Michael Enright, a 51-year-old English-born actor who starred alongside Johnny Depp in the 2006 movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz inKnight and Day (2010), 2009 comedy Old Dogs with John Travolta and Robin Williams, and plays Julien Beckers in TV drama series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has joined Kurdish fighters against ISIS, which he calls a “stain on humanity” in Syria.

“This is not just a Kurdish call, this is a call to humanity to obliterate (ISIS),” Enright told Gulf-based Al-Aan TV.

Enright is one of dozens of foreign fighters that have joined the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in the self-styled Kurdish enclave of Rojava.

Most have a military background unlike Enright. Many have been recruited through YPG’s Facebook page with some having their airfares paid by crowd-funding websites.

“I didn’t come here to run, I came here to fight. If I die, I die,” said Enright, adding that he had written letters to his family as a way of preparing them for his death.

He has previously said that he did not inform his famous friends of his departure, for fear they would try and stop him.

The well-organised Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) has emerged as a key partner for the US-led alliance against ISIS in Syria. It is active in areas in Syria that are predominantly inhabited by Kurds, mostly in the northeast — Afrin, Ayn al-Arab and Hasakah provinces along Syria’s northern boarder.