Scoot McNairy

McNairy moved to Austin, Texas, when he was 18 to attend the University of Texas at Austin.[7] He appeared in Wrong Numbers (2001), written and directed by Alex Holdridge. The film won the Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival.[4] Holdridge was hired to remake Wrong Numbers into a studio picture, which was never made.[5]

Interested in cinematography and photography, McNairy moved to Los Angeles to go to film school.[4] He attended for a year,[8] then dropped out and began working in film production, doing carpentry and building film sets. Then he worked as an extra, until he eventually found steady work in over 200 TV commercials. He eventually was offered roles in feature films, a career he has been pursuing since 2001.[2][9]

During the early 2000s, McNairy portrayed colorful and individualistic young men with a rebellious edge. He had small parts in films, including Wonderland (2003), Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005), and Art School Confidential (2006).

In 2010, McNairy worked on The Listening Party as Ferret and Everything Will Happen Before You Die as Matt. 2010 also saw the release of the alien invader film Monsters by Gareth Edwards, which featured largely improvised dialogue and was shot in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Texas.[10][11][12]

In 2011, McNairy played Frankie in director Andrew Dominik's film Killing Them Softly (2012) opposite Brad Pitt.[13] The film is based on the 1974 novel Cogan's Trade by George V. Higgins, re-envisioned to take place during the 2008 election.[9]

The role led to a string of high-profile roles, including Ben Affleck's Argo (2012),[3] Gus Van Sant's Promised Land (2012), and Lynn Shelton's Touchy Feely (2013) opposite Rosemarie DeWitt, which also stars Elliot Page, Josh Pais, and Allison Janney.[14] For his role as Joe Stafford in Argo, he studied Persian, which he spoke in his final monologue in the film.[15]

In 2013, he appeared in Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave, which again included Pitt. McNairy filmed his second movie with Michael Fassbender, Leonard Abrahamson's Frank, and co-starred in Jaume Collet-Serra's Non-Stop (2014), opposite Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore.[15]

He appears in David Michod's The Rover (2014) opposite Robert Pattinson and Guy Pearce. McNairy starred as computer engineer and internet pioneer Gordon Clark in the AMC Network drama Halt and Catch Fire, about the personal computer business in the 1980s and 1990s.[16][17] The series ran for four seasons from 2013-2017 to high critical acclaim.[18] By coincidence, his character's wife in Halt and Catch Fire is portrayed by actor Kerry Bishé, who also played his spouse in Argo.

McNairy played Wallace Keefe in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).[19] In September 2016, McNairy was announced as a cast member in the third season of the FX drama Fargo.[20] In 2017, McNairy played crime boss Novak in the crime drama Sleepless and co-starred in the Netflix western-miniseries Godless as shortsighted sheriff Bill McNue.

Since 2018, McNairy has portrayed DEA Agent Walt Breslin on Narcos: Mexico, the companion series to Narcos.

He worked as producer for 2007's In Search of a Midnight Kiss, in which he also starred and which is referred to as his breakout film.[21][22]

He has worked on a number of other projects as an actor and producer, including 2012's A Night in the Woods; and Angry White Man, Dragon Day, and The Off Hours, all released in 2011.[14]

In 2002, McNairy appeared in the music video for Death Cab for Cutie's "A Movie Script Ending".

In 2006, McNairy appeared in the music video for "Fidelity" by Regina Spektor, directed by McNairy's friend Marc Webb.[6]

In 2009, McNairy appeared in the Bookshort for "Jpod" by Douglas Coupland, incorrectly attributed as "Scoot McNally"