Early life

Compston was born and brought up in Greenock, Inverclyde, and attended St. Columba's High School in neighbouring Gourock. A youth footballer, after leaving school he signed for local professional team Greenock Morton. He has an older brother, Barry.

Career

Compston made two appearances for Morton at the end of the 2001-2002 season, in which the 'Ton were relegated from the Scottish Football League First Division. In both matches he appeared as a substitute, and both times Morton lost 4-0, to Alloa Athletic and Queen of the South.

Having never acted before, he successfully auditioned for the lead role in Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen, which was being filmed locally. The film's success at the Cannes Film Festival gave him instant celebrity status in Scotland. His subsequent film career was comparatively low key as he wanted to "serve his apprenticeship" with a regular role in the BBC TV drama serial Monarch of the Glen. He then appeared in three films: A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (Jury Prize and Best Ensemble Cast at the Sundance Festival) with Robert Downey, Jr.; Red Road (Jury Prize at Cannes), shot in Scotland with Kate Dickie and Tony Curran, for which he was nominated Best Supporting Actor at the Scottish BAFTAs; and True North with Peter Mullan and Gary Lewis, for which he was nominated as Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards.

Compston starred in the 2010 film Soulboy, alongside Craig Parkinson, playing the role of Joe McCain. He also appeared in the horror film The 4th Reich as Pte. Newman, and made a cameo appearance in small budget web series "Night Is Day".

Compston appeared in The View's music video for "Grace" and "How Long," as he is friends with the band.

In 2012, Compston starred in the lead role of Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott, an Anti-Corruption Detective, in the award-winning BBC police drama Line of Duty, acting alongside Craig Parkinson once more.

In 2012 Compston also starred in the violent thriller Piggy. Back to his Scottish roots, he then appeared in the lead role in The Wee Man, directed by Ray Burdis, a film depicting the life of renowned Glasgow Gangster Paul Ferris. It was released in the UK in January 2013.

In April 2013 Compston starred in the ITV mini-series The Ice Cream Girls.

Compston appeared as Roy James in The Great Train Robbery.

In 2014, Compston reprised his lead role of Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott in the second series of BBC Two police drama Line of Duty.

In March 2016, Compston reprised his lead role once again in the third series of hit BBC Two police-crime drama Line of Duty as lead Anti-Corruption investigator Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott of AC Unit 12.

Compston will reprise his role as Det. Sgt. Steve Arnott for the fourth series of Line of Duty, after it was announced the series had been renewed for a fourth season.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2002	Sweet Sixteen	Liam
2003	Monarch of the Glen	Ewan Brodie	20 episodes between 2003 and 2005
	The Royal	Jeffrey Carpenter	One episode, "Snakes and Ladders"
2004	Næsland	Jed
	Casualty	Matty Howell	One episode, "Lock Down"
2005	Tickets	Jamesy
	Wild Country	Lee
2006	A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints	Mike O'Shea
	Red Road	Stevie
2007	True North	Seán
	Night is Day	Head Gangster	One episode, "Sacrifices"
2008	Doomsday	Joshua
	Red Mist	Sean	Also known as "Freakdog"
2009	The Damned United	John O'Hare
	The Disappearance of Alice Creed	Danny
2010	Pimp	Zeb
	Soulboy	Joe McCain
2011	7lives	Rory
	Hit and Run	Daz
	Ghosted	Paul
	Four	Lover
	How to Stop Being a Loser	Adam
2012	Strippers vs Werewolves	Shaniqua
	Sister	Mike
	Line of Duty	Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott	Five episodes
	Piggy	Joe
2013	The Wee Man	Paul Ferris
	Greenshaw's Folly	Alfred Pollock
	The Ice Cream Girls	Mr Halnsley
	Filth	Gorman
	The Great Train Robbery	Roy James
2014	Silent Witness	Jason Ross
	Line of Duty	Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott	Six episodes
2015	Hunter's Prayer	Martin	Filming
2016	Death in Paradise	Dexter Allen	Episode 5.6
	Line of Duty	Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott	Six episodes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]