Christian McKay

Acting

Christian McKay

Born

1973-11-11 (52)

Place of birth

Bury, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

44 titles

Christian McKay was born in Bury, Lancashire. He is a British actor and classical musician. Christian received international acclaim for his performance in Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles (2008) as Orson Welles, a role he also interpreted in the one-man play "Rosebud: The Lives of Orson Welles" at a number of venues, including the Edinburgh Festival and King's Head in London, and in US at the "Brits Off Broadway" festival 2007. Among others, his excellent film work also includes gems such as in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Rush (2013), The Theory of Everything (2014) and Florence Foster Jenkins (2016).

Known for

Agatha Christie's Poirot poster
8.2

From England to Egypt, accompanied by his elegant and trustworthy sidekicks, the intelligent yet eccentrically-refined Belgian detective Hercule Poirot pits his wits against a collection of first class deceptions.

Agatha Christie's Poirot

1989

Warrior poster
8.0

A gritty, action-packed crime drama set during the brutal Tong Wars of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the second half of the 19th century. The series follows Ah Sahm, a martial arts prodigy who immigrates from China to San Francisco under mysterious circumstances, and becomes a hatchet man for one of Chinatown’s most powerful tongs.

Warrior

2019

Strike poster
7.2

A war veteran turned private detective operates out of a tiny office in London’s Denmark Street. Although wounded both physically and psychologically, his unique insight and background as a military police investigator prove crucial in solving complex crimes that have baffled the police. Based on the bestselling novels written by J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Strike

2017

Rivals poster
7.4

It is 1986 and Britain is booming. "Rivals" dives headfirst into the cutthroat world of TV where hair-dos are big and ambitions are even bigger. Deals are brokered in boardrooms, as well as bedrooms. Nobody can be sure who will come out on top. With every man and woman out only for themselves, can true love really blossom?

Rivals

2024

Rush poster
7.7

In the 1970s, a rivalry propels race car drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt to fame and glory — until a horrible accident threatens to end it all.

Rush

2013

Churchill at War poster
7.6

This captivating docuseries examines Winston Churchill's pivotal role in World War II and the formative events that made him an ideal leader for the era.

Churchill at War

2024

Film credits

2010s · 27 titles

Rush poster
7.7

In the 1970s, a rivalry propels race car drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt to fame and glory — until a horrible accident threatens to end it all.

Rush

2013

The Theory of Everything poster
7.8

Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time.

The Theory of Everything

2014

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy poster
6.6

George Smiley, the aging master spy of the Cold War and once heir apparent to Control, is brought back out of retirement to flush out a top level mole within the Circus. Smiley must travel back through his life and murky workings of the Circus to unravel the net spun by his nemesis Karla 'The Sandman' of the KGB and reveal the identity of the mole before he disappears.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

2011

Crooked House poster
6.4

A private investigator helps a former flame solve the murder of her wealthy grandfather, who lived in a sprawling estate surrounded by his idiosyncratic family.

Crooked House

2017

Florence Foster Jenkins poster
6.7

The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress, who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice.

Florence Foster Jenkins

2016

Serena poster
5.6

North Carolina mountains at the end of the 1920s – George and Serena Pemberton, love-struck newly-weds, begin to build a timber empire. Serena soon proves herself to be equal to any man: overseeing loggers, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving a man’s life in the wilderness. With power and influence now in their hands, the Pembertons refuse to let anyone stand in the way of their inflated love and ambitions. However, once Serena discovers George’s hidden past and faces an unchangeable fate of her own, the Pemberton’s passionate marriage begins to unravel leading toward a dramatic reckoning.

Serena

2014

The Leisure Seeker poster
7.1

A runaway couple go on an unforgettable journey from Boston to Key West, recapturing their passion for life and their love for each other on a road trip that provides revelation and surprise right up to the very end.

The Leisure Seeker

2018

The Young Messiah poster
6.4

Tells the story of Jesus Christ at age seven as he and his family depart Egypt to return home to Nazareth. Told from his childhood perspective, it follows young Jesus as he grows into his religious identity.

The Young Messiah

2016

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger poster
5.9

Two married couples find only trouble and heartache as their complicated lives unfold. After 40 years of marriage, Alfie leaves his wife to pursue what he thinks is happiness with a call girl. His wife, Helena, reeling from abandonment, decides to follow the advice of a psychic. Sally, the daughter of Alfie and Helena, is unhappy in her marriage and develops a crush on her boss, while her husband, Roy, falls for a woman engaged to be married.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

2010

Northern Soul poster
5.8

Set in 1974, an authentic and uplifting tale of two friends whose horizons are opened up by the discovery of black American soul music.

Northern Soul

2014

The Devil's Violinist poster
6.6

The life story of Italian violinist and composer, Niccolò Paganini, who rose to fame as a virtuoso in the early 19th Century.

The Devil's Violinist

2013

I Melt with You poster
5.3

Former college friends meet up for a reunion that leads them to face the apparent disillusionment that defines their lives. After a week of excessive drug and alcohol abuse, events lead them to contemplate fulfilling a self destructive pact they made when they were young.

I Melt with You

2011

Closer to the Moon poster
6.5

A Romanian police officer teams up with a small crew of bank robbers to pull off a heist by convincing everyone at the scene of the crime that they are only filming a movie.

Closer to the Moon

2014

Mr. Nice poster
6.1

Biopic about 1970s Welsh marijuana trafficker Howard Marks, whose inventive smuggling schemes made him a huge success in the drug trade, as well as leading to dealings with both the IRA and British Intelligence. Based on Marks' biography with the same title.

Mr. Nice

2010

Churchill's Secret poster
6.3

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill suffers from a stroke in the summer of 1953 that's kept a secret from the rest of the world.

Churchill's Secret

2016

No artwork available
NR

HERE LIES is a film about filmmaking and the struggles involved in the creative process: artistic, technical, financial and personal.

Here Lies

2013

Legacy poster
5.2

A KGB plot to attack the UK has plunged Britain into a state of emergency. Charles, a young MI6 spy, is asked to revive an old friendship with Russian diplomat Viktor. But Viktor has his own agenda.

Legacy

2013

Astonish Me poster
8.0

When a young boy gets locked in the Natural History Museum after closing, a mysterious guard gives him a magical ticket that allows him to visit a restricted area of the museum, where a professor and a guide show him examples of the wondrous new species of animals being discovered every day on Earth.

Astonish Me

2011

Provenance poster
7.0

A classical musician travels to the South of France to escape his demons and wait for his new love, a younger woman named Sophia. Trying to come to peace with his new life in these slow, peaceful surroundings, his seemingly chance meeting with Peter will threaten to derail everything.

Provenance

2017

The Second Hearing poster
6.0

The cold-hearted AI that runs a futuristic prison summons a prisoner to face his second parole hearing. Can he re-enact his crime without offending again?

The Second Hearing

2019

ChickLit poster
5.4

ChickLit is a comedy drama about four guys trying to save their local pub from closing down. They group write a chick lit, or more specifically a 'mummy porn' novel in the style of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and it gets snapped up. The only snag is that the publisher insists that the young woman 'author' does press and publicity. The guys have to keep their involvement a secret and so engage an out of work actress to 'role play' the part of the author. This leads to her becoming the star in the film of the book, the tables are turned on the guys and she is in control - leaving them with the awful prospect of having to secretly churn out sex novels for the foreseeable future.

ChickLit

2016

Creditors poster
4.4

A love triangle is unraveled when a young painter is approached by an admirer who eases him into making sense of his relationship with his wife.

Creditors

2015

Draw on Sweet Night poster
NR

Composer John Wilbye spent his entire working life in the employ of Sir and Lady Kytson at Hengrave Hall in Suffolk. Unusually, after his second book of Madrigals was published in 1609 it appears he did not compose again despite being kept on at the house by Lady Kytson until her death in 1628. Draw On Sweet Night examines this mystery in a sumptuous costume drama, produced in collaboration with renowned vocal group I Fagiolini.

Draw on Sweet Night

2015

The Road to Coronation Street poster
7.1

The story of how 22 year old writer Tony Warren conceived, wrote and fought for the record breaking UK TV series Coronation Street.

The Road to Coronation Street

2010

No artwork available
NR

Two down-on-their-luck American brothers travel to England to sell their late grandfather's country estate. A straightforward plan if it weren't for the strangers in the house and the sinister man on their tail.

The Last Sparks of Sundown

2014

The Engagement poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The Engagement

2014

Deerfall poster
NR

What does a lonely, nature-loving boy have to do in order to win his father's approval?

Deerfall

2010

2000s · 6 titles

Me and Orson Welles poster
6.4

New York, 1937. A teenager hired to star in Orson Welles' production of Julius Caesar becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant.

Me and Orson Welles

2008

Vivaldi, the Red Priest poster
6.0

The life of Antonio Vivaldi, called "the red priest", his relationship with the world and the Church, his spiritual battles, his love for a woman.

Vivaldi, the Red Priest

2009

Riot at the Rite poster
8.0

In the spring of 1913, Parisian businessman Gabriel Astruc opens a new theater on the Champs Elysées. The first performance is the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring', danced by the Ballet Russes. The rehearsal process is extremely fraught: the orchestra dislike Stravinsky's harsh, atonal music; the dancers dislike the 'ugly' choreography of Vaslav Nijinsky. The volatile, bisexual Nijinsky is in a strained relationship with the much older Sergei Diaghilev, the Ballet Russes' charismatic but manipulative impresario. Public expectation is extremely high after Nijinsky's success in 'L'apres-midi d'un faune'. Finally, 'The Rite of Spring' premieres to a gossip-loving, febrile, fashion-conscious Parisian audience sharply divided as to its merits.

Riot at the Rite

2005

A Short Stay in Switzerland poster
6.9

Just after losing her husband to a similar condition, Dr Anne Turner is diagnosed with a fatal neurological condition. So she plans to end her life herself. Based on a true story.

A Short Stay in Switzerland

2009

Abraham's Point poster
4.0

A man struggles to get over a family tragedy that has haunted him since childhood.

Abraham's Point

2008

Margaret poster
5.7

A detailed and compelling portrait of one of the most formidable characters in British politics as she faces her final days in power. The year is 1990 and Margaret Thatcher's support within the government is wavering - her hold on the premiership hangs in the balance. Then, long-serving politician Sir Geoffrey Howe resigns over Thatcher's attitude to Europe. His resignation speech sparks a chain of events that leads to the overthrow of Britain's first woman prime minister. This modern dramatic tragedy illustrates the strengths and fatal flaws of this iconic woman more clearly than ever before and reveals how the very aspects of her character that helped her secure power are the ones that ensured her downfall. Drama starring Lindsay Duncan.

Margaret

2009

Series credits

Agatha Christie's Poirot poster
8.2

From England to Egypt, accompanied by his elegant and trustworthy sidekicks, the intelligent yet eccentrically-refined Belgian detective Hercule Poirot pits his wits against a collection of first class deceptions.

Agatha Christie's Poirot

1989

Warrior poster
8.0

A gritty, action-packed crime drama set during the brutal Tong Wars of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the second half of the 19th century. The series follows Ah Sahm, a martial arts prodigy who immigrates from China to San Francisco under mysterious circumstances, and becomes a hatchet man for one of Chinatown’s most powerful tongs.

Warrior

2019

Strike poster
7.2

A war veteran turned private detective operates out of a tiny office in London’s Denmark Street. Although wounded both physically and psychologically, his unique insight and background as a military police investigator prove crucial in solving complex crimes that have baffled the police. Based on the bestselling novels written by J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Strike

2017

Rivals poster
7.4

It is 1986 and Britain is booming. "Rivals" dives headfirst into the cutthroat world of TV where hair-dos are big and ambitions are even bigger. Deals are brokered in boardrooms, as well as bedrooms. Nobody can be sure who will come out on top. With every man and woman out only for themselves, can true love really blossom?

Rivals

2024

Churchill at War poster
7.6

This captivating docuseries examines Winston Churchill's pivotal role in World War II and the formative events that made him an ideal leader for the era.

Churchill at War

2024

Borgia poster
7.3

The name Borgia stands for betrayal, intrigue and corruption in the Vatican, which was the center of the world during the Renaissance.

Borgia

2011

Frontier poster
6.8

In 18th-century North America, ruthless trappers and entrepreneurs fight to wrest control of the fur trade from the mighty Hudson's Bay Company.

Frontier

2016

FDR poster
6.7

The new documentary event will provide an epic portrait of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, unpacking how his own fight with polio prepared him for the challenges of leading the United States through the Great Depression and World War II. Based upon Goodwin's New York Times bestseller, Leadership: In Turbulent Times, viewers will experience a most harrowing, yet heroic time in history when through grit, commitment and shared sacrifice FDR was the right man at the right time to lead the U.S. and the allied nations, projecting confidence in himself and America.

FDR

2023

Jekyll and Hyde poster
6.4

Inspired by the original novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, Jekyll and Hyde is set in 1930s London and follows Robert Jekyll, the grandson of Henry Jekyll, on his quest to discover his real identity, his true family history and the nature of his ‘curse’ – which his foster father, Dr Vishal Najaran, is controlling with medication. His journey takes him into a dark and unforgiving place, as his alter ego seems capable of anything. At the same time there are shadowy forces trying to find Jekyll and the source of his powers.

Jekyll and Hyde

2015