John Gordon Sinclair
Actor · Born February 4, 1962 (64) · Glasgow, Scotland, UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. John Gordon Sinclair (born 1962, Glasgow) is a Scottish actor most famous for playing Gregory in Gregory's Girl. He was born as Gordon John but took the stage name 'John Gordon Sinclair' because Equity already had a Gordon John registered. He joined Glasgow's Youth Theatre after he visited one night and met fellow fan of Canadian progressive rock group Rush, Robert Buchanan. As a result he starred in a number of films by director Bill Forsyth, perhaps the most famous of which was 1981's Gregory's Girl, shot when he was 19 years old. He reprised the role nearly two decades later in Gregory's Two Girls, and also appeared in Forsyth's Local Hero. He has continued to act on stage and screen. Other roles include parts in Goodbye Mr Steadman, Mad About Alice Gasping and Roman Road. He was also in the first series of LWT's Hot Metal and both the radio and television sitcom An Actor's Life For Me. He played Dan Weir in Espedair Street, the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of the Iain Banks novel, as well as playing the lead part of Dr. Finlay in the Radio 4 series entitled Adventures of a Black Bag. He appeared in the 1982 Scottish squad's World Cup song "We Have a Dream", a number 5 hit in the UK, which was written and performed by BA Robertson. It featured John Gordon Sinclair speaking his recollection of a dream about Scottish football success. He later revived this Scottish footballing connection by narrating the 2006-07 BBC Scotland documentary series That Was The Team That Was. John Gordon Sinclair played Frank McClusky, a leading character, in the 1990 John Byrne TV serial "Your Cheatin' Heart". He also appeared in "Local Hero". Sinclair played one of the main characters in the Tesco TV adverts in the late 1990s and early 2000s alongside Prunella Scales and Jane Horrocks. He most recently appeared in the West End in The Producers playing the part of Leo Bloom alongside Fred Applegate. He voiced all the male characters (except for Finbar) in HIT Entertainment's Rubbadubbers. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1995 for Best Actor in a Musical for his 1994 performance in "She Loves Me". Sinclair also performed the part of "Master of Ceremonies" in Mike Oldfield's premiere performance of Tubular Bells II at Edinburgh Castle in 1992. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Gordon Sinclair , licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- February 4, 1962 (64)
- Glasgow, Scotland, UK
- Actor
- 21 on MovieCove · 51 credits in all
What are John Gordon Sinclair's films like?
Across their 10 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Self.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 8
Light 5 · Serious 1 · Dark 2
A split, not a type: Grounded 5 · Stylized 2 · Heightened 1
Gentle 3 · Charged 5 · Intense 0
Steady 5 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 1
Straight-faced 3 · Some laughs 5 · Funny 0
Slow burn 6 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 0
Casual 5 · Engaged 3 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 6 · Affecting 0 · Heavy 2
Resolved 7 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 1
Roles they play
Usually the Hero: 4 of 9 analyzed roles.
Show the 9 rolesHide the roles
- Heroas Gregory in Gregory's Girl (1980)
- Allyas Cameron in My Summer with Des (1998)
- Heroas Gregory Underwood in Gregory's Two Girls (1999)
- Heroas Sheriff Terence in Rubbadubbers (2003)
- Allyas Matt Bancroft in Roman Road (2004)
- Heroas Tubb in Rubbadubbers: Tubb's Pirate Treasure (2004)
- Allyas Richard in Nico, 1988 (2017)
- Shadowas Talbot in Ill Behaviour (2017)
- Mentoras Friedrich Engels in Miss Marx (2020)
Moods and endings
- Happy4
- Bittersweet2
- Tragic2
- Ambiguous2
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch John Gordon Sinclair's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 15 of their 21 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on BritBox (6).
- BritBox
Subscription and free streaming for John Gordon Sinclair's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
51 credits, 21 with a MovieCove page; 3 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Borges and Me (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2026)
Granite Harbour(2022)
Midcredits score: 12th percentile of all shows
Miss Marx(2020)
Midcredits score: 34th percentile of all films
McDonald & Dodds(2020)
Midcredits score: 82nd percentile of all shows
Traces(2019)
Midcredits score: 46th percentile of all shows
Long Night at Blackstone (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2018)
Nico, 1988(2017)
Midcredits score: 72nd percentile of all films
Diana and I (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2017)
Ill Behaviour(2017)
Midcredits score: 33rd percentile of all showsWest Skerra Light (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2016)
Scot Squad(2014)
Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all shows
Siblings(2014)
Midcredits score: 45th percentile of all shows
World War Z(2013)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
Death in Paradise(2011)
Midcredits score: 81st percentile of all shows
HiT Favourites: Happy Children's Favourites (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2006)
Rubbadubbers: Splish! Splash! Splosh! (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2005)
Roman Road(2004)
Midcredits score: 91st percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Agatha Christie's Marple(2004)
Midcredits score: 89th percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 10th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Thomas & Friends: Engines to the Rescue (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2004)
Rubbadubbers: Bathtime Scramble! (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2004)
Mad About Alice (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2004)
Rubbadubbers(2003)
Midcredits score: 29th percentile of all shows
The Many Lives of Albert Walker (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2002)
Murder in Mind (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2001)
Fetch the Vet (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2000)
Gregory's Two Girls(1999)
Midcredits score: 17th percentile of all films
My Summer with Des(1998)
Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all films
Och Around the Clock (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)
Loved by You (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1997)
The Brylcreem Boys (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1996)
Self Catering (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1994)
Nelson's Column (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1994)
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1993)
Frank Stubbs Promotes (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1993)
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1992)
Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells II (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1992)
An Actor's Life for Me (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1991)
Your Cheatin' Heart (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1990)
Your Cheatin' Heart (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1990)
Snakes and Ladders (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1989)
Erik the Viking(1989)
Midcredits score: 49th percentile of all films
Raspberry Ripple (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1986)
The Girl in the Picture (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1986)
Walter and June (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1983)
Local Hero(1983)
Midcredits score: 90th percentile of all filmsLiving Apart Together (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1982)
Britannia Hospital(1982)
Midcredits score: 51st percentile of all films
Bergerac(1981)
Midcredits score: 49th percentile of all shows
Gregory's Girl(1980)
Midcredits score: 83rd percentile of all films
That Sinking Feeling (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1980)
Career shape
Star power in the 92nd percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 51 titles from 1980 to 2026; peak year 2020.
Biggest box office
Miss Marx (2020)
Highest rated
Gregory's Girl (1980)
Most popular right now
Rubbadubbers (2003)
Film career
Peak 2020 · at the high point of their film career. Film roles by billing, audience size and rating; 25+ votes. A show carries a single first-air date, so shows are not on the curve.
- 1980Screen debut· That Sinking Feeling
- 1980First top-billed film· Gregory's Girl
- 2019Career best· Traces
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored. Billing is TMDB cast order for roles with 25+ votes, billed in the top 30.
How do John Gordon Sinclair's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 67th percentile, the median of all 11; across their 8 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 50th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up7
- 50th to 74th4
- 25th to 49th7
- Below 25th3
Shape of the crowd
10 of their 21 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved1
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser10
- Broadly Agreed1
- Mixed8
Reviewers score the acting 71/100 in their films, across 5 reviewed titles; fans 78, detractors 45. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does John Gordon Sinclair work with?
People who share at least 2 of John Gordon Sinclair's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Susanna Nicchiarelli shares the most, 2.
Directors
- Susanna NicchiarelliShared titles: Miss Marx (2020), Nico, 1988 (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Susanna Nicchiarelli
- Bill ForsythShared titles: Gregory's Two Girls (1999), Gregory's Girl (1980)See all 2 shared titles with Bill Forsyth
Actors
- Freddy DrabbleShared titles: Miss Marx (2020), Nico, 1988 (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Freddy Drabble
- Karina FernandezShared titles: Miss Marx (2020), Nico, 1988 (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Karina Fernandez
- Maria DarlingShared titles: Rubbadubbers: Tubb's Pirate Treasure (2004), Rubbadubbers (2003)See all 2 shared titles with Maria Darling
- Sean HughesShared titles: Rubbadubbers: Tubb's Pirate Treasure (2004), Rubbadubbers (2003)See all 2 shared titles with Sean Hughes
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Crystel FournierShared titles: Miss Marx (2020), Nico, 1988 (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Crystel Fournier
- Gatto Ciliegia Contro il Grande FreddoShared titles: Miss Marx (2020), Nico, 1988 (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Gatto Ciliegia Contro il Grande Freddo
- Stefano CraveroShared titles: Miss Marx (2020), Nico, 1988 (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Stefano Cravero
- John GowShared titles: Gregory's Two Girls (1999), Gregory's Girl (1980)See all 2 shared titles with John Gow
Producers
- Alessio LazzareschiShared titles: Miss Marx (2020), Nico, 1988 (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Alessio Lazzareschi
- Gregorio PaonessaShared titles: Miss Marx (2020), Nico, 1988 (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Gregorio Paonessa
- Joseph RouschopShared titles: Miss Marx (2020), Nico, 1988 (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Joseph Rouschop
- Karim ChamShared titles: Miss Marx (2020), Nico, 1988 (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Karim Cham