Biografía

In 2012, he was listed in The Hospital Club and Time Out's 100 influential people list, namely for his role as "Jim Moriarty" in the TV series, Sherlock (2010).

From the Times of London newspaper of June, 2, 2019: He had come out to his loved ones years ago and was for a long time in a relationship with the writer Stephen Beresford, who in 2014 gave him one of his most "out" roles, in the rainbow-hued miners'-strike film Pride.

According to his podcast interview on Elizabeth Day's How to Fail, Scott flunked out of Trinity College Dublin his first year for too many absences, but did not know it and showed up the first day of his second year only to be told to go home.

He was awarded the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, along with fellow cast members Ben Whishaw, Katherine Parkinson and Paul Jesson, director James McDonald and playwright Mike Bartlett, for the Royal Court Theatre production of "Cock" by Mike Bartlett.

In 2005, he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement or Performance in an affiliate Theatre for his performance in "A Girl in a Car With a Man".

[Speaking about how he learned a Russian accent for Legacy, and his homosexuality] There isn't a huge amount of footage of Russians speaking English as a second language, so I started looking at Vladimir Putin videos on YouTube. But then Putin introduced anti-gay legislation this summer - so, being a gay person, I switched to Rudolf Nureyev videos instead. It was another Nureyev defection of sorts!

Scott is low-key on the subject of his sexuality. "Mercifully, these days people don't see being gay as a character flaw. But nor is it a virtue, like kindness. Or a talent, like playing the banjo. It's just a fact. Of course, it's part of my make-up, but I don't want to trade on it. I am a private person; I think that's important if you're an actor. But there's a difference between privacy and secrecy, and I'm not a secretive person. Really I just want to get on with my job, which is to pretend to be lots of different people. Simple as that."

He has lived in London for the past decade with his partner, who is "sort of" in the business. "And that's all you're getting." He clams up. "It sounds maybe a little old fashioned, but the parts I want to play and I do play, you don't want to inject too much of your own personality. What you sacrifice then is a slight mystery."

People get distracted by box-office figures and take jobs because they think it will advance their careers. Of course, it's nice to get a big cheque and be able to buy a massive house, but my view is that we're not here long, so why not do something of value?

I'm an enthusiast for people, and I don't want them to become the enemy. I've seen that happen to colleagues who are disturbed the whole time, but there's a certain degree of control you can have if you keep yourself to yourself. The kind of actors I admire move through different characters and genres. That's the kind of actor I try to be. If you want that, you have to be circumspect about your private life.

[when asked about fans] You get the occasional odd person.