Gary Stevenson (born 30 November 1957), better known as Gary Lewis, is a Scottish actor. He has had roles in films such as Billy Elliot (2000), Gangs of New York (2002), Joyeux Noël (2005) and Eragon (2006), as well as major roles in the television docudrama Supervolcano, the Starz series Outlander, and the BBC One thriller Vigil.
For Billy Elliot he received a nomination for the BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and for Mo (2010) he received a nomination for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing Adam Ingram.
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Early life
Stevenson was born on 30 November 1957 in Easterhouse, Glasgow, the middle of three children; his father was a coppersmith and his mother worked in a local biscuit factory. After leaving school, he had a series of jobs, including as a street sweeper and working in a library.
He completed a social science degree at Glasgow College of Technology (now Glasgow Caledonian University), graduating with honours in 1983. Encouraged by his high school English teacher, he read voraciously and eventually decided to pursue an acting career.
Career
Theatre
In 1979, Lewis starred in writer Freddy Anderson's Fringe First Award-winning play Krassivy, based on the life of Socialist school teacher John Maclean. Although he had pursued amateur theatrics, Lewis was 32 before he committed to acting, joining Robert Carlyle's newly formed Raindog Theatre. There he performed in plays such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ecstasy and Wasted.
He also worked with the 7:84 Theatre Company on The Grapes of Wrath, The Arches Theatre Company's production of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party, and starred in One Two Hey by Glaswegian author James Kelman.
Film work
In 1993, with the support of his friend actor-director Peter Mullan, Lewis was cast in the short film Close. After working together on the short, both actors appeared in Danny Boyle's 1994 thriller Shallow Grave, alongside Ewan McGregor and Christopher Eccleston. Lewis also was featured in Mullan's subsequent shorts Good Day for the Bad Guys (1995) and the award-winning Fridge (1996).
Lewis joined director Kenneth Loach's unofficial stock company, lending support to his two mentors in separate films. With Robert Carlyle, he co-starred in Carla's Song (1996), while he played a recovering alcoholic alongside Mullan in My Name Is Joe (1998). Between the two films, Lewis was featured in Sigma Films' short California Sunshine (1997). He again worked with Mullan, who cast Lewis as over-righteous elder sibling Thomas in Orphans (1998), an examination of a dysfunctional family. That same year he was featured in director Albert Pyun's independent film Postmortem, director Sean McGuire's short film The Good Son, director Kenny Glenaan's short The Whirlpool, short film The Lucky Suit opposite Robert Carlyle, and screenwriter Barry Gornell's short film Sonny's Pride.
In 1999, Lewis starred in Ayub Khan Din's dramatic comedy East is East, and Bill Forsyth's comedy Gregory's Two Girls. He went on to star with Max Beesley in The Match (1999).
He landed an international breakthrough in Billy Elliot (2000). Lewis's portrayal of a grief-stricken father, coping with the 1984-85 miner's strike and raising a son who wants to become a ballet dancer, earned him a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
In 2000, Lewis starred in May Miles Thomas's drama One Life Stand. Adapted as a film, it premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival, featuring Michael Caine as a boxing coach who was possibly involved in a murder, and released as Shiner. It screened at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Lewis finished the year with several short films, including What Where, a 12-minute short with Sean McGinley based upon Samuel Beckett's play of the same name, director David Mackenzie's Marcie's Dowry, The Elevator alongside Ashley Walters, Long Haul alongside Simone Lahbib, Clean with actor Stephen McCole, and director David McKay's Caesar. He appeared in an additional short film in 2001, Rob of the Rovers, which followed a day in the life of gym teacher Rob Meadows.
Television
Lewis's first professional role, in 1993, was in BBC's anthology series Screen One, in a feature-length episode entitled Down Among the Big Boys. The standalone film, also starring Douglas Henshall and Billy Connolly, focuses on the marriage of a policeman's son to a criminal's daughter. His next project was a 1995 made-for-TV movie from writer/director David Kane. Ruffian Hearts is a romantic comedy set in a Glasgow tenement where Lewis's character resided. Between 1995 and 1999, Lewis appeared in several episodes of series such as Doctor Finlay, Hamish MacBeth opposite Robert Carlyle, BBC medical drama Cardiac Arrest, BBC anthology Screen Two's feature length Flowers of the Forest, school drama Hope and Glory, and BBC Scotland's medical drama Life Support. During that time, he also appeared in director Mark Haber's made-for-TV film The Princess Stallion and BAFTA winning television film Coming Soon.
In 2002, Lewis starred in CBC's award-winning TV film The Many Trials of One Jane Doe, which is based on a true story of a Toronto woman who challenged the police and their investigation after being raped, through a lengthy court battle. 2003 saw Lewis return to the BBC for director Antonia Bird's compelling TV film Rehab, a semi-improvised film about the rehabilitation of people addicted to drugs.
That same year he featured in scriptwriter Andrew Davies's made for TV historical drama Warrior Queen, which detailed the birth of Great Britain. His next project, Gunpowder, Treason and Plot (2004), was a four part mini-series for the BBC on the lives of Mary Queen of Scots and her son James VI of Scotland/James I of England. Lewis portrayed historical figure John Knox, a prominent leader of the Scottish Reformation who supervised the preparation of the Reformed Church of Scotland's constitution and liturgy.
The BBC and The Discovery Channel partnered in 2005 to produce a made-for-TV film, Supervolcano, that proposed a scenario where the magma chamber beneath Yellowstone National Park erupted. Filmed in Vancouver and Yellowstone, it starred Lewis alongside Michael Riley and Shaun Johnston. Between 2006 and 2008, Lewis appeared in a wide range episodic television programs, including ITV's crime thriller Rebus, Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act alongside Helen Mirren, ITV's showcase series Comedy Lab, the second of two episodes he appeared in (the first was in 1999), Channel 4's mini series City of Vice, Wired alongside Jodie Whittaker, crime drama Taggart the second of two episodes he appeared in (the first was in 1996), and BBC comedy Rab C. Nesbitt.
