Billy Boyd
About
Biography
Filmography
Notes
His official Web site is located at www.billyboyd.net.
"They love it, which is great. Imagine the horrible life you would have if you were in this movie and the Tolkien fans hated it. They'd be saying, The second son of Argonath would tear your limbs out.Because we want to stay close to the book, we all now have a great knowledge of the book as well. It's not as if we did it half-heartedly."---Boyd about the LOTR Fans EmpireOnline December 2003
Biography
Glaswegian Billy Boyd got bitten by the acting bug when he was cast as the Artful Dodger in a school production of the stage musical "Oliver!" at age 11. Although encouraged in his pursuit of the arts by his mother (she enrolled him in amateur dramatics at the Dolphin Arts Centre), he opted to train as a bookbinder when he left school just before his 17th birthday. After a four-year apprenticeship and two more years of actual work, Boyd decided the time had come to pursue his dream of acting. Planning to spend a year in the USA before enrolling in drama school, he learned there were still slots opens at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and went ahead and auditioned. While visiting America, he learned he had been accepted into the three-year diploma program.
After graduating, the boyishly handsome Boyd was one of the lucky ones who immediately found work at the Byre Theatre in St. Andrews, playing the title role in the musical "Secret Diary of Adrian Mole" and later "The Slab Boys." He subsequently appeared at Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum Theatre and the Traverse Theatre in such shows as "Trainspotting," "Widows Alexis" and "An Experienced Woman Gives Advice." A guest appearance as an autistic teenager on the popular Scottish series "Taggart" helped to raise his profile a bit. He segued to films with supporting roles in "Urban Ghost Story" (1998; released in Great Britain in 2001) and "Julie and the Cadillacs" (1999). Boyd enjoyed his greatest exposure to date when he landed the role of Peregrin 'Pippin' Took, one of the Hobbits who are entrusted with destroying a magical ring before it falls into the wrong hands in the highly anticipated Peter Jackson-directed version of J.R.R. Tolkein's "The Lord of the Rings." Making three films simultaneously over a two-year period in New Zealand, Boyd was among the many of lesser known performers tapped to play the leading roles. When the first of the trio of movies, "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" opened in December 2001, he found his profile on the rise. Guaranteed exposure over the next two years as the subsequent films -- "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (2002) and "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003) -- opened, the actor made a surprising career choice by opting to return to his stage roots in the two-hander "The Ballad of Crazy Paola" at the Traverse Theatre. Boyd joined the cast of yet another absorbing, critically hailed adventure film when he took on the supproting role of coxswain Barrett Bonden in director Peter Weir's "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" (2003) opposite Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1979
First stage appearance, as the Artful Dodger in a school production of "Oliver!" (date approximate)
1998
Appeared in the short "A Soldier's Leap"
1998
Feature film debut in "Urban Ghost Story"
2001
Starred in the stage play "The Ballad of Crazy Paola" at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh
2001
Breakthrough stage role as the hobbit Peregrin 'Pippin' Took in the Peter Jackson-directed adaptation of "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings"
2002
Reprised role of Pippin in "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"
2003
Played Pippin in the "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
2004
Was the voice of Glen, chucky's offspring in "Seed of Chucky"
2006
Cast opposite Peter Mullan in "On a Clear Day"
Videos
Movie Clip
Family
Bibliography
Notes
His official Web site is located at www.billyboyd.net.
"They love it, which is great. Imagine the horrible life you would have if you were in this movie and the Tolkien fans hated it. They'd be saying, The second son of Argonath would tear your limbs out.Because we want to stay close to the book, we all now have a great knowledge of the book as well. It's not as if we did it half-heartedly."---Boyd about the LOTR Fans EmpireOnline December 2003
