Ewan McGregor
McGregor co-starred in the very first feature film collaboration between director Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge. His next film would be Trainspotting and its appearance is the line splitting what came before and what came afterward. Three years later McGregor appeared in the first three films playing the only character for which he is more well-known than Renton: young Obi-Wan Kenobi. Although he would collaborate with Boyle again in A Life Less Ordinary, it has been widely reported that one of the main reasons it took so long to make a sequel to Trainspotting is because two fell out and feuded over Boyle’s incomprehensible decision to cast Leonard DiCaprio as the lead in The Beach despite McGregor’s claim that the part had been promised to him.
Robert Carlyle
Carlyle was so memorably menacing as Begbie in Trainspotting that it seems almost impossible he wouldn’t likely be typecast, following in the footsteps of Bruce Dern and Christopher Walken. Like those two, however, Carlyle’s talent proved sufficient to avoid the fate of a career playing psychopaths. In part that long and varied career came about because the very next year Carlyle proved equally adept at playing a character that was a 180-degree turn from Begbie in the surprise in the sleeper hit of the year The Full Monty. In Boyle-produced, but not Boyle-directed 28 Weeks Later he was able to fuse those two extremes together by playing a guilt-ridden survivor of a zombie plagues before turning into a monstrous filicidal zombie himself.
Jonny Lee Miller
Miller’s character is referred to as Simon in the sequel, but anyone who loves the original can’t help but call him “Sick Boy.” Although he has appeared consistently in films since then, he is probably most well-known to Americans as Eli Stone or Sherlock Holmes thanks to his two TV series. British audiences may equally associated Miller with a now-legendary stage production in which the other Sherlock—Benedict Cumberbatch—and he changed roles with each performance, playing both Dr. Frankenstein and his Creature. A certain segment of the population may also think of something completely different upon hearing Miller’s name: his three year marriage to Angelina Jolie.
Ewen Bremner
Bremner also resurrects his role from the original Trainspotting as the sad-sack of the bunch, Spud. Bremner had actually originated the role of Renton on stage before taking on the role of Spud. His career never quite took on an international level like his three co-stars, despite having more credits on his resume than any of them. Though never rising to the level of star, that resume reveals a richly versatile talent as his credits range from the redneck comedy My Name is Earl to King James VI. Bremner has also appeared in a number of major films and box office hits including Black Hawk Down, Snowpiercer and Wonder Woman.
Anjela Nedyalkova
Anjela Nedyalkova was just five years old when Trainspotting came out. She plays Veronika, the prostitute who helps Sick Boy run his little blackmailing gig. Like her character in the film, Nedyalkova also hails from Bulgaria.
