If you're suddenly doing something you don't want to do for four years, just so you've got something to fall back on, by the time you come out you don't have that 16-year-old drive any more and you'll spend your life doing something you never wanted to do in the first place.

Personal life
McGregor is married to Eve Mavrakis a French production designer. They have four daughters Clara Mathilde McGregor (born February 1996) Esther Rose McGregor (born 7 November 2001) Jamiyan McGregor (born June 2001 in Mongolia; adopted April 2006) and Anouk McGregor (born January 2011). During the Long Way Round journey in 2004 McGregor and his travelling companions took time out to see some of UNICEF's work in Ukraine Kazakhstan and Mongolia and during the Long Way Down trip in 2007 he and Charley Boorman did work for UNICEF in Africa.

He has also received critical acclaim for his starring roles in theatre productions of Guys and Dolls (2005–07) and Othello (2007–08). He is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting (1996) Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005) poet Christian in the musical film Moulin Rouge! (2001) and storyteller Edward Bloom in Tim Burton's Big Fish (2003).