Stage, television and film actor. Born James Kent-Smith in Dunoon (Argyll and Bute), his father was killed fighting in World War II months before his birth. McCoy was educated in Dublin and at Dunoon Grammar School. He seemed destined for the priesthood but, at the age of 18, went to London to work in an insurance agency. At the age of 27 his company having gone out of business, McCoy wanted a change and 'dropped out' taking a job in a theatre box office. With no training, he began acting and soon joined the anarchic Ken Campbell Roadshow.
McCoy is perhaps best known as the seventh Dr. Who in the BBC television science-fiction series, a role he played between 1987 and 1996. Other television appearances included the children's programmes Tiswas and Vision On. His roles also included Lieutenant 'Birdie' Bowers in the well-received mini-series The last Place on Earth (1985) which recounts Scott and Amundsen's race to the South Pole, together with The Airzone Solution (1993), The Zero Imperative (1994) and Leapin' Leprechauns (1995).
