Cast Bios.
�Frodo� Played by: Elijah Wood. Date of Birth: January 28th, 1981. Age: 22. Elijah grew up in Iowa, and even though he has had over 30 acting jobs, including roles in Flipper, North, The Faculty, and The Ice Storm, he has never taken an acting class. His first movie role was �Video Game Boy� in the movie Back to the Future II. He was first told of the movie version of Lord of the Rings by the director of The Faculty, which Elijah was working on at the time. Since Elijah�s favorite book is The Hobbit, the director said that Elijah would be perfect for the role of Frodo. As soon as the casting call went out, he and his friends went out, rented some costumes, and went into the Hollywood hills to shoot the audition tape. Elijah was given the part of Frodo, and the rest is history.
�Sam� Played by: Sean Astin. Date of Birth: February 25th, 1971. Age: 33. At the age of 13, Sean Astin played his first movie role as Mickey from The Goonies. He is the son of John Astin and Patty Duke, both famous actors. Sean also starred in the films Rudy and Courage Under Fire. His father personally knew director Peter Jackson, and when casting went out for Lord of the Rings, Sean was told to perfect a British accent very quickly. He got the part of Sam, gained 30 pounds for the role, and went to New Zealand with his wife and daughter. In 2002, his second daughter, Elizabeth Louise Astin was born. And so, this humble child of two famous actors and graduate from UCLA became the Samwise Gamgee we all know and love.
�Pippin� Played by: Billy Boyd. Date of Birth: August 8th, 1968. Age: 35. Billy Boyd, who has a degree in Dramatic Arts from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, has led a pretty hard life, even though he plays the happy, hyper Pippin. As a teen, Billy suffered the loss of his father to lung cancer. Less than a year later, his mother had a heart attack and passed away. By age 15, Billy was paying his own bills and trying to get by. To help deal with the loss of his parents, Billy threw himself into acting. In 1998, after being a small TV actor for awhile, he got a call from his agent saying that the casting call for Lord of the Rings had come out. Before he knew it, Billy was on the way to New Zealand. He was thrilled that he and Dominic Monaghan, who plays merry, got along well, since they would had a lot of scenes together.
�Merry� Played by: Dominic Monaghan. Date of Birth: December 8th, 1976. Age: 27. Dominic Monaghan has been fascinated by movies since he was 6 years old and living in Berlin, Germany. At the age of 12, he and his family moved to England. During his two years at Aquinas College, he got a call for an English TV show. But it was during a more important role in France that he got the call about Lord of the Rings. He got the part of Merry and says that now, after the filming of the movies is over, he has nine people he would call brothers, even though he only has one. Oddly enough, after Dom moved to Los Angeles, California, he bought Sean Astin�s old BMW, and Sean also found Dom a roommate, Sean�s brother. He is now finishing a screenplay that he wrote with Billy Boyd (Pippin.)
�Gandalf� Played by: Ian McKellen. Date of Birth: May 25th, 1939. Age: 65. Vegetarian Ian McKellen has appeared in over 100 plays and dozens of movies, including X-Men, X2, Apt Pupil, David Copperfield, Othello, and The Band Played On. He studied at Cambridge, and has been nominated for an Emmy and an Academy Award. Ian has won Tony, Screen Actors� Guild, and Golden Globe awards. Though he had never read The Lord of the Rings, he was asked to play the role of Gandalf, and never auditioned for the part. Nonetheless, Ian played the part of Gandalf very well. And the strange thing is, even at the age of 64, that didn�t stop him from going with the rest of the Fellowship members (Except for John Rhys-Davies, who sent his stunt double) to get the legendary tattoo of the Elvish symbol for 9.
�Aragorn� Played by: Viggo Mortensen. Date of Birth: October 20th, 1958. Age: 45. Viggo Mortensen, speaker of 7 languages and graduate from St. Lawrence University, plays the role of Aragorn, son of Arathorn. Like Ian McKellen, he never auditioned for the part. Stuart Townsend was originally going to play the part, but he was deemed too young just days before filming began. And so, Viggo was told that he had 2 days to decide to do the movie or not. After his son, Henry Mortensen, talked him into the role, Viggo nearly became Aragorn, in more ways than an actor putting on a costume and faking an accent. After wanting his tooth super-glued in place so he could finish the scene it was knocked out in, rumors of him living in the forests of New Zealand in Aragorn clothes erupted, but they are untrue. However, he did carry Aragorn�s sword around wherever he went.
�Gimli�; �Treebeard� Played/Voiced by: John Rhys-Davies. Date of Birth: May 5th, 1944. Age: 60. John Rhys Davies, who attended the University of East Angela and London Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts has been working as an actor for decades, and his acting career is older than some of his Lord of the Rings co-stars! He�s acted in such movies as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Even though he�s 6�1� tall in real life, he plays the 4-4 � � tall Gimli in Lord of the Rings. Aside from the Dwarf, John also provides the voice for the Ent who helps Merry and Pippin take control of Isengard, Treebeard. Other voice acting projects that John has worked on include Manray from TV�s Spongebob Squarepants. But for all the LotR fans who love John in his roles of Gimli and Treebeard, you can thank his oldest son, who talked him into the parts. John is the only member of the Fellowship that didn�t get an Elvish symbol tattoo, because he sent his stunt double in his stead.
�Boromir� Played by: Sean Bean. Date of Birth: April 17th, 1959. Age: 45. Sean Bean grew up in Sheffield, England, which is known for producing industry, not actors. He got a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and since then has had 3 daughters and starred in movies like Patriot Games, Golden Eye, and Don�t Say A Word. But before he began work on TV and movies, he had numerous stage credits. He wanted the part of Boromir because he was such a complicated character, and very mixed-up while trying to do what�s best for his people. Sean says that he loves Boromir because he�s such a complex character. He first learned that he had gotten the part of Boromir while he was driving in his car, and he remembers that he must have accelerated quite a bit.
�Legolas� Played by: Orlando Bloom. Date of Birth: January 13th, 1977. Age: 27. Orlando Bloom, who is not named after Virginia Woolf�s novel Orlando: A Biography, grew up in England and attended 3 critically acclaimed acting schools: National Youth Theatre in London, British American Drama Academy, and Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Contrary to popular belief, Lord of the Rings was not Orlando�s first movie. He played a small part in the movie Black Hawk Down. He had only 2 days before his graduation from Guildhall School of Music & Drama when he found out he was to play Legolas in Lord of the Rings. Even though he originally auditioned for the part of Faramir, he was very glad to get the part of Legolas. Since Lord of the Rings, Orly has played Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and will be starring alongside fellow Rings star Sean Bean in 2004�s Troy.
More bios coming soon!