Michael Enright (actor)

Born in Manchester, United Kingdom, Enright became a journeyman actor at the age of 16. He grew up in the Moss Side area of Manchester. At the age of 19, Enright moved to Hollywood. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, Enright had planned to enlist in the US Army and join the War on Terror, but was dissuaded from it by friends.

Enright decided to take up acting after winning a role in a pantomime at a Butlins holiday resort in Skegness as a teenager. He made the decision to move to Los Angeles at the age of 19 to pursue acting, and in the 2000s began to win roles in films like Old Dogs, Knight and Day, and Pirates of the Caribbean. He also acted in TV shows such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Law and Order, Cold Case, and CSI.

Enright joined the Kurdish YPG to fight against ISIS in January 2015, after watching the execution of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh. He contacted the Kurdish People's Protection Units through a British SAS friend and was told to fly to the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah via Istanbul. According to Enright, he passed physical training in the People's Protection Units and learned to assemble and dismantle a Kalashnikov rifle blindfolded in order to be able to use it at night. Enright was given an AK-47, and fought ISIS on the front line.[2]

After completing a 6-month tour of duty with the YPG, Enright attempted to return to the United States. He tried to legally reenter through the US-Mexican San Ysidro border crossing, south of San Diego, but his passport was flagged due to him overstaying his visa. According to Enright, he was deported with an offer to come home if he could help get information on ISIS, so he went back with the YPG for an extended 18-month tour of duty. After helping to liberate Raqqa (ISIS capital), he left Syria and went to the American Embassy in Belize to try and go back home to the United States.[2]

• List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War
• People's Protection Units#Foreign volunteers

• Michael Enright on IMDb