Billy_Boyd

Billy Boyd

For the Northern Ireland Labour Party activist, see Billy Boyd (politician). For the Scottish footballer, see Billy Boyd (footballer).

Billy Boyd (born 28 August, 1968) is a British actor and musician most widely known for playing the character Peregrin "Pippin" Took in the film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings and Barrett Bonden in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

Biography

Early life

Boyd was born in Glasgow, Scotland to William and Mary Boyd, who died, a year apart, when Boyd was in his early teens. He was raised, along with his older sister, Margaret, by their grandmother. In 1984, at the age of sixteen, he appeared in local musical company Theatre Guild, Glasgow's production of Hans Anderson. He worked as a book-binder for 7 years before pursuing an acting career. One of the books he bound was The Lord of the Rings. He graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where he earned a diploma in Dramatic Arts.

Career

As well as being a screen actor, he also appears on the stage. He has been in several plays; most recently, San Diego and The Ballad Of Crazy Paola. He is also an accomplished musician, singing and also playing the guitar, bass, and drums. He wrote the melody for and sang in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King called The Steward of Gondor. He topped list of top 100 Most Eligible Men in Scotland in 2002. Currently, he is the lead singer and co-songwriter in the band, Beecake

He has also made a cameo appearance in the popular Scottish comedy Still Game in the second episode of the first series. In 2008, Boyd will star in Ecstasy based on the #1 best-selling book by Irvine Welsh as Woodsy. This film has now been removed from IMDb and it is uncertain if it will go ahead.

Personal life

Aside from his musical aspirations, Boyd is an avid surfer, which stems from his time spent surfing in New Zealand during the production for Lord of the Rings. He also holds a Grade 7 in foil fencing and a Phase 4 rank in both Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Kali.

He currently owns a house in Glasgow with his fiancee, Ali McKinnon. On 26 April, 2006, he and Mckinnon welcomed their first child, son Jack William Boyd.

Boyd has a tattoo of the Elvish word for "nine", a reference to his involvement in the Lord of the Rings and the fact that his character was one of the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring. The other actors of "The Fellowship" (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, and Orlando Bloom) got the same tattoo with the exception of John Rhys-Davies whose stunt double got the tattoo instead.

He remains close with Lord of the Rings co-star Dominic Monaghan and they have written a script together but at the moment there are no plans for it to be made.

Boyd is the Patron of the National Boys Choir of Scotland.

Holidays in Scotland

In 2008, Billy fronted VisitScotland's Perfect Day Campaign - www.visitscotland.com/perfectday

- and talked particularly of his love of surfing in Scotland, particularly in Machrihanish, Pease Bay and Coldingham Bay in the Scottish Borders. In an interview about the campaign with the Scotsman newspaper on 28 July he said "I don't really do much promotional stuff but felt that with this one I could be honest...I'm very proud of where I come from and I get very excited if a friend comes over and I can show them around.