Aidan Turner

About

Irish actor best known for his roles as Kíli in the three-part fantasy film The Hobbit and John Mitchell in the supernatural drama series Being Human.

After graduating from The Gaiety School of Acting in 2004, Aidan Turner appeared in several theatre plays, including The Plough and the Stars, Romeo and Juliet, and A Cry from Heaven.

His television acting career began in 2007 with a guest appearance on The Tudors and then in the six-part television drama serial about the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Desperate Romantics, playing Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Between 2008 and 2009, he appeared in a recurring role as Ruairí McGowan in The Clinic followed by playing the vampire John Mitchell in the supernatural drama programme Being Human.

Being Human was crowned Best Drama Series at the 2011 TV Choice Awards and Best Television Drama Series at Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards in 2009, 2010 and 2012.

His film career began with two short films, The Sound of People and Matterhorn, both in 2007. He later played Mal in the Irish thriller film, written and directed by Gerard Stembridge, Alarm (2008).

His role on Being Human brought Turner to the attention of Peter Jackson, who cast him as the dwarf Kíli in The Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014). In 2013, he also played shadowhunter-turned-werewolf Luke Garroway in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. The film earned $90,565,421 on a $60 million budget and won four Canadian Screen Awards: Achievement in Make-Up, Achievement in Overall Sound, Achievement in Sound Editing and Achievement in Visual Effects. It was also nominated for Achievement in Costume Design and Achievement in Art Direction/Production Design.

Aidan portrayed the title character Ross Poldark in the 2015 revival of the BBC series Poldark. Like the original 1975 BBC adaptation, this new series has been taken up by the PBS network for broadcast in the United States.

In the 2015 BBC TV miniseries And Then There Were None, based on the Agatha Christie novel, he plays the cynical mercenary Philip Lombard.