Scoot McNairy | |
|---|---|
.jpg) McNairy at the2024 Toronto International Film Festival | |
| Born | John McNairy (1977-11-11)November 11, 1977 (age 48) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2001–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
John "Scoot"McNairy (born November 11, 1977) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in films such asMonsters (2010),Argo,Killing Them Softly (both 2012),Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016),Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (2022),Speak No Evil, andNightbitch (both 2024).[1]
On television, McNairy starred as Gordon Clark in theAMC period dramaHalt and Catch Fire (2014–2017), Bill McNue in theNetflix miniseriesGodless (2017), Walt Breslin on Netflix'sNarcos: Mexico (2018–2021), Tom Purcell on thethird season ofTrue Detective (2019), andRod Rosenstein in theShowtime miniseriesThe Comey Rule (2020). His accolades include anIndependent Spirit Award and aScreen Actors Guild Award, as well as anInternational Emmy Award nomination forNarcos: Mexico.
John McNairy was born on November 11, 1977, inDallas,Texas. In addition to a house in Dallas, the family had a ranch in ruralParis, Texas, where they spent time on weekends and holidays.[2][3] Growing up, he did theater in after-school programs.[4] His father began calling him Scooter when he was about two years old. "A lot of people are like, oh, it must be some amazing story. But it's because I used to scoot around on my butt", says McNairy.[5]
McNairy has stated that he is "highlydyslexic" and that he had to "go to dyslexia school for four years." He describes himself as a visual learner and was attracted to films for that reason.[6] McNairy attendedLake Highlands High School.[7]
McNairy moved toAustin, Texas, when he was 18 to attend theUniversity of Texas at Austin.[8] In 2001, he appeared inWrong Numbers, written and directed byAlex Holdridge, which won the Audience Award at theAustin Film Festival.[3] Holdridge was hired to remakeWrong 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.[3] He attended for a year,[9] then dropped out and began working in film production, doing carpentry and building film sets. He then worked as an extra before eventually securing a consistent job in more than 200 TV commercials. He eventually was offered roles in feature films, a career he has been pursuing since 2001.[4][10]
During the early 2000s, McNairy portrayed colorful and individualistic young men with a rebellious edge. He had small parts in films, includingWonderland,Herbie: Fully Loaded, andArt School Confidential. 2010 saw the release of the alien invader filmMonsters byGareth Edwards, in which McNairy starred and featured largely improvised dialogue and was shot in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Texas.[11][12][13]
In 2012, McNairy played Frankie in directorAndrew Dominik's filmKilling Them Softly oppositeBrad Pitt.[14] This led to a string of high-profile roles, includingBen Affleck'sArgo,[2]Gus Van Sant'sPromised Land, andLynn Shelton'sTouchy Feely oppositeRosemarie DeWitt.[15] For his role as Joe Stafford inArgo, he studiedPersian, which he spoke in his final monologue in the film.[16] In 2013, he appeared inSteve McQueen's12 Years a Slave, which again included Pitt. McNairy filmed his second movie withMichael Fassbender, Leonard Abrahamson'sFrank, and co-starred inJaume Collet-Serra'sNon-Stop, oppositeLiam Neeson andJulianne Moore.[16]
He appears inDavid Michod'sThe Rover oppositeRobert Pattinson andGuy Pearce. McNairy starred as computer engineer and internet pioneer Gordon Clark in theAMC Network dramaHalt and Catch Fire, about the personal computer business in the 1980s and 1990s.[17][18] The series ran for four seasons from 2014 to 2017 to high critical acclaim.[19] By coincidence, his character's wife inHalt and Catch Fire is portrayed by actorKerry Bishé, who also played his spouse inArgo. McNairy played Wallace Keefe inBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.[20] In September 2016, McNairy was announced as a cast member in thethird season of theFX dramaFargo.[21]
In 2017, McNairy played crime boss Novak in the crime dramaSleepless and returned to television when he co-starred in theNetflix western-miniseriesGodless as shortsighted sheriff Bill McNue. Since 2018, he has also portrayedDEA Agent Walt Breslin on Netflix'sNarcos: Mexico. He received critical acclaim for his portrayal of troubled father Tom Purcell in the third season ofTrue Detective in 2019.[22]
McNairy next appeared inTaurus, alongsideMachine Gun Kelly (who also co-wrote the script) andMegan Fox, which premiered at the72nd Berlin International Film Festival.[23] He also reunited withAndrew Dominik in the 2022 filmBlonde, an adaptation ofJoyce Carol Oates's historical fiction novel that chronicles the inner life ofMarilyn Monroe. In 2022, McNairy also starred in theNetflix mystery filmLuckiest Girl Alive and the live-action/animated hybrid musical comedyLyle, Lyle, Crocodile.[24] Additionally, he voiced a character inAMC's animated seriesPantheon.[25]
McNairy portrayed folk singer-songwriterWoody Guthrie in the 2024Bob Dylan biopicA Complete Unknown, which starredTimothée Chalamet.[26]
As of July 2022, McNairy is filming the dramaThe Line.[27] He will star in the filmFairyland, which concluded production in June 2022. In February 2022, it was announced that McNairy would star alongsideMichael Shannon,Emilia Clarke andDane DeHaan in an upcomingJoseph McCarthy biopic.[28] In May 2022, he reportedly joinedJack Reynor andEmily Browning in psychological thrillerBrightwater.[29] That same month, McNairy was announced as part of the cast forBlood for Dust, an action thriller, also includingKit Harington andJosh Lucas.[30] A month later, McNairy also joinedAmy Adams inMarielle Heller'sNightbitch.[31] Filming is set to start in September 2022. As of July 2023, McNairy is set to be in the upcoming third season of the Amazon Prime seriesInvincible.
McNairy worked as producer for 2007'sIn Search of a Midnight Kiss, in which he also starred and which is referred to as his breakout film.[32][33] He has worked on a number of other projects as an actor and producer, including 2012'sA Night in the Woods; andAngry White Man,Dragon Day, andThe Off Hours, all released in 2011.[15]
McNairy married actressWhitney Able in 2010. They initially started dating in Los Angeles about six months before co-starring inMonsters.[35] They have two children.[36] On November 19, 2019, Able announced that they had divorced.[37] As of 2025, he is in a relationship with actressSosie Bacon.[38]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Wrong Numbers | Russell | ||
| 2002 | Plugged In | Raver Kid #1 | Short film | |
| 2003 | Sexless | Ryan | ||
| Wonderland | Jack | |||
| Silenced | Friend #1 | Short film | ||
| 2004 | D.E.B.S. | Stoner | ||
| White Men in Seminole Flats | Dale | Short film | ||
| Sleepover | DJ at Club | |||
| 2005 | Herbie: Fully Loaded | Augie | ||
| 2006 | Marcus | Charles | ||
| Art School Confidential | Army-Jacket | |||
| Bobby | Beatnik | |||
| The Shadow Effect | Harold Grey | Short film | ||
| Mr. Fix It | Dan | |||
| 2007 | In Search of a Midnight Kiss | Wilson | Also producer | |
| Blind Man | Sparky Collins | |||
| 2008 | Wednesday Again | Peter | ||
| 2009 | Shipping and Receiving | Steve Porter | Short film | |
| Cop Out | Mike Singbush | |||
| The Resurrection of Officer Rollins | Shooter | |||
| Mr. Sadman | Stevie | |||
| 2010 | Wreckage | Frank Jeffries | ||
| Everything Will Happen Before You Die | Matt | |||
| Monsters | Andrew Kaulder | |||
| Wes and Ella | Wes | |||
| 2011 | Amor Fati | Teddy | Short film | |
| The Off Hours | Corey | |||
| A Night in the Woods | Brody Cartwright | |||
| Angry White Man | Walt | |||
| 2012 | Killing Them Softly | Frankie | ||
| Argo | Joe Stafford | |||
| Promised Land | Jeff Dennon | |||
| Please, Alfonso | N/a | Producer only | ||
| 2013 | Straight A's | N/a | ||
| Touchy Feely | Jesse | |||
| Dragon Day | Phil | |||
| 12 Years a Slave | Merrill Brown | |||
| 2014 | Non-Stop | Tom Bowen | ||
| All Hail the King | Jackson Norriss | Short film | ||
| The Rover | Henry | |||
| Frank | Don | |||
| Gone Girl | Tommy | |||
| Black Sea | Daniels | |||
| The Life and Mind of Mark DeFriest | Mark DeFriest | Voice; documentary | ||
| 2015 | Lamb | Jesse | ||
| Our Brand Is Crisis | Rich | |||
| Frank and Cindy | N/a | Producer only | ||
| 2016 | Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | Wallace Keefe | ||
| 2017 | Sleepless | Rob Novak | ||
| Aftermath | Jacob "Jake" Bonanos | |||
| War Machine | Sean Cullen | |||
| 2018 | The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter | Greg | ||
| Destroyer | Ethan | |||
| 2019 | Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | Business Bob Gilbert | ||
| The Parts You Lose | Ronnie | |||
| 2020 | A Quiet Place Part II | Marina Man | Cameo | |
| 2021 | C'mon C'mon | Paul | ||
| 2022 | Taurus | Ray | ||
| Blonde | Tommy "Tom" Ewell / Richard Sherman | |||
| Luckiest Girl Alive | Andrew Larson | |||
| Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile | Mr. Primm | |||
| 2023 | Fairyland | Steve Abbott | ||
| The Line | Detective | |||
| Blood for Dust | Cliff | |||
| 2024 | Nightbitch | Husband | ||
| Speak No Evil | Ben Dalton | |||
| A Complete Unknown | Woody Guthrie | |||
| 2025 | East of Wall | Roy Waters | ||
| TBA | The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd | TBA | Post-production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Good Girls Don't... | Henry | Episode: "My Best Friend Is a Big Fat Slut" | |
| 2005 | Six Feet Under | Trevor | Episode: "All Alone" | |
| Close to Home | T.J. | Episode: "Meth Murders" | ||
| 2006 | More, Patience | Jake | Television film | |
| Murder 101 | Panache | |||
| Jake in Progress | Dean Thomas Stilton | Episodes: "Eyebrow Girl vs. Smirk Face", "The Hot One" | ||
| 2007 | How I Met Your Mother | Fast Food Worker | Episode: "Something Blue" | |
| 2007–2011 | Bones | Noel Liftin | Episodes: "The Secret in the Soil", "The Man in the Outhouse", "The Daredevil in the Mold" | |
| 2008 | Murder 101: New Age | Panache | Television film | |
| The Shield | Doug Obermyer | Episode: "Snitch" | ||
| My Name Is Earl | Bed Bug | Episode: "Quit Your Snitchin'" | ||
| Eleventh Hour | Rudy Callistro | Episode: "Surge" | ||
| 2009 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Vitas Long | Episode: "Lover's Lanes" | |
| 2011 | The Whole Truth | Larry Thompson | Episode: "Lost in Translation" | |
| 2013–2015 | Axe Cop | Scoot / Sun Thief | Voice; 3 episodes | |
| 2014–2017 | Halt and Catch Fire | Gordon Clark | Main role (40 episodes) | |
| 2017 | Fargo | Maurice LeFay | Season 3 (2 episodes) | |
| Godless | Bill McNue | Miniseries (7 episodes) | ||
| 2018–2021 | Narcos: Mexico | D.E.A Special Agent Walt Breslin | 20 episodes | |
| 2019 | True Detective | Tom Purcell | Season 3 (8 episodes) | |
| 2020 | Love Life | Bradley Field | 2 episodes | |
| The Comey Rule | Rod Rosenstein | Miniseries (2 episodes) | ||
| 2022–2023 | Pantheon | Cody Lowell, Kurt | Voice; 9 episodes | |
| 2023 | Invincible | King Lizard | Season 2; voice[39] |
