Christian McKay

English actor Christian McKay was a Hollywood unknown when director Richard Linklater chose him to play the auspicious title role in his 2008 film Me & Orson Welles, but it was McKay's uncanny impersonation of the legendary filmmaker that eventually won him the part. A 2001 graduate of Britain's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and a veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company, McKay had often been compared to Welles in likeness and was noted for having a similar air of intelligence. After graduating from the Academy, McKay continued to grow a list of impressive stage credits that he'd already begun in school, soon becoming a popular name in British theater. He even tried his hand at some minor work in U.K. television and also became an accomplished concert pianist, but it was the eventual collaboration with Linklater that would serve as his fore into film.