Kevin McNally was born on April 27, 1956, in Bristol, England. He grew up in Birmingham where he attended Redhill and Mapledene Junior schools and Central Grammar School for Boys. At the age of 16, he got his first job at Birmingham Repertory Theatre. A year later he received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1975 he won the Best Actor Bancroft Gold Medal for his stage performance. McNally's most notable stage performances in London's West End include his appearance as Alan Bennett opposite Maggie Smith in 'The Lady in the Van' and opposite Juliette Binoche in 'Naked'. He also starred as Richard in Terry Johnson's 'Dead Funny' at the Savoy Theatre.
In 1977 McNally made his big screen debut as HMS Ranger Crewman in the James Bond adventure The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). After having played bit parts in more than twenty feature films, McNally shot to international fame as pirate Joshamee Gibbs, his best known film role, in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006).
Some Major Film Lead Roles
Scoop (2006) as Mike Tinsley
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) as Gibbs
Irish Jam (2006) as Lord Hailstock
The Phantom of the Opera (2004) as Buquet
Dead Cool (2004) as Rosenheim
De-Lovely (2004) as Gerald Murphy
Dead Fish (2004) as Frank Rosenheim
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) as Joshamee Gibbs
Johnny English (2003) as Prime Minister
Crust (2001) as Bill Simmonds