Billy Boyd (actor)

Billy Boyd (born 28 August 1968)[1] is a Scottish actor and musician. He played Peregrin "Pippin" Took in Peter Jackson's epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003), Barret Bonden in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) and Glen in Seed of Chucky.[2]

Billy Boyd
Boyd at the 2005 Ring*Con in Fulda, Germany
Born (1968-08-28) 28 August 1968
Glasgow, Scotland
Occupation
  • Actor
  • musician
Years active1996–present
Spouse(s)
Alison McKinnon
​
(m. 2010)​
Children1

Early life

Boyd was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to William and Mary Boyd,[1] who both died a year apart when Boyd was in his early teens.[3] He worked as a bookbinder for six years before pursuing an acting career. After graduating from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, he went on to perform with St Andrews Repertory and the Traverse Theatre.[3]

Career

Acting

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.[4] 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.[5]

In 2004, he starred as Glen, the son of Chucky (Brad Dourif) and Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), 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 as 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.[6]

Music

Boyd fronts a band called Beecake.[7][8] 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.[9]

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.[10]

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.[11] The group released their second album Blue Sky Paradise in December 2012.[12] 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.[5]

Personal life

Boyd is an avid surfer and spent his free time surfing in New Zealand during the production for The Lord of the Rings.[3] He also holds a Grade 7 in foil fencing. He trained in martial arts at the Krauseworld Academy in Glasgow under brothers Steve Krause and Mike Krause where he achieved Phase 4 rank in both Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Kali.[13] He topped a list of the 100 Most Eligible Men in Scotland in 2002.

He owns a house in Glasgow with his wife, Alison McKinnon. The couple had their first child, a boy named Jack William Boyd,[14] on 26 April 2006. He and McKinnon were married in a ceremony with 30 guests at Oran Mor in Glasgow's West End on 29 December 2010. The wedding was attended by castmates Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan. A reception was held afterwards for about 130 guests.

Boyd has a tattoo of the Elvish word "nine" written with the Tengwar script, 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.[15]

He remains close with The Lord of the Rings co-star Dominic Monaghan. Monaghan revealed in an interview for the national breakfast television show GMTV that he continues to see Boyd on a regular basis, as he is "essentially, kind of, godfather to his kids." Boyd is one of the patrons of Scottish Youth Theatre, Scotland's National Theatre 'for and by' young people. He is also the patron of the National Boys' Choir of Scotland.

Holidays in Scotland

In 2008, Boyd fronted VisitScotland's Perfect Day Campaign, and talked of his love of surfing in Scotland, particularly in Machrihanish near the town of Campbeltown in Kintyre in the west coast of Scotland, and Pease Bay and Coldingham Bay on Scotland's east coast. In an interview about the campaign with The Scotsman on 28 July 2008, 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."[16]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1998 The Soldier's Leap Postman Short film
Urban Ghost Story Loan Shark
1999 Julie and the Cadillacs Jimmy Campbell
2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Peregrin "Pippin" Took
2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Barret Bonden
2004 Seed of Chucky Glen/Glenda Voice role
2005 On a Clear Day Danny
Stories of Lost Souls The Gunner Segment: "Sniper 470"
Midsummer Dream Puck Voice role
2006 The Flying Scotsman Malky
2007 Save Angel Hope Vince Sandhurst Television movie
2008 Stone of Destiny Bill Craig
2009 Jusqu'à toi Rufus
2010 Pimp Chief
Glenn, the Flying Robot Jack
2011 Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy Woodsy
2012 The Forger Bernie
Dorothy and the Witches of Oz Nick Chopper
Space Milkshake Anton
2014 The Alpha Invention Guy Short film
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies N/A Performed and co-wrote the song "The Last Goodbye" to play over the end credits of the film[5]
2015 AmStarDam Gordon
Mara und der Feuerbringer Tourist
2018 Tell It to the Bees Older Charlie Voice role
2021 Walking with Herb TBA completed
TBA An Intrusion TBA post-production

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1996 Taggart Jamie Holmes Episode: "Dead Man's Chest"
1999 Coming Soon Ross Miniseries
2002 Still Game Bearded Man Episode: "Faimly"
2004 Instant Credit Frankie Short television film
2008 Empty Tony 6 episodes
2011 Moby Dick Elijah Miniseries, 2 episodes
2012 Casualty Duncan Jessup Episode: "Hero Syndrome"
2014 Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan Himself Episode: "The Giant Wetapunga"
2015 Motive Lawrence Frampton Episode: "Frampton Comes Alive"
2017 Sofia the First Malachite (voice) Episode: "The Crown of Blossoms"
2017 The Simpsons Himself (voice; offscreen) Episode: "The Serfsons"
2019 Grey's Anatomy Seamus Episode: "I Walk the Line”
2018, 2020 Outlander Gerald Forbes 4 episodes
2020 Hollywood Noël Coward Episode: "Outlaws"

Video games
Year Title Role Notes
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Peregrin "Pippin" Took Voice role
2004 The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth Peregrin "Pippin" Took Voice role
2006 The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king Peregrin "Pippin" Took Voice role
2013 Lego The Lord of the Rings Peregrin "Pippin" Took Archive audio
2020 The Elder Scrolls Online Bradan [17]

Awards and nominations

Broadcast Film Critics Association Award

  • 2004: Won, "Best Acting Ensemble" – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (shared with cast)

DVD Exclusive Awards

  • 2003: Nominated, "Best Audio Commentary" – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (shared with cast)

Empire Awards

  • 2002: Nominated, "Best Debut" – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (shared with Dominic Monaghan)

National Board of Review of Motion Pictures

  • 2003: Won, "Best Acting by an Ensemble" – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (shared with cast)

Online Film Critics Society

  • 2003: Won, "Best Ensemble" – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (shared with cast)

Screen Actors Guild Awards

  • 2002: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture" – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (shared with cast)
  • 2003: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture" – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (shared with cast)
  • 2004: Won, "Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture" – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (shared with cast)

References
  1. "Billy Boyd Biography (1968–)". FilmReference.com. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  2. ""'Lord of the Rings' Star Billy Boyd Added To Wizard World Comic Con Tulsa Roster, September 8–9"". Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  3. Spencer, Liese (14 August 2005). "Boyd Up". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2007.
  4. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Complete Recordings Box Set". lordoftherings-soundtrack.com. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018.
  5. "Our final trip to Middle-earth to finish with "The Last Goodbye" sung by Billy Boyd". TheOneRing.net. 20 October 2014. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  6. "Actor Josh Gad reunites stars of "Lord of the Rings" while raising money for kids in need". Cbsnews.com. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  7. "Beecake". Myspace. Archived from the original on 23 May 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  8. "Beecake". beecake.com. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  9. "Dominic Monaghan - Lost Star Gets Lead Role". Contactmusic.com. Archived from the original on 5 November 2008. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  10. "Scottish Music Awards". tartanclef.org. Archived from the original on 9 December 2010.
  11. "Billy Boyd and Beecake – new video!". theonering.net. 7 June 2012. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  12. Fulton, Rick (4 January 2013). "Scots actor and musician Billy Boyd on juggling his acting and music career". Daily Record. Archived from the original on 7 January 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  13. "Billy Boyd". Tartan TV. Archived from the original on 4 August 2007.
  14. "Billy Boyd Has New Baby Named Jack William". Starpulse News Blog. 29 April 2006. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 4 June 2007.
  15. "The stars of The Lord of the Rings trilogy reach their journey's end". SciFi.com. Archived from the original on 6 March 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  16. "Lord of the Rings star Billy Boyd happy to be promoting glens of his homeland". The Scotsman. 28 July 2008. Archived from the original on 29 July 2008. Retrieved 28 July 2008.
  17. https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7024627/#Comment_7024627
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