Angus Macfadyen (born 21 September 1963) is a Scottish actor known for his roles as Robert the Bruce in Braveheart, Jeff Denlon in Saw III and Vice-Counsel Dupont in Equilibrium. He has made appearances in several television series such as Californication, Criminal Minds and the final season of Chuck. He currently stars as Robert Rogers in the AMC historical drama Turn: Washington's Spies and as Allan Pinkerton on the first-run syndicated show The Pinkertons.
[About Braveheart (1995)] It's an epic film. It really is life and death, and... darkness and the light.
2
[When asked his opinion of his character in "Saw"] Yeah, well, I think it's kind of set up in the film that even though you think he could save them, even when he tries to, it's set-up so it all seems a little too late. That was something we were discussing was how long do you wait and pause? Because if you've done that in one room, you know you can't do that in the next because otherwise it's going to be too late for that person. So we were having lots of debates. And also because each scene, you can't play them all the same. You've got to build in each one. So did I like him? I don't think he liked himself very much.
3
[About his role as Robert the Bruce] It's an interesting character because he's kind of, a bit of a lost soul. He wavers. He's constantly drawn to the darker aspects of compromise and keeping the wealth and preserving the castles, the lands which he has, and all the wealthy people in the county.
#
Fact
1
He has two roles in common with Laurence Olivier: (1) Olivier played Crassus in Spartacus (1960) while Macfayden played him in Spartacus (2004) and (2) Olivier played Zeus in Clash of the Titans (1981) while Macfayden played him in Jason and the Argonauts (2000).
2
Speaks French fluently.
3
His father was a doctor in the World Health Organization, which explained the moving around to different places when Angus was a child.
4
Is one of only two British actors to play 'Orson Welles', the other being Christian McKay.
5
Appeared with Brian Cox a number of times, including his first film Great Performances: The Lost Language of Cranes (1991) and Braveheart (1995).
6
Attended the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland and the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, England