Then & now The Hobbits

IN THE EARLY noughties, moviegoers were enchanted by the adventures of four brave hobbits – Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin – in Peter Jackson's epic film version of The Lord of the Rings. The hobbits were three-and-a-half feet tall, with curly hair, pointy ears and leathery, hairy feet. Amazingly, the actors who played them are actually fully grown men, with normal man-feet; to this day, however, it's hard to look at them and not picture them as diminutive creatures from the world of fantasy.

Frodo Baggins was played by Elijah Wood, at the time the most high-profile of the halfling foursome, having starred in The Ice Storm, Deep Impact, The Warand The Good Son. After filming wrapped on Return of the King, Wood starred in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, playing a guy who erases people's memories, but though he couldn't make the public forget Frodo, he did his best to distance himself from the Shire, playing a serial killer in Sin City, and a football hooligan in Green Street. He also voiced the lead characters in Tim Burton's computer-animated film 9, and penguin cartoons Happy Feetand Happy Feet II. He currently stars in the oddball TV series Wilfred,and was recently seen in the two part mini-series Treasure Island. Wood will don the prosthetic feet once again to play Frodo in Jackson's upcoming film version of The Hobbit.

Californian actor Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee, is the son of actress Patty Duke, and had his first movie role in the 1995 film The Goonies. After LOTR, he starred alongside Adam Sandler in the comedy 50 First Dates, and had roles in such TV dramas as 24, Law Orderand My Name Is Earl. He also published There and Back Again, his memoir of his time working on The Lord of the Ringsmovies. An active Democrat, Astin took part in John Kerry's campaign during the 2004 presidential election, and rallied for Hillary Clinton in 2008. In last year's congressional elections in California, he was campaign manager for his friend, entertainment mogul Dan Adler. Astin and his wife of 20 years, Christine, have three daughters.

You'd have to go to a desert island to find anyone who hasn't seen The Lord of the Rings, and that's where Dominic Monaghan, who played Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck, went. The German-born English actor is also well-known for his role as washed-up rock star Charlie Pace in the hit US TV series Lost.

Scotsman Billy Boyd, who played Peregrine "Pippin" Took, went straight from Middle Earth to Z-movie heaven, starring in the schlock-horror flick Seed of Chucky.He also formed his own band, Beecake, and starred in the repertory production of Sunshine on Leith. In December 2010, he married his partner, Alison McKinnon, in Glasgow. Guests at the reception included Wood and Monaghan, with whom Boyd has remained close friends. He and Monaghan are currently collaborating on a movie script. After Boyd's nuptials, Monaghan and Wood toured the south and west of Ireland, staying in B&Bs and visiting Monaghan's Irish relations. Now there's a movie idea: Hobbits v Leprechauns. Are you up for it, Peter Jackson?