The before and after of the actors of The Lord of the Rings.

Bradford Claude Dourif (b. Huntington, West Virginia; March 18, 1950) is an American film and television actor nominated for an Oscar and an Emmy. He is probably best known for his role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which earned him the Oscar nomination as best supporting actor. He has also put his voice to the character of Chucky in the films of the Devilish Doll (Child's Play), has played Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager, Dr. Gediman in Alien: Resurrection and Gríma Tongue of Snake in the film adaptation of The Lord of the rings. He has also won a Saturn Award for The Exorcist III and has been nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in Deadwood. As a secondary he has also participated in the adaptation to the big screen of Dune (David Lynch, 1984), playing the evil Mentat of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Piter de Vries.

He has made occasional appearances in television series like All Saints, although he is internationally known for playing Denethor II in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. His last cinematographic works have been in White Noise: The Light and One Night with the King. He played Russian consul Anatoly Markov in the sixth season of the American television series 24. His most recent work is that of the mentally unstable scientist Walter Bishop in the television series Fringe, by JJ Abrams, released in September 2008.

His first notable performance was performed in Emma's War (1986), in which he played a teenager who moved to Australia during World War II. After a decade of acclaimed roles by Australian critics, he attracted Hollywood's attention by appearing in two supporting roles, in The Thin Red Line (1998) and What Lies Beneath (2000). However, his most famous interpretation was carried out in 2002, when he joined the cast of the films of The Lord of the Rings.The filmmaker Steven Spielberg, impressed by Miranda's performance in the films of The Lord of the Rings He contacted her to ask if she wanted to appear alongside Tom Cruise in the 2005 big-budget sci-fi film War of the Worlds. She, who was pregnant at the time, thought she would have to reject the role, but the script He was rewritten to be able to count on her as part of the cast. After the birth of her daughter in 2005, Miranda took a break from the cinema to focus on her life as a mother and the Australian theater.

Ian Holm Cuthbert was born in Goodmayes, in Essex County, located east of London. Belonging to a family of Scottish descent, he is the second son of Jean Holm, who was a nurse and his father, Dr. James Harvey Cuthbert, who was a psychiatrist who worked as a superintendent at West Ham Corporation Mental Hospital. An important aspect to highlight about him is that he was a pioneer in electroshock therapy.

Born in Glasgow (Scotland), his parents died a year apart when Billy was a child. He and his sister Margaret were raised by their grandmother. In 1984, with 16 years, he began his career in a musical company Theater Guild. He worked as a bookbinder before attempting the artistic career. One of the books he bound was The Lord of the Rings. He graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, with a diploma in drama. He currently owns a house in Lesmahagow with his girlfriend, Alison McKinnon. On April 26, 2006, they had a son named Jack William Boyd.

Wenham's participation in internationally known films is limited to a small role in Moulin Rouge! (2001), the character of Faramir in The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003) of the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings of Peter Jackson, the monk Carl in Van Helsing (2004) and the soldier Dilios in 300 (2007). He also starred in the theatrical version of Cyrano de Bergerac in Melbourne during 2005. In September 2006 he recited the poem "Crocodiles Cry" by Rupert McCall during the funeral of zoologist Steve Irwin.

He has been married since 2004 to a compatriot named Natalie Wihongi (her makeup artist in The Privateers), mother of her two children Hunter (born November 2000) and Indiana (Indy, born January 2006). He often plays golf, and he likes mountain climbing, horse riding, surfing, fishing and being the gardener of his own garden. His favorite music is that of the Pixies, Nick Cave, Carole King and Red Hot Chili Peppers. He has a black bull terrier called "Ire," by Uprising, Bob Marley's album. He is a close friend of Viggo Mortensen, whom he met in the filming of the films of The Lord of the Rings, and Renée O'Connor, actress who played Gabrielle in Xena: the warrior princess. Karl says that day after day he rises with good humor thanks to Peter Jackson for giving him the role of Éomer, the rider of Rohan.

Born in 1944, he grew up in England, Africa and Wales. He attributes to his early exposure to classical literature his decision to devote himself to interpretation. After refining his technique at the famous Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, where he graduated as an actor in the Shakespearean theater style, he led him to interpret epic characters. He has played characters like Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, Enrique IV, Hedda Gabler and El misántropo, by Molière.

Known for playing evil characters in almost all of his films, he has participated in some 250 productions since 1948. Lee has collaborated on the last three recordings of the power metal band Rhapsody of Fire, chosen for his tone of voice and for his physique for the role of a medieval king-priest. Despite his advanced age he is still active and in the last decade his career has received a renewed impulse with roles in blockbusters, such as Saruman's, in the films of The Lord of the Rings or that of Count Dooku in those of Star Wars .

Dominic was born in Berlin (Germany), although his two parents are English; his mother, Maureen, is a nurse and his father, Austin Monaghan, is a science teacher. He has an older brother named Matthew. His family moved to Heaton Moor (Stockport, England) when Dominic was twelve, and then moved to Manchester. His mother tongue is English but he also speaks German. After filming the Lord of the Rings movies, Monaghan moved to live in Los Angeles (California) with his cast partner Elijah Wood, where he began writing a screenplay of cinema together with his best friend Billy Boyd. Not long ago he acknowledged having suffered a deep depression during the first year after leaving New Zealand. For a while, Dominic dedicated himself to small roles, participating in short films - such as An Insomniac's Nightmare - and independent English cinema, until his television opportunity came thanks to the Lost series, in which he plays Charlie Pace, a musician in low hours and with drug addiction.

Astin has gained much temporary fame from several important roles. At age 13, he debuted as Mickey in The Goonies (1985). One of his most important roles was as Frodo's faithful and loyal friend, the hobbit Samsagaz Gamyi, in the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003).

He awarded numerous awards, including BAFTA, the Golden Globe and his first Oscar nomination. Between 2001 and 2003 he participated in the Peter Jackson film trilogy based on The Lord of the Rings, such as Elf Queen Galadriel, repeating this same role in the first of three films based on The Hobbit, also by the British writer JRR Tolkien and that will be released between 2012 and 2014. In 2004 he starred in the Martin Scorsese film, The Aviator, playing the legendary actress Katharine Hepburn. For this performance, Blanchett was acclaimed by critics, receiving countless awards, including the Oscar in the category of "Best Supporting Actress." Other titles such as Babel (2006), Diario de una scandal (2006), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) are included in his filmography.

He has participated in more than twenty films. He is known for his role as Agent Smith in the Matrix saga and his role as Elrond in the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings. Weaving's deep voice has given life to the character of Megatron in the Transformers saga, and V in V for Vendetta, a real action movie starring Weaving, but in which he does not get to show his face. His "return to Middle-earth" is planned in the same role of Elrond in the film adaptation of The Hobbit, which is also made by director Peter Jackson.

Elijah Jordan Wood (n. Cedar Rapids, Iowa; January 28, 1981) is an American actor. He debuted with a minor role in Back to the Future II (1989), and then got a succession of increasingly relevant roles, which made him a critically acclaimed child actor at the age of 13. After his starring role as Frodo in the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings, he has decided to play varied roles in critically acclaimed films such as Bobby, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Sin City, Green Street and Everything Is Illuminated.

Liv is the daughter of Steven Tyler, the vocalist of Aerosmith, a fact he met at age nine, because he grew up thinking that his biological father was the musician Todd Rundgren; and of Bebe Buell, a model, Aerosmith groupie in the 1970s. He began an incipient career as a model at fourteen, but after less than a year he decided to focus on acting. His first steps as an actress took them precisely from the hand of his newly known father: he appeared with seventeen years in the famous video of the song «Crazy» (1994) .After the successes of The Lord of the Rings, he appeared again with his counterpart in Armageddon, actor Ben Affleck, in A Girl from Jersey (2004), a romantic comedy written and directed by Kevin Smith, playing a woman who recovers for love the heart of a widowed father (Affleck). In an interview for MTV News, Tyler confessed that she felt "frightened and vulnerable" while filming A Jersey Girl, adding "I was so used to those other elements of the character [Arwen]. In The Lord of the Rings, many things were done in postproduction, while this was just about me and Ben sitting there, just letting go of the dialogue. However, he reiterated that filming A Jersey girl was what he had wanted to do.

Orlando Bloom was born in Canterbury (Kent, England), and has a sister, Samantha Bloom, who was born in 1975. Her mother, Sonia Constance Josephine (single Copeland), was born in the British section of Calcutta, India, daughter of Betty Constance Josephine Walker and Francis John Copeland, who was a doctor and surgeon. Through her, Bloom is a cousin of photographer Sebastian Copeland. Bloom's maternal grandmother's family lived in Tasmania, Australia, Japan and India, and were of English origin, some of them originally from Kent. Two days after graduating from Guildhall in 1999, he was elected to his first important role, playing elf prince Legolas Hojaverde in the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003). In the first instance he had auditioned for the role of Faramir, which does not appear until the second film, but director Peter Jackson assigned him instead the role of Legolas, with great weight in the three films. While filming a scene, a rib was broken after falling from a horse, but eventually he recovered and continued filming.9 At the same time, Bloom also played a brief role in the movie Black Hawk Down. The success of the Lord of the Rings and Black Hawk Down trilogy transformed Bloom from an unknown actor to one of the best-known celebrities around the world. In 2002, he was chosen for Teen People in "Sexiest Stars Under 25" and was named by People as the cutest single on the 2004 list. All members of the Lord of the Rings movies were nominated for Best Cast in Actors Guild Award for three consecutive years, finally winning in 2003 for the third film, Lord of the Rings: the return of the King. Bloom then starred with Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: the curse of the Black Pearl, which was a blockbuster during the summer of 2003. After the success in this film, Bloom took the role as Paris, the man who effectively started the Trojan War, in the 2004 blockbuster, Troy, with Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Peter O'Toole. He then played the lead roles in Kingdom of Heaven and Elizabethtown (both in 2005).

Shaun Mark Bean (n. Sheffield, South Yorkshire; April 17, 1959), better known as Sean Bean, is a British actor, famous from his role as Boromir in the Peter Jackson trilogy on the novel by JRR Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: the two towers and The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King). In 2011 he returned to the frontline worldwide for his role as Eddard Stark in the television series Game of Thrones, based on the literary series Song of Ice and Fire, by the writer George RR Martin.

McKellen has worked in the cinema throughout his acting career since 1966. However, it was in the 1990s when his appearances began to be more remarkable and significant, with participation in projects that achieved worldwide success, including films such as Priest of Love ( Christopher Miles, 1981), Walter (Stephen Frears, 1982), The Keep (Michael Mann, 1983), Plenty (Fred Schepisi, 1985) and Cold Comfort Farm (John Schlesinger, 1995). His career continued in any case subject to the more than 250 plays in which he has performed for almost fifty years. One of them, Ricardo III of William Shakespeare, premiered at the National Theater in London, toured Europe and the United States and was adapted to the cinema by McKellen himself, who won the Felix award for best European actor of the year for this role in 1996 and a Golden Globe nomination. The film was directed by Richard Loncraine.

Viggo Peter Mortensen (n. Manhattan, New York City; October 20, 1958) is an American film actor, of Danish descent and resident during his childhood in Venezuela and Argentina, which is why he speaks Spanish correctly. He also works as a poet, musician, photographer and painter. His best-known roles as an actor are those of the Dorndan Aragorn in the film trilogy of The Lord of the Rings by Peter Jackson, Tom Stall in A History of Violence by David Cronenberg, "The Man" in The Road by John Hillcoat, the Captain in Alatriste by Agustín Díaz Yanes, and in particular that of Nikolai Luzhin in Promises of the East, a job for which he was nominated for an Oscar.