Biography 1973 - 2013

1973 - 1983 I made my first appearance into the world on the 5th of May 1973 and grew up originally in Hardgate, just outside the Glasgow city boundary. My big cousins Christian & Nick lived nearby and we had an excellent few years there. Hardgate had a wee village feel to it and rolling hills behind. We moved to Scotstounhill and a new large group of friends & playmates. It was here I think I first showed signs of a theatrical bent as I was dressed as a different character every day.We formed our own army,a football team and I vividly remember the 1978 World Cup as well as long car journeys to Cornwall for holidays in the summer. One day we found a dead body in wasteground beside our house. I ran to get the police and my Dad who is a police surgeon.Later that day a police Murder Caravan was set up and I was given a police hat by one of the investigating officers. I wore a hastily put together police uniform, my outsized hat and stood guard outside our house til bedtime.I was convinced the police was the career for me...alongside professional football. And the army. Little did I know I would spend most of my future screen career running away from the cops! I went to Corpus Christi school and then to St Aloysius College where all of my uncles and grandfather had gone. I loved it and gathered a group of friends who are still close to this day.

1983 - 1993 Much to the despair of my parents my schooldays at St Aloysius had become a social

club and I was revelling in the move from the primary at Langside to the secondary in Hill Street, bang in the city centre of Glasgow!I had played for the First XV at John Ogilvie Hall and continued to play rugby and football into upper school. I had played footie for Knightswood Juveniles and then moved up to Clydebank FC and had a decent season in their Under 15s.I was playing rugby in the mornings as well for the school and it was too much. I developed a bone problem in my knee which scuppered my football dreams but continued with rugby.I captained my year's Cricket team and broke into the St Aloysius Cricket 1st XI when still in 1st year.In my last year I played for the First XV at rugby, First XI at football & 1st XI at Cricket al in the same year, but by then I had started..Acting..It was the 500th Anniversary of the Jesuits Society and to celebrate I made my debut in front of 500 priests and Cardinal Winning in THE STRONG ARE LONELY as Father Provincial. Shortly afterwards I played the Reverend Mercer in Laurel Bank's WHEN WE WERE MARRIED. I had been attending Dorothy Paul's acting studio at weekends in the summer and got my first agent, Freddie Young. Castings for LEAVING, DRAMARAMA and ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE followed and I decided to make a career of it, heading to Motherwell College for an NC Drama & Theatre Skills course.I had started getting extra work in TAGGART and did six in a row as a policeman,ironic, as I had been 2 weeks away from basic training at Tullieallen for Strathclyde Police-My Plan B..! By now I had my landed professional acting work in corporates and a MILK Advert as well as more theatre jobs and was starting to break through. I qualified from the course, but it ended tragically with the murder of my classmate Amanda Duffy,a nightmare only exacerbated with the 'Not Proven' court verdict afterwards.

1993 - 2003 I had started to do a lot of theatre work now and did three excellent shows with Paul Moore's Tram Direct company. This led to a couple of Mayfest shows and then to Rubber Ear's GLASGOW HARD TICKETS and an Edinburgh Fringe First Award in 1995. I moved to Andy Arnold's Arches Theatre Company and performed in CALIGARI before breaking my Shakepearean duck and playing Bassanio in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. I was still doing little bits of tv and film extra work and was invited to do a fight scene in TRAINSPOTTING by Bobby Carlyle who had been helping me get a leg up into the business.More advice followed from David Hayman, then directing FINNEY and from John Murtagh at Borderline. I remember going to see Raindog's WASTED at The Arches and thinking..'THIS is it..this is the sort of work I want to be doing'. Glasgow had an excellent theatre scene then but I was soon to land a bit part in Scotish Television's HIGH ROAD. A few weeks later I was back there and landed the part of Paul Lafferty in HIGH ROAD, my home til 2001.This was my real education into acting for camera and learning the disciplines and additional skills required for the medium. From then on it was good parts in TAGGART and THE GRANTON STAR CAUSE and MONARCH OF THE GLEN as well as voice-overs which became a lucrative sideline. I had small roles in THE FOOTBALL FACTORY and US feature POSTMORTEM, starring Charlie Sheen. I moved to London in 2000 following HIGH ROAD's Millenium Special and started working at A1 Vox studios in Soho. I shot a music video in New York and a Celtic documentary in Spain and changed agents to PLA in London. Still playing football I turned out for Birkbeck University in the leagues for 3 seasons and loved playing at Arsenal and Chelsea's training grounds then dragging opposition teams to our 'home' ground of Hackney Marshes! I had become an ex-pat Tambo for real..!

2003 - 2013 I returned to Scotland to shoot INSTANT CREDIT and then voiced television and cinema commercials for THE TERRATORIAL ARMY and ARMY OFFICER. I decided to set-up my own production company. We produced Des Dillon's SINGIN I'M NO A BILLY,HE'S A TIM as a touring theatre show and funded by the Scottish Executive and Sense Over Sectarianism we toured Scottish schools and then Northern Ireland with the PSNI. The adult show ran for two years and is still touring to this day. We worked with Marc Pye on getting a HIGH ROAD stage show up and running but despite getting the theatrical rights to it we couldn't get it quite ready enough to go on. But I've still not entirely given up on that one! We then opened up a fashion store, Zico Fashion Boutique in the West End of Glasgow and this wee cult shop was open for 4 years, moving to Queen Margaret Drive from Ruthven Lane. Parts in HOPE SPRINGS and RIVER CITY followed and I worked on lots of short films from new young film makers in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Wales and played a variety of roles in different genres. I had now begun writing screenplays as well as theatre plays and musicals and learning this very different craft! I'm hoping this will pay for my old age! Low budget feature films followed and I enjoyed myself immensely on FAST ROMANCE, NIGHT IS DAY and A SPANKING IN PARADISE, which is the film where I felt I did my best ever work. I was invited to play for the Scotland Celebrity XI by Joe Miller(Ex-Celtic FC) and joined my illustrious teammates at Wembley to defeat Sir David Frost's England XI 2-0 in front of 25,000 fans! My love-affair with the game caused me to buy Third Lanark and I am still actively involved in this to the present day. Back to tv and I was cast in HOW NOT TO LIVE YOUR LIFE and a rare departure into comedy, something I have never really 'cracked' before. In 2010 I played the hitman Paul Bradley in the excellent Jason Isaacs drama series CASE HISTORIES and revelled in the role. I formed Thistlewood Film Studios in 2012 and will be producing my own work and investing in new talent coming through. And I'm still playing The Beautiful Game with the Scotland Writers XI.....!!