Biography
Born in Glasgow, Scotland. His mother was a midwife and his father was a Royal Air Force Police mechanic and later a chief lecturer and engineer in prosthetics and orthotics. He became a junior Scottish bodybuilding champion, winning several titles in his late teens. Inspired by his childhood idols Arnold Schwarzenegger & Sylvester Stallone he took part-time acting classes before attending drama school. After formal training he worked in the theatre, touring with Harold Pinter's classic, 'The Birthday Party', in the role of the menacing McCann followed by Jerry in Edward Albee's 'A Zoo Story' to rave reviews.
Larkin's career has been marked by playing on the duality of vulnerable but tough types, bringing a depth and emotional complexity to otherwise two-dimensional characters.
As a struggling actor, he made his own work, the first of which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, then more notably Scene. (2006) playing a hapless actor trapped in a movie, for which he won his first BAFTA Scotland Award. A variety of diverse roles followed in American and British independent films, and bit-parts, including depression-era /heist The Red Machine (2009) then the self-penned Running in Traffic (2009) as the grief-stricken, drug dealing, Cullen, alongside Kenneth Cranham for which he won his second BAFTA. In 2009 he was presented him with the Trailblazer, Rising Star Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival by Sean Connery.
He has previously demonstrated his leading man potential in numerous low-budget features, including action-heist Battleground (2011) before gaining over 40 lbs of muscle for the towering Russian Soldier, Dolokhov in Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz (2013).
In 2014 he appeared in Season One of Starz Outlander (2014) as Geordie opposite Graham McTavish & Caitríona Balfe and Let Us Prey (2014) as the brutal but broken cop, Jack Warnock opposite Liam Cunningham.
in 2016, he was cast in his first Hollywood movie with Gerard Butler in London Has Fallen (2016) as SAS Lieutenant Will Davies, drawing the attention of casting director Mike Leeder and action star Donnie Yen who chose him as the lead antagonist, Ernest Hunter opposite Yen and Andy Lau in the Hong Kong gangster epic Chasing the Dragon (2017). Inspired by Hong Kong's landscape, culture and energy, he created Dead End (2017) the self-penned hitman trilogy, winning over 50 international film festival awards.
He has made his mark in AAA video games and full body motion capture, including Blood & Truth (2019) and Horizon Zero Dawn (2017) Horizon Forbidden West (2022) and Final Fantasy XVI (2023)
In 2021 he appeared as Wiglaf in the season finale of Vikings (2013) and the Black Mirror styled Everything was fine (2021) set entirely in a single hotel room. Larkin shot and directed the entire film while in quarantine during the Covid19 pandemic.
13 wins and 1 nominations
