Ewan McGregor attended Kirkcaldy College in 1988 to study drama, appearing in the Tron Theatre in Glasgow at the end of term show. McGregor's first leading role came in Danny Boyle's 1994 film Shallow Grave, and his major breakthrough soon followed with his role as the heroin addict Mark Renton in the film version of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting (1996).

McGregor has also been featured as the male romantic lead in Hollywood films such as Moulin Rouge! and Down With Love, and in the British film Little Voice. He received excellent reviews for his performance as an amoral drifter mixed up in murder in the rather bleak British film Young Adam (2003), which co-starred the acclaimed British actress Tilda Swinton.

He took on the role of a younger Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, originally made famous by Alec Guinness in the original Star Wars films. McGregor took very special care (especially Episode III) of his portrayal of Kenobi to ensure that Obi-Wan's mannerisms, speech timings, and accents closely resemble Obi-Wan's "Sir Guinness Self"

Ewan was also the voice of the lovable robot "Rodney Copperbottom" in the 2005 animated feature Robots, which also featured the voices of Halle Berry, Robin Williams and Mel Brooks. He played the lead male character (the lead female was Scarlett Johansson) and the character's "owner" in the movie The Island. Most recently, he starred alongside Jane Krakowski, Douglas Hodge and Jenna Russell in the Donmar Warehouse production of Guys and Dolls [1] in London at the Piccadilly Theatre. He has played the role to much critical acclaim and received the LastMinute.com award for Best Actor in 2005.

A keen motorcyclist since his youth, McGregor undertook a marathon motorcycle trip with his friend Charley Boorman and cameraman Claudio Von Planta in 2004. From mid-April to the end of July, they travelled from London to New York via central Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia and Canada on BMW R1150GS Aventure motorcycles, for a cumulative distance of 18,887 miles (30,395 km). The trip formed the basis of a TV series and a best-selling book, both called Long Way Round. En route the Long Way Round team took time out to see some of UNICEF's work in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. McGregor is planning a second long-distance motorbike trip from John O'Groats in northern Scotland to Cape Town, South Africa in 2007 and hopes to visit UNICEF projects along the way. He became a UN Ambassador in 2004 and has visited various UNICEF projects, including schemes helping children and families with AIDS in Africa.

On July 22, 1995, in a village in France, McGregor married Eve Mavrakis, a French production designer, whom he met while filming a guest appearance on the British television series Kavanagh QC. They have two daughters together, Clara Mathilde (b. February 1996) and Esther Rose (b. November 2001). In April 2006 McGregor and his wife adopted a 4-year-old girl from Mongolia. He is fiercely protective of his daughters' privacy and refuses to allow them to be filmed or photographed. He has threatened legal action against the paparazzi for going against his wishes.