Elgin-born actor Kevin McKidd says farm worker grandad was his childhood hero

Actor Kevin McKidd has recalled his time growing up in Moray and said he misses the “people and beauty” of Scotland since moving overseas.

The Trainspotting and Grey’s Anatomy star, who is now a US citizen, was born and raised in Elgin where he started his working life.

Although he “couldn’t wait” to leave the region when he was a teenager, he now returns home any chance he gets.

In a new interview, the 51-year-old has shared he is the only member of his family who has ever left Elgin.

“I get homesick quite a lot when I’m in Los Angeles, where I live for most of the year,” he told The Times.

“Any chance I get to work in Scotland I grab with both hands.”

Kevin McKidd talks about first jobs in Elgin

Since 2008, McKidd has played Dr Owen Hunt in the hit medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, which means most of his working life is spent on a Los Angeles set.

His recent role in the ITV drama Six Four allowed him to return to Scotland to film in Glasgow and Edinburgh, with the latter being the setting of his breakout film, Trainspotting.

He added getting cast in the film adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s first novel “changed my life”.

Before pursuing his acting career, McKidd was hired as a labourer by Lumsden’s coppersmiths when he was 17.

“They worked all around the Speyside distilleries,” he shared. “I’d had other jobs, in places like the local Tesco, but it was the first time I’d had to work really hard.

“We built the big, , beautiful copper stills they make whisky in and that was really satisfying.

“I love Scottish whisky, and Speyside whisky in particular has all this history for me. If I see a Macallan or a Glenfarclas in a pub I’ll bore the barman with stories about working there.”

Grandad Geordie was McKidd’s childhood hero

McKidd did not leave the Moray area for the first time until he was around eight or nine years old to go on holiday with his family.

He shares they travelled by train to the Butlin’s in Ayr which he felt was “very glamorous”.

Now, living away from his home country, the actor told the publication he misses the “people and the beauty” of Scotland.

He added: Something about the Scottish mentality kind of cuts through the noise of life.”

When asked who his childhood hero was, he said: “My grandad Geordie”.

“He was a farm labourer in north-east Scotland,” he continued. “He definitely drank too much but he knew all the old bothy ballads from the north-east and was a brilliant storyteller.

“I remember sitting with him at Christmas and New Year with all his family and friends around him, and he had this ability to tell stories and sing songs and have everybody completely enthralled.”