trawlermen, a documentary following North Sea trawlers, and Send in the Dogs, following the work of UK Police Officers and their canine partners.

Personal life

Stott has a son, David (born 1985), by his marriage, which ended in divorce. He has not remarried. He currently lives with his girlfriend, the artist Nina Gehl. He is a supporter of Heart of Midlothian F.C.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	Secret Army	Baroja	TV series
1982	King Lear	Curan	TV film
1983	The Beggar's Opera	Jemmy Twitcher	TV film
1985	Taggart	Dr. MacNaughten	TV series: 1 episode
1986	The Singing Detective	Uncle John	TV mini-series: 2 episodes
1988	London's Burning	Cyril	First episode
1988	For Queen and Country	Civil Servant
1990	Your Cheatin' Heart	Fraser Boyle	TV series: 6 episodes
1993	Elvis and the Colonel: The Untold Story	-	TV
1993	Anna Lee	Bernie Schiller	TV
1993	Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life	Woland the Knifeman	Short film
1993	Being Human	Gasper Diez
1994	Takin' Over the Asylum	Eddie	TV series: 6 episodes
1994	Shallow Grave	DI McCall
1996	Saint-Ex	Prevot
1996	Silent Witness	Sergeant Bob Claire	TV series: 2 episodes
1996	A Mug's Game	McCaffrey
1996	Rhodes	Barney Barnato	TV mini-series: 5 episodes
1997	The Boxer	Ike Weir
1997	Stone, Scissors, Paper	Redfern	TV
1997	Fever Pitch	Ted, the Headmaster
1999	Dockers	Tommy Walton	TV
1999	The Debt Collector	Gary Keltie
1999	Plunkett & Macleane	Chance
1999	Vicious Circle	Martin Cahill	TV
1999-2003	The Vice	DI Pat Chappel	TV Series: 16 episodes Nominated-British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
2000	The Miracle Maker	Simon Peter	Voice Only
2001	Messiah (a.k.a. Messiah I: The First Killings)	DCI Red Metcalfe	TV mini-series
2002	Messiah 2: Vengeance is Mine	DCI Red Metcalfe	TV mini-series
2003	Promoted to Glory	Mike	TV
2003	The Key	Billy	TV
2003	I'll Sleep When I'm Dead	Turner
2004	Messiah	DCI Red Metcalfe	TV mini-series
2004	King Arthur	Marius Honorius
2004	Spivs	Jack
2005	Casanova	Dalfonso
2005	Messiah: The Harrowing	DCI Red Metcalfe	TV mini-series
2005	The Girl in the Café	Chancellor
2005	The Mighty Celt	Good Joe
2005	Uncle Adolf	Adolf Hitler	TV
2006-2007	Rebus	DI John Rebus	TV series: 10 episodes
2007	Charlie Wilson's War	Zvi Rafiah
2008	The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian	Trufflehunter	Voice only
2008	Hancock and Joan	Tony Hancock	TV Scottish BAFTA for Best Acting Performance in Television Nominated-British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
2010	Toast	Dad
2011	The Runaway	Joey Pasqualino
2011	One Day	Dexter's Dad
2012	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	Balin
2013	The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug	Balin
2014	The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies	Balin
2014	Man Up	Bert
2014	The Missing	Ian Garrett	TV series Nominated-British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor
2015	An Inspector Calls	Arthur Birling	TV film
2016	Untitled Donald Crowhurst film	Stanley Best	Filming
2016	Café Society		Filming
2016	War & Peace	Bazdeev	TV series

Awards and nominations

BAFTA TV Awards

0 win, 3 nominations

British Academy Television Awards
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2001	The Vice	2001 British Academy Television Award for Best Actor	Nominated
2009	Hancock and Joan	2009 British Academy Television Award for Best Actor	Nominated
2015	The Missing	2015 British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor	Nominated

BAFTA TV Awards Scotland

2 win, 2 nominations

BAFTA Scotland
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2009	Hancock and Joan	2009 British Academy Scotland Awards for Best Actor in Television	Won
2015	The Missing	2015 British Academy Scotland Awards Best Actor in Television	Won

Laurence Olivier Awards

1 win, 4 nominations

Laurence Olivier Award
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
1992	The Recruiting Officer at the National Theatre	1992 Laurence Olivier Awards Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Nominated
1995	Broken Glass at the National Theatre Lyttelton / Duke of York's	1995 Laurence Olivier Awards Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Won
1997	Art at the Wyndam Theatre	1997 Laurence Olivier Awards Best Actor in a Lead Role	Nominated
2010	A View from the Bridge as Eddie Carbonne at the Duke of York's	1995 Laurence Olivier Awards Best Actor in a Lead Role	Nominated

Royal Television Society

0 wins 1 nomination

Royal Television Society
Year	Nominated work	Category	Result
2002	The Vice	Royal Television Society Award Best Actor	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]