Before Game of Thrones, Rory McCann (the Hound) was living in a tent and "stealing food"

Game of Thrones introduced viewers to an embarrment of acting talent, both young actors like Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner as well as veteran performers who hadn't previously had much of a spotlight on them.

The latter group included Rory McCann, who played Sandor "the Hound" Clegane from the start of the show to the finish, with some brief time offscreen in season 5. The Hound was a supporting character, but he was still a fully fleshed out individual with contradictions, a backstory, and an anger problem. Game of Thrones featured characters like that on the regular.

Before Game of Thrones, McCann was probably best known as Michael "Lurch" Armstrong in the movie Hot Fuzz, but GoT launched him to a new level of notoriety. So fans might be surprised to learn that, before he secured the role of the Hound, he was living in a tent in Iceland. “I had made a Viking film with Gerard Butler and after filming I just went, ‘I’m staying,’ and was there for 11 months," McCann explained to the Daily Record. "There wasn’t any acting work at the time. I had said to my agent to phone if anything was happening but it wasn’t, so I just stayed.

McCann also outlined that part of his life to Conan O'Brien during the show's reunion special a couple years back, according to the Independent. “I was in a tent – literally in a tent – stealing food occasionally,” he said. “Eventually I got a job and sorted myself out, but then suddenly I’m getting driven around in a nice car in the biggest and best show in the world – just shows how your fortunes can change. Amazing.” He even got back to Iceland and paid his library fines.

That is indeed a remarkable reversal of fortune. McCann hasn't done a ton of acting work since the end of Game of Thrones -- he was in the action thriller Jackdaw last year and will lend his voice to the Sonic the Hedgehog spinoff series Knuckles this year -- but I don't think he'll ever be in danger of having to live in a tent again.

Also, we can't leave a post about Rory McCann without highlighting one of his other best-known roles: the anonymous hunky Scotsman in a series of commercials for the breakfast cereal Scott's Porage Oats.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I don't know what I mean by that, but I'm at a loss as to how to wrap up this post after that.

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