McCann was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He has a sister, Sally-Gay McCann, born in 1972.

Before becoming an actor, McCann was a painter who studied at the Scottish School of Forestry near Inverness. He also worked as a bridge painter (on the Forth Road Bridge), landscape gardener and carpenter. Rory McCann was first trained as an actor by writer-artist Robert Parsifal Finch in The Actor's Workshop, Glasgow in 1998.

McCann's first acting job was as an extra on the film Willow (1988). He was fired because he laughed during the takes. He appeared in an advertisement for Scott's Porage Oats, dressed in a vest and kilt. As his first major acting role, McCann played a disabled personal trainer in the 2002 television comedy drama The Book Group, winning the Scottish BAFTA for the best television performance of 2002.

Since then, he has taken television roles as Detective Inspector Stuart Brown in State of Play, Peter the Great in Peter in Paradise, and a priest in the award-winning British comedy drama series Shameless.

He made his Hollywood debut in the 2004 film Alexander, which required the actors to go through a boot-camp in the African desert, and included shooting in Thailand, Morocco as well as a London studio. In 2007, he appeared as Michael "Lurch" Armstrong in Hot Fuzz. In 2008, he played Moby in The Crew and Attila the Hun in the BBC docudrama Heroes and Villains.

McCann portrays Sandor "The Hound" Clegane in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

Other projects include a BBC TV Series by writer Jimmy McGovern called Banished, set in Australia in the 18th century.^[11] McCann plays a blacksmith named Marston.

McCann's younger sister, Sally-Gay McCann, works on costumes for film and television; he worked alongside her on Alexander and Game of Thrones.^[3] McCann is a supporter of the Scottish Green Party, and appeared in its 2007 Scottish Parliament general election broadcast.^[12]

In 1990, McCann broke multiple bones in a near-fatal rock climbing accident in Yorkshire.^[13]

McCann is the former frontman of a defunct band called Thundersoup.^[7] He plays the piano, guitar, banjo and mandolin.^[14]

McCann is known for living a solitary, transient lifestyle.^[5] He often lives on his boat or in places without modern conveniences.^[15][16]

Film

Television