Billy Boyd

At 55 years old, Billy Boyd has this physical status:

Billy Boyd (born 28th August 1968) is a Scottish actor, singer, and guitarist best known for his appearance in Peter Jackson's epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003), Bart Bonden in Master and Commander (2004) and Glen in Seed of Chucky.

Early life

Boyd was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to William and Mary Boyd, who both died a year later when Boyd was in his early teens. He worked as a bookbinder for six years before embarking on acting. He went on to perform with St Andrews Repertory and the Traverse Theatre after graduating from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Personal life

During the making of The Lord of the Rings, Boyd spent his spare time surfing in New Zealand. He also has a Grade 7 in foil fencing. He studied martial arts at the Krauseworld Academy in Glasgow, where he achieved first place in both Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Kali. In 2002, he ranked number one on a list of the 100 Most Eligible Men in Scotland.

Alison McKinnon, the husband of Alison McKinnon, owns a house in Glasgow. On April 26, 2006, the couple had their first child, a boy named Jack William Boyd. On Sunday, he and McKinnon were married in a reception with 30 people at Oran Mor in Glasgow's West End. Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan, two of the castmates, attended the wedding. Following a reception for about 130 people, a reception was held later.

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

Dominic Monaghan, co-star of The Lord of the Rings, is still close to him. Monaghan revealed in an interview with national breakfast television show GMTV that he continues to watch Boyd on a regular basis because he is "essentially, kind of godfather to his boy." Boyd and Monaghan co-host the podcast 'The Friendship Onion.'

Boyd is one of the patrons of Scottish Youth Theatre, Scotland's National Theatre 'for and by' young people. He is also a patron of the National Boys' Choir of Scotland.

Boyd fronted VisitScotland's Perfect Day Campaign in 2008, a boy who grew fond of surfing in Scotland, especially in Machrihanish, on Scotland's west coast, as well as Pease Bay and Coldingham Bay. In an interview with The Scotsman on July 28, 2008, he said, "I don't do much advertising stuff, but I hope with this one I could be honest." I'm proud of where I come from, and I'm really excited when a friend comes over and I'll show them around."

Source

Career

Boyd started his career appearing in Taggart (1996), The Soldier's Leap (1998), and Urban Ghost Story (1998). He also appeared in the 7:84 Theatre Company Scotland production of Caledonia Dreaming by David Greig in 1997. His breakthrough, and most notable acting role, was Peregrin "Pippin" Took in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, from 2001 to 2003. Boyd wrote the melody for and sang the song "The Edge of Night", which was featured in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The song was later used over the trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014), the final film in the Hobbit trilogy. Boyd also wrote and performed the song "The Last Goodbye", which is played during the ending credits of the film.

In 2004, he starred as Glen and Glenda, Chucky's (Brad Dourif) and Tiffany's (Jennifer Tilly) offsprings in Seed of Chucky. He has also made a cameo appearance in the popular Scottish comedy Still Game in the second episode of the first series.

As well as being a screen actor, he also appears on the stage. Boyd has been in several plays; including San Diego and The Ballad of Crazy Paola. He performed at the Dundee Repertory Theatre in the role of Davie in Sunshine on Leith, as well as in Long Hong Jimmy, in which he was the lead actor. He also starred (2007) as Richard MacDuff in the BBC Radio adaptation of the book: "Dirk Gently′s Holistic Detective Agency" written by Douglas Adams.

In 2011, his feature film Glenn, the Flying Robot was shown in the Dawn Breakers International Film Festival, and was followed by a Netflix release. In June 2012, he appeared on stage as the voice of the guide in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy live radio show. In 2013, Boyd played Banquo in Shakespeare's Macbeth, at the Shakespeare's Globe alongside Joseph Millson and Samantha Spiro.

Boyd together with fellow Lord of the Rings castmates Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, Miranda Otto, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, Karl Urban, and Elijah Wood, plus writer Philippa Boyens and director Peter Jackson on 31 May 2020 joined Josh Gad's YouTube series Reunited Apart which reunites the cast of popular movies through video-conferencing, and promotes donations to non-profit charities.

Boyd fronts a band called Beecake. The band was named after a time when Boyd's Lord of the Rings co-star Dominic Monaghan sent a picture of a cake covered in bees. Other members of the band included Paul Burke, Billy Johnston, and Rick Martin.

Boyd made a guest appearance on Viggo Mortensen's 2003 album Pandemoniumfromamerica, where he played the bass on two songs, as well as drums on another.

In June 2010, Beecake released an album Soul Swimming. As well as topping some of the international MySpace charts, the band was awarded VisitScotland's award for Best Live Act at the Tartan Clef Music Awards. The award was created by VisitScotland to celebrate Scotland's live music scene and Glasgow's new title of UNESCO City of Music. The Tartan Clef Music Awards raise money for Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy in Scotland – a charity which uses music to bring joy into the lives of children and adults who have been isolated by disability, trauma or illness.

Beecake released the EP Please Stay on 4 June 2012. The music video for the song "Please Stay" from the EP was released to coincide with the release of the EP. The song's music video was directed by Michael Ferns, a graduate from the RSAMD where Boyd himself graduated. The group released their second album Blue Sky Paradise in December 2012. The band released a second EP titled Just B in July 2013.

In 2014, Boyd wrote and performed the song "The Last Goodbye", which was played over the ending credits of the movie The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, which was released on 12 December 2014. The soundtrack, which includes the song, was released 8 December 2014.

Source