Actor McNairy moved to
Austin, Texas, when he was 18 to attend the
University of Texas at Austin. In 2001, he appeared in
Wrong Numbers, written and directed by
Alex Holdridge, which won the Audience Award at the
Austin Film Festival. then dropped out and began working in film production, doing carpentry and building film sets. He then worked as an extra before eventually securing a consistent job in more than 200 TV commercials. He eventually was offered roles in feature films, a career he has been pursuing since 2001. During the early 2000s, McNairy portrayed colorful and individualistic young men with a rebellious edge. He had small parts in films, including
Wonderland,
Herbie: Fully Loaded, and
Art School Confidential. 2010 saw the release of the alien invader film
Monsters by
Gareth Edwards, in which McNairy starred and featured largely improvised dialogue and was shot in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Texas. In 2012, McNairy played Frankie in director
Andrew Dominik's film
Killing Them Softly opposite
Brad Pitt. This led to a string of high-profile roles, including
Ben Affleck's
Argo, In 2013, he appeared in
Steve McQueen's
12 Years a Slave, which again included Pitt. McNairy filmed his second movie with
Michael Fassbender, Leonard Abrahamson's
Frank, and co-starred in
Jaume Collet-Serra's
Non-Stop, opposite
Liam Neeson and
Julianne Moore. The series ran for four seasons from 2014 to 2017 to high critical acclaim. By coincidence, his character's wife in
Halt and Catch Fire is portrayed by actor
Kerry Bishé, who also played his spouse in
Argo. McNairy played Wallace Keefe in
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In September 2016, McNairy was announced as a cast member in the
third season of the
FX drama
Fargo. In 2017, McNairy played crime boss Novak in the crime drama
Sleepless and returned to television when he co-starred in the
Netflix western-miniseries
Godless as shortsighted sheriff Bill McNue. Since 2018, he has also portrayed
DEA Agent Walt Breslin on Netflix's
Narcos: Mexico. He received critical acclaim for his portrayal of troubled father Tom Purcell in the third season of
True Detective in 2019. McNairy next appeared in
Taurus, alongside
Machine Gun Kelly (who also co-wrote the script) and
Megan Fox, which premiered at the
72nd Berlin International Film Festival. He also reunited with
Andrew Dominik in the 2022 film
Blonde, an adaptation of
Joyce Carol Oates's historical fiction novel that chronicles the inner life of
Marilyn Monroe. In 2022, McNairy also starred in the
Netflix mystery film
Luckiest Girl Alive and the live-action/animated hybrid musical comedy
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. Additionally, he voiced a character in
AMC's animated series
Pantheon. McNairy portrayed folk singer-songwriter
Woody Guthrie in the 2024
Bob Dylan biopic
A Complete Unknown, which starred
Timothée Chalamet. As of July 2022, McNairy is filming the drama
The Line. He will star in the film
Fairyland, which concluded production in June 2022. In February 2022, it was announced that McNairy would star alongside
Michael Shannon,
Emilia Clarke and
Dane DeHaan in an upcoming
Joseph McCarthy biopic. In May 2022, he reportedly joined
Jack Reynor and
Emily Browning in psychological thriller
Brightwater. That same month, McNairy was announced as part of the cast for
Blood for Dust, an action thriller, also including
Kit Harington and
Josh Lucas. A month later, McNairy also joined
Amy Adams in
Marielle Heller's
Nightbitch. Filming is set to start in September 2022. As of July 2023, McNairy is set to be in the upcoming third season of the Amazon Prime series
Invincible.
Producer McNairy worked as producer for 2007's
In Search of a Midnight Kiss, in which he also starred and which is referred to as his breakout film. He has worked on a number of other projects as an actor and producer, including 2012's
A Night in the Woods; and
Angry White Man,
Dragon Day, and
The Off Hours, all released in 2011.
Other work • In 2002, McNairy appeared in the music video for
Death Cab for Cutie's "
A Movie Script Ending". • In 2006, McNairy appeared in the music video for "
Fidelity" by
Regina Spektor, directed by McNairy's friend
Marc Webb. • In 2007, McNairy appeared in the BookShorts film for
JPod by Douglas Coupland, incorrectly credited as "Scoot McNally". == Personal life ==