Scottish actor Steven Cree has become a familiar face in recent years, portraying the super-likable Ian Murray in historical drama series Outlander while notching up appearances in movies including Outlaw King, Terminator: Dark Fate, and Churchill. He also stars in season two of A Discovery of Witches as Gallowglass, a charismatic and rather dark character he has described as "a bit of a rock-and-roll vampire." It begins Sunday, June 27 at 7pm ET on AMC – though you can watch full episodes here already – so let's take some time to find out more about him.

1. He thinks being Scottish is "in some ways" an advantage in the film and TV industry.

"The successes of James McAvoy, Ewan McGregor, and Gerry [Gerard] Butler have all helped. When you have a Scots accent you can get great comments the world over," he told The Herald. "But sometimes in voiceovers I get asked, ‘Can you be 50 percent less Scottish?'"

2. He credits his work ethic to his mother, who retrained as an NHS chiropodist after separating from Cree's father.

"She went back to college and did four years of training," he told The Scotsman. "We were skint for years, and as a kid, you don’t understand or appreciate any of that, but now as an adult I look at what my mum did and think it was incredible."

3. He wrote and starred in a 2018 short film exploring mental health issues called The Little Princess.

It's about a man suffering from depression who draws a flicker of hope from a chance encounter with a little girl. You can watch it in full below.

4. On Twitter he describes himself as a "beard specialist."

"I've done so many [characters] with beards," he told The Scotsman earlier this year. "Somebody posted a photo on my Instagram the other day from Outlaw King and I look very similar to how I look on Discovery of Witches. I had a beard in The Musketeers, a bit of a beard in Cobra. I don't necessarily want to have a beard like this, but I hate being completely clean shaven, so I'll always try and convince a director that the character should have a beard or a bit of stubble."

5. He's on Cameo, where you can request a personalized video message from him for £66.75 ($95).

All proceeds from Cree's account go to Cash for Kids, a U.K charity supporting children and young people affected by poverty, abuse, neglect, and life-limiting illness.

6. After he graduated from drama school, he spent several years struggling to land acting jobs.

"The only performing job I got was as dressing up as Daddy Bear for kids' parties in a production of Goldilocks," he told The Herald. "I don’t know whether I was arrogant in the beginning or naïve, but whatever it was, at least it got me to London."

7. His big break came when he was cast in the West End revival of Cabaret in 2007.

At the time, Cree was working as a waiter in a London branch of Italian restaurant chain Carluccio's. "The reason I wanted to get into acting was to do musicals, it was always musicals I loved, and six years out of drama school and having not worked very much, you start to lose confidence," he told The Scotsman. "So that was such a confidence boost. Doing a musical in the West End, it was literally a dream come true, what I’d always wanted to do. It turned a little switch. I thought OK, I think I can make a career out of this, and it gave me the belief that you can get a really good job completely out of the blue."

8. He's got a lovely singing voice.

Check out Cree's rendition of the Cat Stevens classic "Father and Son" – it's quite touching.

9. He's married to prominent British casting director Kathleen Crawford.

According to her website, Crawford's recent projects include Billie Piper's series I Hate Suzie and the hit BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials.

10. And finally, he's still good friends with his Outlander co-star Sam Heughan.

In fact, they had drinks together just this week.

Are you excited to watch Steven Cree in A Discovery of Witches?