Cree began his professional career in 2001 with the guest starring role of Gerry in an episode of
CBBC's weekly comedy series
G-Force. He went on to guest star in an episode of
BBC's medical drama
Doctors in 2002, and
ITV's prison drama
Bad Girls in 2003. 2006 saw Cree guest star in BBC's medical drama
Holby City and
Sky 1's football drama
Dream Team. Cree returned to BBC's
Doctors in 2007 with a second guest role in series nine, and he had a guest role in series eleven of the popular crime drama
Silent Witness. In 2009, Cree made the transition from television to feature films by starring as
Antonio Vivaldi in director Liana Marabini's
Vivaldi, the Red Priest and director Craig Lyn's short film
Closing Doors. He was then cast in episode five of ITV's six part mini-series
Identity, a crime drama following a newly formed police unit investigating identity theft cases. Cree worked with actor/director
Noel Clarke twice in 2010 as he was featured in the thriller
4.3.2.1., which followed four friends targeted by a smuggling ring, and the comedy
Huge, which focused on a would-be stand-up comedy duo.
E4's teenage science-fiction drama
Misfits saw Cree return to episodic television with a season two guest spot that same year. He was then featured in award-winning Kurdish director Chiman Rahimi's sort film
Rojin. 2011 saw Cree feature in the supernatural thriller film
The Awakening and in director
Tom Harper's short film
The Swarm. 2012 brought Cree a recurring role on BBC Three's groundbreaking drama
Lip Service. He portrayed Ryder, Sam Murray's police partner, opposite Heather Peace. His next performance was as featured guest star Corporal Vince Grafton in a series two episode of ITV's murder mystery series
Vera. Throughout 2012, Cree had minor roles in major motion pictures such as
Disney's
John Carter and
Brave (animated; voice work), British thriller
Tower Block, and the Noel Clarke comedy
The Knot. 's
Outlander convention in
Las Vegas on 15 July 2018. Actor turned director
Sam Hoare's 2013 debut film,
Having You, featured Cree in the role of Paul. That same year, he portrayed Lennox in
Kenneth Branagh's stage production of
Macbeth at the
Manchester International Festival. The production sold out, but was broadcast live to audiences in Manchester, England and around the globe on 20 July 2013 as part of the
National Theatre's NT Live broadcasts. That same year, director Ruth Sewell cast Cree in the lead role of Matt in her short film
Fish Love, which was featured at the London Short Film Festival. 2014 saw Cree return to television in series two of the BBC's crime drama
Shetland, based on the best-selling book series by
Ann Cleeves. He returned to television to guest star as Miras in the two-part Series Two premier of BBC's family drama
Atlantis, which only ran for two seasons before being cancelled
. It was announced in 2014 that Cree has been cast in the role of Ian Murray in
Starz time travel drama
Outlander, based upon the best-selling book series from author
Diana Gabaldon. The role is recurring and will continue throughout the series. Cree was cast in the guest role of Levesque in BBC's popular drama
The Musketeers in 2015, portraying
Porthos' brother-in-law in the series two episode. That same year, he guest starred in the "
mockumentary"
Hoff the Record alongside actor
David Hasselhoff. He went on to roles in several feature films such as Colin Kennedy's
Swung, Legacy,
51 Degrees North, and short film
The Rat King, which was nominated for Best Short at the
Edinburgh International Film Festival. In 2016, Cree returned to crime drama
Silent Witness in the two-part season nineteen episode "Flight", which focused on the murder of a critic of Muslim fundamentalism. Once again reuniting with director Noel Clarke, Cree was featured as Brick in the feature length crime drama
Brotherhood. He then portrayed Scottish war hero and Navy meteorologist Captain James Stagg in 2017's D-Day film
Churchill, which shed light on the little known fact that the invasion date had been moved due to weather. In 2018, in his second turn in a science-fiction film, Cree voiced the character ATRi in
Hasraf Dulull's
2036 Origins Unknown, which explored the origins of an unknown object on the surface of Mars. That same year, the
Netflix drama
Outlaw King, starring
Chris Pine as
Robert the Bruce, featured Cree as Bruce's brother-in-law
Sir Christopher Seaton. In addition to his roles in films and television, Cree wrote and starred in a short film entitled
The Little Princess (2018), which was co-awarded Best Short Narrative film at the
San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. He and director
Jason Maza raised funds for the film on
Kickstarter, a popular
crowdfunding platform. He would then join the cast of ITV's female centric drama
Deep Water as series regular character Joe Kallisto. Late fall 2019 saw Cree feature in the latest feature film instalment of the
Terminator franchise,
Terminator: Dark Fate, opposite
Linda Hamilton and
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Early 2020 saw him star as Chief Constable Stuart Collier, opposite
Robert Carlyle, in
Sky One's political thriller
Cobra. He also completed filming on
Ruth Platt's ghost story
Martyrs Lane, which is scheduled to premiere at
Fantasia Film Festival's 25th anniversary edition the next year. In 2021 Cree debuted as popular Scottish character
Gallowglass in the second season of
Sky One's television drama
A Discovery of Witches, which is based upon
Deborah Harkness' book series of the same name. He will reprise the role in season three of the series. Cree completed filming on horror feature
The Twin, alongside fellow
A Discovery of Witches cast member
Teresa Palmer, in June 2021. ==Filmography==