Early life

McNairy was born in Dallas, Texas, to Alicia Ann McNairy (née Merchant) and Stewart Hall McNairy. He has an older brother. In addition to a house in Dallas, the family had a ranch in rural Paris, Texas, where they spent time on weekends and holidays. Growing up, he did theater in after-school programs. His father began calling him Scooter when he was about two years old. "A lot of people are like, oh, it must be some amazing story. But it's because I used to scoot around on my butt", says McNairy .

McNairy has stated that he is "highly dyslexic", and that he had to "go to dyslexia school for four years". He describes himself as a visual learner, and was attracted to films for that reason.

Career

Actor

McNairy moved to Austin, Texas in his early 20s. He appeared in Wrong Numbers (2001), written and directed by Alex Holdridge. The film won the Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival. Holdridge was hired to remake Wrong Numbers into a studio picture, which was never made.

Interested in cinematography and photography, McNairy moved to Los Angeles to go to film school. He attended for a year, then dropped out and began working in film production, doing carpentry and building film sets. Then he worked as an extra, until he eventually found steady work in over 200 TV commercials. He eventually was offered roles in feature films, a career he has been pursuing since 2001.

During the early 2000s, McNairy portrayed colorful and individualistic young men with a rebellious edge. He had small parts in films, including Wonderland (2003), Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005), and Art School Confidential (2006).

In 2010, McNairy worked on The Listening Party as Ferret and Everything Will Happen Before You Die as Matt. 2010 also saw the release of the alien invader film by Gareth Edwards called Monsters, which featured largely improvised dialogue and was shot in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Texas.

In 2011, McNairy played Frankie in director Andrew Dominik's film Killing Them Softly (2012), playing opposite Brad Pitt. The film is based on the 1974 novel Cogan's Trade by George V. Higgins, re-envisioned to take place during the 2008 election.

The role led to a string of high-profile roles, including Ben Affleck's Argo (2012), Gus Van Sant's Promised Land (2012), and Lynn Shelton's Touchy Feely (2013) opposite Rosemarie DeWitt, which also stars Ellen Page, Josh Pais, and Allison Janney. For his role as Joe Stafford in Argo, he studied Persian, which he spoke in his final monologue in the film.

In 2013, he appeared in Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave, which again included Pitt. McNairy filmed his second movie with Michael Fassbender, Leonard Abrahamson's Frank, and co-starred in Jaume Collet-Serra's Non-Stop (2014), opposite Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore.

He appears in David Michod's The Rover (2014) opposite Robert Pattinson and Guy Pearce. McNairy is currently starring in the AMC Network drama Halt and Catch Fire, about the personal computer business in the 1980s. By coincidence, his character's wife in Halt and Catch Fire is portrayed by actor Kerry Bishé, who also played his spouse in the 2012 film Argo.

McNairy played Wallace Keefe in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).

Producer

He worked as producer for 2007's In Search of a Midnight Kiss, in which he also starred and which is referred to as his breakout film.

He has worked on a number of other projects as an actor and producer, including 2012's A Night in the Woods, and Angry White Man, Dragon Day, and The Off Hours, all released in 2011.

Other work

In 2002, McNairy appeared in the music video for Death Cab for Cutie's A Movie Script Ending.

In 2006, McNairy appeared in the music video for "Fidelity" by Regina Spektor, directed by McNairy's friend Marc Webb.

Personal life

McNairy has been married to actress Whitney Able since 2010. They initially started dating in Los Angeles about six months before co-starring in Monsters. The couple moved back to East Texas in 2011.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Wrong Numbers	Russell
2002	Plugged In		Short film
2003	Sexless	Ryan
2003	Wonderland	Jack
2003	Silenced	Friend 1	Short film
2004	D.E.B.S.	Stoner
2004	White Men in Seminole Flats	Dale	Short film
2004	Good Girls Don't...	Henry	Episode: "My Best Friend Is a Big Fat Slut"
2004	Sleepover	DJ at Club
2005	Herbie: Fully Loaded	Augie
2005	Six Feet Under	Trevor	Episode: "All Alone"
2005	Close to Home	T.J.	Episode: "Meth Murders"
2006	More, Patience	Jake	TV movie
2006	Murder 101	Panache	TV movie
2006	Marcus	Charles
2006	Art School Confidential	Army-Jacket
2006	Jake in Progress	Dean Thomas Stilton	Episodes: "Eyebrow Girl vs. Smirk Face" "The Hot One"
2006	Bobby	Beatnik
2006	The Shadow Effect	Harold Grey	Short film
2006	Mr. Fix It	Dan
2007	In Search of a Midnight Kiss	Wilson	Producer
2007	How I Met Your Mother	Fast Food Worker	Episode: "Something Blue"
2007	Blind Man	Sparky Collins
2007-2011	Bones	Noel Liftin	Episodes: "The Secret in the Soil" "The Man in the Outhouse" "The Daredevil in the Mold"
2008	Wednesday Again	Peter
2008	Murder 101: New Age	Panache	TV movie
2008	The Shield	Doug Obermyer	Episode: "Snitch"
2008	My Name Is Earl	Bed Bug	Episode: "Quit Your Snitchin'"
2008	Eleventh Hour	Rudy Callistro	Episode: "Surge"
2009	Shipping and Receiving	Steve Porter	Short film
2009	Cop Out	Mike Singbush	Short film
2009	The Resurrection of Officer Rollins	Shooter	Short film
2009	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Vitas Long	Episode: "Lover's Lanes"
2009	Mr. Sadman	Stevie
2010	Wreckage	Frank Jeffries
2010	Everything Will Happen Before You Die	Matt
2010	Monsters	Andrew Kaulder
2010	Wes and Ella	Wes
2011	Amor Fati	Teddy	Short film
2011	The Whole Truth	Larry Thompson	Episode: "Lost in Translation"
2011	The Off Hours	Corey
2011	A Night in the Woods	Brody Cartwright
2011	Angry White Man	Walt
2012	Killing Them Softly	Frankie
2012	Argo	Joe Stafford
2012	Promised Land	Jeff Dennon
2013	Touchy Feely	Jesse
2013	Dragon Day	Phil
2013	12 Years a Slave	Brown
2014	Non-Stop	Tom Bowen
2014	Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King	Jackson Norriss	Short film
2014	The Rover	Henry
2014	Frank	Don
2014	Gone Girl	Tommy
2014-present	Halt and Catch Fire	Gordon Clark	Main role
2014	Black Sea	Daniels
2015	Our Brand Is Crisis	Rich
2016	Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice	Wallace Keefe
2016	War Machine		Post-production
2016	478		Filming

Producer

Year	Title	Notes
2007	In Search of a Midnight Kiss
2012	Please, Alfonso	Short film
2013	Straight A's
2014	Frank and Cindy	Post-production

Awards

McNairy has had one nomination and one win for In Search of a Midnight Kiss.

Award	Year	Result	Category/Recipient(s)	Film
Screen Actors Guild Awards	2013	Won	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Argo (2012)
Palm Springs International Film Festival	2013	Won	Ensemble Cast Award	Argo (2012)
Hollywood Film Festival	2012	Won	Ensemble of the Year	Argo (2012)
Phoenix Film Critics Society	2012	Nominated	Best Acting Ensemble	Argo (2012)
San Diego Film Critics Society	2012	Nominated	Best Ensemble Performance	Argo (2012)
Hamptons International Film Festival	2012	Won	Breakthrough Performer	Killing Them Softly (2012)
British Independent Film Awards	2010	Nominated	Best Actor	Monsters (2010)
Independent Spirit Awards	2009	Won	John Cassavetes Award Shared with: Alex Holdridge (writer/director), Seth Caplan (producer)	In Search of a Midnight Kiss (2007)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]