Rory McCann

Rory McCann (Glasgow, 1969) was painting the Forth Road Bridge dozens of meters above the ground when he decided he'd rather make a living another way. He had no elite drama training or contacts in London. He worked as a lumberjack and gardener before a Scottish oatmeal brand got him posing in his underwear in front of a camera.

That ad for Scott’s Porage Oats in 1993 turned him into a face recognizable in every kitchen in Scotland.

He appeared walking through the snow in a kilt and bare chest. The image was so striking that audiences started asking who this giant of nearly six feet six inches was. But the road to serious film roles was not immediate, because casting directors saw him only as a tough guy with a good physique.

The Dog Who Didn't Need a Muzzle

In 2011, he landed the role that defined his television career. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were looking for someone who could embody the brutality and sadness of Sandor Clegane in Game of Thrones. McCann didn't have to pretend much to project the imposing physical presence that intimidated his castmates.

He spent eight seasons wearing a burn prosthetic that covered half his face.

Filming in Iceland and Belfast was tough. McCann often kept to himself away from the rest of the crew and preferred sleeping on his boat or in tents instead of luxury hotels. That solitary personality fed the character for years. But after the series ended in 2019, the actor sought projects that would take him far from the armor and mud of Westeros.

Living Off the Radar

He appeared in the action comedy Hot Fuzz in 2007 under the direction of Edgar Wright. There he showed he could handle dry humor without saying much at all. In 2019, he joined the Jumanji: The Next Level franchise, playing Jurgen the Brutal.

And the paycheck was considerably bigger.

McCann has never hidden that he acts to fund his nomadic lifestyle. In 2024, he voiced The Buyer in the series Knuckles and took part in the production of The Irregulars for Netflix in 2021. He has no social media and no interest in red carpets in Los Angeles.

His boat is less than forty feet long.