Six months prior to his graduation from Guildhall, McGregor won a leading role in Dennis Potter's six-part Channel 4 series Lipstick on Your Collar (1993).
Not long afterwards, he starred in the BBC adaptation of Scarlet and Black (also 1993) with a young Rachel Weisz, and made his film debut in Bill Forsyth's Being Human (1994).
For his role in the thriller Shallow Grave (also 1994), he won an Empire Award.
The film was his first collaboration with director Danny Boyle.
His international breakthrough followed with the role of heroin addict Mark Renton in Boyle's Trainspotting (1996), an adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel of the same name.

McGregor played the male romantic lead role in the British film Little Voice (1998).
He was cast as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999); the character was originally played by Sir Alec Guinness in the first Star Wars trilogy.
While the prequels received criticism, McGregor's performance was well received.
He reprised the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi for the subsequent prequels Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005).
His uncle, Denis Lawson, had played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy.

McGregor starred in Moulin Rouge! (
2001) as the young poet Christian, who falls in love with the terminally-ill courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman), for which his performance was widely praised and nabbed McGregor his first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination.
He starred alongside Renée Zellweger in Down with Love (2003).
He also portrayed the younger Edward Bloom in the critically acclaimed film Big Fish (2003) alongside Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman and Billy Crudup.
In the same period, he also received critical acclaim for his portrayal of an amoral drifter mixed up with murder in the drama Young Adam (also 2003), which co-starred Tilda Swinton.

McGregor voiced two successful animated features; he played the robot Rodney Copperbottom in Robots, which also featured the voices of Halle Berry and Robin Williams, and he voiced the lead character in Gary Chapman's Valiant (both 2005), alongside Jim Broadbent, John Cleese and Ricky Gervais.
Also around this time, McGregor played two roles – one a clone of the other – opposite Scarlett Johansson in Michael Bay's science fiction action thriller film The Island (2005).
He also headlined Marc Forster's 2005 film Stay, a psychological thriller co-starring Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling.

He narrated the Fulldome production Astronaut (2006), created for the National Space Centre.
Around the same time, he also narrated the STV show JetSet (also 2006), a six-part series following the lives of trainee pilots and navigators at RAF Lossiemouth as they undergo a gruelling six-month course learning to fly the Tornado GR4, the RAF's primary attack aircraft.
McGregor starred opposite Colin Farrell in the Woody Allen film Cassandra's Dream (2007), and he co-starred with Jim Carrey in I Love You Phillip Morris and appeared in Amelia (both 2009) alongside Hilary Swank.
He played "the ghost" – the unnamed main character – in Roman Polanski's political thriller The Ghost Writer (2010).
He portrayed Camerlengo Patrick McKenna in Angels & Demons (also 2009), the film adaptation of Dan Brown's novel of the same name.
In 2011, McGregor starred in the British comedy Salmon Fishing in the Yemen directed by Lasse Hallström and co-starring Emily Blunt and Kristin Scott Thomas, for which he received his second Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination.
At the same year, he was awarded with the SIFF Golden Space Needle Award for Outstanding Achievement in Acting at the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival.

In 2012, he was a member of the Jury for the Main Competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
At the San Sebastián International Film Festival, he was awarded the Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award and became the youngest recipient of the award.
In 2013, McGregor starred alongside M
Six months prior to his graduation from Guildhall, McGregor won a leading role in Dennis Potter's six-part Channel 4 series Lipstick on Your Collar (1993). Not long afterwards, he starred in the BBC adaptation of Scarlet and Black (also 1993) with a young Rachel Weisz, and made his film debut in Bill Forsyth's Being Human (1994). For his role in the thriller Shallow Grave (also 1994), he won an Empire Award. The film was his first collaboration with director Danny Boyle. His international breakthrough followed with the role of heroin addict Mark Renton in Boyle's Trainspotting (1996), an adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel of the same name.
McGregor played the male romantic lead role in the British film Little Voice (1998). He was cast as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999); the character was originally played by Sir Alec Guinness in the first Star Wars trilogy. While the prequels received criticism, McGregor's performance was well received. He reprised the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi for the subsequent prequels Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005). His uncle, Denis Lawson, had played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy.
McGregor starred in Moulin Rouge! (2001) as the young poet Christian, who falls in love with the terminally-ill courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman), for which his performance was widely praised and nabbed McGregor his first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination. He starred alongside Renée Zellweger in Down with Love (2003). He also portrayed the younger Edward Bloom in the critically acclaimed film Big Fish (2003) alongside Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman and Billy Crudup. In the same period, he also received critical acclaim for his portrayal of an amoral drifter mixed up with murder in the drama Young Adam (also 2003), which co-starred Tilda Swinton.
McGregor voiced two successful animated features; he played the robot Rodney Copperbottom in Robots, which also featured the voices of Halle Berry and Robin Williams, and he voiced the lead character in Gary Chapman's Valiant (both 2005), alongside Jim Broadbent, John Cleese and Ricky Gervais. Also around this time, McGregor played two roles – one a clone of the other – opposite Scarlett Johansson in Michael Bay's science fiction action thriller film The Island (2005). He also headlined Marc Forster's 2005 film Stay, a psychological thriller co-starring Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling.
He narrated the Fulldome production Astronaut (2006), created for the National Space Centre. Around the same time, he also narrated the STV show JetSet (also 2006), a six-part series following the lives of trainee pilots and navigators at RAF Lossiemouth as they undergo a gruelling six-month course learning to fly the Tornado GR4, the RAF's primary attack aircraft. McGregor starred opposite Colin Farrell in the Woody Allen film Cassandra's Dream (2007), and he co-starred with Jim Carrey in I Love You Phillip Morris and appeared in Amelia (both 2009) alongside Hilary Swank. He played "the ghost" – the unnamed main character – in Roman Polanski's political thriller The Ghost Writer (2010). He portrayed Camerlengo Patrick McKenna in Angels & Demons (also 2009), the film adaptation of Dan Brown's novel of the same name. In 2011, McGregor starred in the British comedy Salmon Fishing in the Yemen directed by Lasse Hallström and co-starring Emily Blunt and Kristin Scott Thomas, for which he received his second Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination. At the same year, he was awarded with the SIFF Golden Space Needle Award for Outstanding Achievement in Acting at the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival.
In 2012, he was a member of the Jury for the Main Competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. At the San Sebastián International Film Festival, he was awarded the Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award and became the youngest recipient of the award. In 2013, McGregor starred alongside M
Ewan McGregor