Sam Heughan

Multi-award-winning Scottish actor Sam Heughan has played many roles in his two decades on our screens, but he is best known for playing Highland warrior Jamie Fraser in Outlander, a superb historical fantasy drama series set in his homeland. The show, which recently completed its sixth season, has won the hearts of audiences — and won Heughan multiple awards, including the Saturn Award and People’s Choice Award for Best Actor.

Born and educated across Scotland, Heughan’s first acting came when he won a place at the prestigious Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He was chosen to represent the academy at a BBC event and won a part in a play that opened in Edinburgh but soon transferred to the West End where it won Heughan the Laurence Olivier Award for Most Promising Performer. He won his first TV role in 2004 and spent the next decade building his on-screen reputation with roles in everything from daytime soap opera Doctors to an award-nominated series of Scottish lager adverts.

Heughan’s major breakthrough came in 2014 with the role of Jamie Fraser in the Starz series, Outlander, in which a 20th century nurse travels back in time to 18th century Scotland where she encounters Fraser, a fierce Highland warrior. The series, based on a book series by American author Diane Gabaldon, has become a huge success, making Heughan’s name. But that’s not all he’s been up to; he has made numerous film appearances and will star in It’s All Coming Back to Me, a film also featuring Celine Dion, which will premiere in February 2023.