During the early 2000s, actor Scoot McNairy quickly came to specialize in portrayals of colorful and individualistic young men with a slightly rebellious edge. McNairy began during the early to mid-2000s, with bit parts in films including Wonderland (2003), Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005), and Art School Confidential (2006). He took his first bow as a producer with 2007’s In Search of a Midnight Kiss, in which he also starred. That indie romantic comedy concerns a young man (McNairy) all washed up on New Year’s Eve — until an impulsive ad on Craigslist leads him to the great love of his life (Sara Simmonds) and an extraordinary night on the town.
Scoot McNairy
Movies
Bobby
Tuesday, June 4, 1968: the California Presidential primary. As day breaks, Robert F. Kennedy arrives at the Ambassador Hotel. He’ll campaign, then speak to supporters at midnight. To capture the texture of the late 1960s, we see vignettes at the hotel: a couple marries so he can avoid Vietnam, kitchen…
Fun Facts
McNairy had one nomination and one win from the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards, for his role as a producer for the film In Search of a Midnight Kiss (2007). The Independent Spirit Awards nominated him for the 2009 John Cassavetes Award, as best producer, along with Scott Allen Caplan. They were announced as the winners of the award at the 2009 Independent Spirit Award ceremony.
His father started to call him Scooter from when Scoot was two years old because he used to 'scoot around' on his 'butt.'.
After spending most of his acting career living in LA, he and wife Whitney moved back to his native Texas. They divorced in 2009.
One of his first big acting jobs was in a Levi's commercial where he had to allow himself to be thrown from a mechanical bull, even though he had grown up in Texas simulating just this kind of bull-riding with friends--practicing on ''barrels that you tied to four trees with springs on them. A guy would get on each rope and rock the barrel back and forth...'.
Began acting in his early twenties after moving to Austin, Texas and being cast in his friend Alex Holbridge's film 'Wrong Numbers'.
Has no formal acting training.
Worked as a carpenter and set designer on film sets.
He describes himself as "very dyslexic"".
He originally wanted to be a cinematographer.
Was in an on-screen relationship with Kerry Bishé in both Argo (2012) and the AMC television series Halt and Catch Fire (2014).
He appeared in two Best Picture Academy Award winners in consecutive years: Argo (2012) and 12 Years a Slave (2013).
Scoot has worked with Ben Affleck in several productions
Quotes
I've been asked, 'What was your big break?' I don't feel like I've had a big break. It's been a slow, slow break. I want my career to grow gradually. There's still so much for me to learn. I'm just trying to take these opportunities to get better at what I'm doing.
[on the prospect of stardom] I'm really not thinking too much about that. I'm trying to take good scripts with good stories, and figure out where I fit into those stories. Whether I want to stick around with character roles or be a leading man isn't clear. Leading roles are something that I think is around the corner for me, but financing is always a very important aspect. I don't know if my name is valuable enough at this point that people are going to put $20 million on a film with me as the lead.
[performing Jesse in 'Touchy Feely'] I think I'm incredibly distanced from a character like that. I'm not somebody who's thirty or thirty-one and lost. I'm very specific in what I want in my life, and I'm going after it, whereas Jesse is more like, 'Whatever happens happens. Who cares?'. I personally have never felt that way.
[on playing Frankie in 'Killing Them Softly'] The accent was something I sort of made up. My own take on a Boston accent I guess. I worked really hard on that character, probably more so than I've worked on some other ones, and maybe that was because I felt there was a lot more riding on it.