DAVID STRATHAIRN

The Oscar-nominated actor from Good Night, and Good Luck, who also starred in two Jason Bourne films, returns Feb. 26 to the international thriller genre with AMC’s eight-part series McMafia. Strathairn, 69, plays Semiyon Kleiman, a businessman who befriends the son (James Norton) of Russian exiles with ties to the European mafia underworld.

How would you describe McMafia?

It’s an action-packed ride. People might hear the title and think, Oh, is it about Scottish criminals? That’s cute. No, it’s the globalization of a brand name. There is nothing cute about the globalization of criminality on a corporate scale. It’s been so cleverly and discreetly told that I think it’s going to catch people by surprise.

You play a multilayered character.

Very complex but also very veiled. He has a position in the Labor Party in Israel. He’s a very successful businessman. He’s well-mannered, and then you learn about other motivations he has.

How do you play roles that take you into a character’s darker side?

I have an actor friend who said whenever we’re asked to depict somebody with a not-so-tasteful past, just remember that he or she was loved once when they were a little boy or girl. So, the challenge is to give them a little bit of human redemption.

You narrate Louis L’Amour audio books.

L’Amour did almost everything he writes about. He was a stevedore, longshoreman, cowboy, farmer, gold miner. He did it all, and he’s a great storyteller. He’s an American historian that people don’t give the credit he deserves.