Sam Heughan

Heughan in 2015, kathclick/Bigstock.com

Birth Name: Sam Roland Heughan

Place of Birth: Balmaclellan, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

Date of Birth: 30 April, 1980

Ethnicity: Scottish, as well as English and French, likely distant German and Norwegian

Sam Heughan is a Scottish actor, producer, author, and entrepreneur. He is known for starring as Jamie Fraser on the series Outlander, and for his roles in the films When the Starlight Ends, The Spy Who Dumped Me, Bloodshot, To Olivia, SAS: Red Notice, and Love Again, in the made-for-tv movie A Princess for Christmas, and on the series Island at War, Doctors, and Suspect. He co-wrote the book Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other. He has also launched an award-winning whisky brand, The Sassenach.

His parents were part of the hippie commune Gandalf’s Garden, in London. He was raised by his mother, Chrissie, an artist and artisan papermaker. He grew up partly in New Galloway, and then Edinburgh.

He has said:

I was brought up in rural Scotland on the grounds of a castle: it is the quintessential Scottish childhood, but I can see how it could have been very different, and so I’m thankful for the opportunity to be Scottish and that’s perhaps why I wanted to share it with this show [“Men In Kilts”].

Sam has also said that he has roots in the South of England, and in France, both on his mother’s side, and has also referred to German and Norwegian ancestry.