Biography
Date of Birth
13 December 1992, London, England, UK
Height
6' (1.83 m)
Mini Biography
George MacKay was born 13 March, 1992 in Hammersmith, London, England, to Kim Baker, a British costume designer, and Paul Christopher MacKay, an Australian stage/lighting manager, from Adelaide. One of his grandmothers is from Cork, Ireland.
At the age of ten, George was scouted to audition for a role in the family feature, Peter Pan (2003). He quickly landed the part of Curly, one of the Lost Boys, and went on to have several minor roles on TV, including an episode of Rose and Maloney (2002) and Footprints in the Snow (2005). At thirteen, George landed the part of Riccio in the film adaptation of Cornelia Funke's best-selling children's novel, The Thief Lord (2006), starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and was also cast in lead role for the BBC adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Johnny and the Bomb (2006).
George worked with Tim Roth, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Sophie Okonedo for the HBO Movie Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006) and later took a part in the Dikensian drama, The Old Curiosity Shop (2007). Soon after, George co-starred with Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber on Defiance (2008). In 2009, George took on the role of Harry, in The Boys Are Back (2009) alongside Clive Owen, for which he received 2 award nominations. His career took another step forward with Hunky Dory (2011).
Since, George has featured in several shorts which have been popular on the festival circuit and played the part of Tommo Peaceful with counterpart Jack O'Connell in the adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's Private Peaceful (2012).
2013 was George's breakthrough year, and was recognized for his parts as Aaron in For Those in Peril (2013), Davy in the musical Sunshine on Leith (2013), Jake Whittam in Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson (2013) and the dark horse Eddie in How I Live Now (2013). George received several nominations and for such features and later bought home a total of 5 awards.
George had a stint in the West End in 2014 in The Cement Garden. He portrayed Joe in the well-received Pride (2014) and Duane Hopkins' Bypass (2014) premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in October. Both Captain Fantastic and Sadie Jones' The Outcast (2015) are in post-production and George will be returning to theatre for Eugene O'Neill's 'Ah,Wilderness!' this April.
In 2016, George starred in the film Captain Fantastic (2016), opposite Viggo Mortensen, and the mini-series 11.22.63 (2016), with James Franco and Sarah Gadon. He rounded out the decade playing the starring role in Sam Mendes' 1917 (2019), a box office hit and highly critically-acclaimed drama set during World War I and shot to simulate a single take in real time.
Trivia
As of September 2005, he is Year Ten at the Harrodian School, a private school located in London. Theodore Chester and Rupert Simonian, two of his co-stars from Peter Pan (2003), previously attended the same school.
In Australia, during the filming of Peter Pan (2003), George was schooled on-set and also had the chance to go swimming on the Great Barrier Reef.
In preparation for his role in Peter Pan (2003), George and his fellow co-stars, who had been cast as Lost Boys, received months of intensive training in stunt with swords and how to film choreographed fight scenes.
2014: Named as one of European films' Shooting Stars by European Film Promotion.
Is a supporter of Chelsea football club.
Does not participate in social media.
Early in his career he auditioned unsuccessfully for casting director Nina Gold for a part in Game of Thrones (2011). Later when he landed the role of Lance Corporal Schofield in 1917 (2019), it was Gold who picked him for the coveted part.
Was in a relationship with his How I Live Now (2013) co-star Saoirse Ronan.
Quotes
We never find what we set out hearts on. We ought to be glad of that.
The imagination is not an escape, but a return to the richness of our true selves; a return to reality.
The Orkney imagination is haunted by time.
Hills tell old stories. Cliffs are poets with harps.
... do we exist under a St George's Cross? The Union Jack? The European Union? Do we need borders? Are you gay? Are you straight? Are you both? Do you need to have a label? Do you just love people? Trying to identify yourself gives you something to identify with, but that's only positive if it allows you to feel comfortable in expressing yourself, because some of the time, by breaking yourself off, you cut yourself off from others.
The process of building a character changes with each character and story as there are different things asked of you by each one. The context of that character is always important ... [w]here they grew up, how they speak, what they do, what's happened to them before the story begins - all that informs how they move, talk, and express themselves ... understanding how their context shapes them adds levels ... to convincingly get across what they are thinking.
Especially in this industry, in terms of representation, whether it's of people of colour or equality between genders or sexuality. I thought we weren't prejudiced but actually, if you think about how many white blokes sit at the top of many companies, or stories even, you go, 'Oh s**t, I didn't realise there was an imbalance, because that imbalance served me'.
The beauty of theatre is the excitement of it; it lives in that moment; it has the same energy of a gig. But with film and photography, you capture the moment. It's curated forever. And I think that's a wonderful thing.
