Christopher Tolkien
Christopher Tolkien

Happy Birthday to Christopher Tolkien, who turns 90 today the 21st of November.  From all of us here at theonering.net ,”Many Happy Returns!”.

Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (born 21 November, 1924) is the third child and youngest son of J.R.R. Tolkien and Edith Tolkien. He is the literary executor of the Tolkien Estate and has edited much of his father’s work for posthumous publication.

happybirthday

Andy SerkisToday, our favorite master of motion capture performance – Andy Serkis – turns 50!

Born on April 20, 1964, Mr. Serkis has long held a special place in all our hearts. The extraordinarily talented actor was originally brought in to supply the voice of Gollum in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, Andy became a much more integral part of Gollum’s creation than he could probably have ever imagined. Re-imagined through the use of motion capture technology, Gollum became much more than a digital creation. Those of us who sat in theaters on December 18, 2002, witnessed the birth of a new form of performance. What we saw was Andy, transformed into Tolkien’s iconic character. Continue reading “Happy Birthday to Andy Serkis!”

Benedict CumberbatchWhile have yet to see his work in ‘The Hobbit,’ we’d like to wish a very Happy Birthday to actor Benedict Cumberbatch. The man who will be Smaug turns 37 today! Here’s his bio from Wikipedia…

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. His most acclaimed roles include Stephen Hawking in the BBC drama Hawking (2004); William Pitt in the historical filmAmazing Grace (2006); protagonist Stephen Ezard in the miniseries thriller The Last Enemy (2008); Paul Marshall in Atonement (2007); Bernard in Small Island (2009); and Sherlock Holmes in the modern BBC adaptation series Sherlock (2010–12).

In February 2011, he starred in Danny Boyle‘s stage adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein at the Royal National Theatre. In late 2011, he played Major Stewart in Steven Spielberg‘s War Horse (2011). He also played Peter Guillam, one of the pivotal roles in Tomas Alfredson‘s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011).

He also starred as Christopher Tietjens in the BBC/HBO co-produced miniseries, Parade’s End, which first aired August 2012. He portrayed Smaug the dragon through voice and motion capture and also provided the motion capture for the Necromancer in Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit trilogy (2012).

Cumberbatch portrayed the main antagonist, Khan Noonien Singh, in J. J. Abrams‘ Star Trek Into Darkness, released in May 2013, and will play WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate.

 

Peter JacksonFor regular folks, Halloween is just another holiday to dress up and collect candy. For Oscar-winning Director Peter Jackson, this holiday has and extra special meaning – it is also his Birthday! Midway through his forties, Peter has accomplished more than most do in a lifetime. May the next year bring renewed success and energy to our favorite director! (Oh, and it would be great if he could be involved with ‘The Hobbit’ too!) Without further delay, TheOneRing.net and the entirety of the Tolkien community would like to wish Peter Jackson a very Happy Birthday!