'My acting career was going nowhere...and then I met Ewan McGregor': The world according to Charley Boorman

Last updated at 10:14 PM on 4th September 2010

The biker on how acting saved him from dyslexia, riding 250 miles with two broken hands and why he would still be a struggling painter and decorator without the help of a certain Scottish movie star

'I once rode 250 miles with two broken hands. I was racing in the Paris-Dakar Rally when I had a bad crash... My fingers felt like crisp packets,' said Charley Boorman

Charley Boorman has made a career out of being Ewan McGregor's best mate. Yet the amiable biker was in the spotlight first, with a brief appearance in the 1972 thriller Deliverance, directed by his father, John Boorman. Charley went on to appear in a string of his father's films during the Eighties, such as Excalibur, The Emerald Forest and Hope And Glory.

His biggest break didn't come until 1997, however, when he met a young actor called Ewan McGregor. The pair discovered they were both motorcycle-mad, and in 2004 they embarked on a 19,000-mile road trip from London to New York via Asia, in Long Way Round. They followed it up in 2007 with Long Way Down, riding from John O'Groats to Cape Town. Since then, Boorman has filmed two more long-distance adventures called By Any Means.

Last month he set off on a motorbike ride from Cape Town to Victoria Falls, and a third instalment of Long Way... is planned with McGregor for 2011.

Now 44, Boorman lives in Fulham, London, with his wife Olivia and their two daughters, Doone and Kinvara.

I was paid with a tricycle for my first major film role.

I was a child actor in Deliverance, but not the banjo player. It was my dad's big movie as a director, and at the very end there's a scene where Jon Voight comes home to his wife. I played his young son. I was four at the time and my father said to me, 'If you sit there and do as you're told you will get that' - pointing to a beautiful red tricycle that was parked by the set. I just sat and stared at the bike like some obsessed, starving dog. I always felt disappointed in later life, because as the director's son I should have got a better deal than a tricycle. That's all I can remember, apart from Charlie Wiggin, who became a lifelong friend. Charlie was the canoe expert who taught Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty and Voight how to paddle. The actors thought Dad was mad because Charlie was missing all the fingers on one hand and could barely hold the paddle himself.

Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman ride from London to New York in the Long Way Round

'I might still have been a struggling painter and decorator if I hadn't met Ewan McGregor,' said Charley (Above the best friends in 2007's Long Way Round)

Acting saved me from my terrible dyslexia.

Dad wanted me to act because it was a clever way of boosting my confidence. I found it hard to express myself in school or through language and writing. I was just terrible at learning because I couldn't read. When I did bits and pieces for him in movies it was a way of channelling my energies. Then I started to really enjoy it and acting became a way of communicating. I appeared in several of Dad's films - at the time, I didn't really appreciate how great a director he was. It's like my own kids when people talk to them about me travelling round the world and making TV programmes. They just shrug their shoulders and say, 'Whatever.'

I might still have been a struggling painter and decorator if I hadn't met Ewan McGregor.

He was about to become a superstar and my acting career was going nowhere. We were both working on The Serpent's Kiss in 1997. Ewan had the lead part; he'd already made his name playing a heroin addict in Trainspotting but had yet to wield a lightsaber in Star Wars. I was struggling to make ends meet painting and decorating. An old friend off ered me the role in the movie and naturally I grabbed it, and I met Ewan on the first day of filming. The actors all got together for a drink and so I started a conversation with him about his Moto Guzzi California.

I once rode 250 miles with two broken hands.

I was racing in the Paris-Dakar Rally when I had a bad crash. I'd fallen into an old riverbed and was trapped under the bike. It was at a time of day when other truck and car racers were catching up; I was in their path and they don't always want to stop at 100mph. I got up and tried to push the bike but my fingers felt like crisp packets. My hands were hurting but I could sort of ride, so I carried on for 250 miles to the next overnight stop. The doctor there took an X-ray, turned to me and said, 'Charley, not only are you not going to be able to carry on in the rally, I'm not sure you're even going to be able to pull your boots on.'

The closest I came to death was crossing a river in Papua New Guinea with a load of drunken helpers.

We were hoping to ship the bikes across on a flatbed truck, but there were men on both banks arguing over the best plan. We were hanging around for ages and the guys started to drink and shout at each other. Then our driver took me to one side and quietly said, 'You need to arm yourself. I think it's time to pick up some rocks.' That was a real moment, but we made it over OK. Ewan broke his foot just before we started filming Long Way Down, but that's just handbag stu ff. In the Western world we fall apart if somebody breaks a leg, but I don't understand what all the fuss is about. In Third World countries they don't have the luxury of being able to wallow in self-pity. They see death every day and just get on with surviving.

People always bitch about something no matter what you do.

They're just jealous. Some people say it's not tough because we have a back-up team with us on trips. That's rubbish - we ride every mile. Quite often we'd ride for two or three days without seeing the film crew. Riding solid for four months is tough, and at the start we had to have all sorts of training. And there's added pressure to succeed because of what's at stake.

The first thing I do after a major adventure is go on holiday with the family.

A lot of bikers ask me how I persuade my wife to let me go off and do these trips, but I think that's kind of sad. Olivia actively encourages me, helps me plan everything and holds the fort while I'm away. She's an amazing woman and that's why we've been married for 24 years.

Being a Formula 1 racing driver is boring.

They just go round and round in circles all day. I probably have the perfect job right now. I'm sure a lot of guys think riding a motorcycle round the world is a very cool way to earn a living. The Top Gear presenters have a better time, though. I wanted to be a Star In A Reasonably Priced Car, but Jeremy Clarkson thinks I'm just a biker. He says motorcyclists wear leather and therefore I'm gay, so there's no way he's allowing me on the show

Apart from motorbikes, my other hobbies are motorbikes and motorbikes.

We have a Mercedes Viano, which is a sort of posh people carrier. I told my wife I bought it for the kids, but the real reason is that I can put my dirt bikes and a mattress in the back, then get out of London for the weekend. I'm just setting up a business converting modern bikes into retro racers, like those from the Fifties and Sixties.

The one item I always take with me on an adventure is a packet of baby wipes - the pink scented ones.

They come in handy for just about everything, wherever you are. Apart from that, I'm not that superstitious and I don't carry lucky charms.

Everybody in the film industry says they're working on a script, but it usually means nothing.

That said, I'm looking at a script with my father, so we may end up doing something together again. These days, though, I'm a motorcycle adventurer first and an actor second. Ewan and I are already talking about Long Way Up for next year. It should be crazy stuff riding up through South America. I'm expecting jungles, bandidos and drug lords...

Charley teamed up with Merrell for this photo shoot. To see their latest footwear and clothing ranges, visit merrell.com

Ewan th' best.

05/09/2010

Charley talks about his friendship with Ewan