John Rhys-Davies Gender Male Date of birth May 5, 1944 Place of birth Sailsbury, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom Nationality British IMDb profile

John Rhys-Davies (b. May 5 1944), is a British actor known for his portrayal of the dwarf Gimli and of Treebeard in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Biography

John Rhys-Davies was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.

Despite his casting as a dwarf, he is the tallest member of the actors in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, his height being of 6'1", which was the perfect height to play a dwarf in relation to the heights of the actors portraying the hobbits. Jackson invited Rhys-Davies to reprise his role as Gimli in The Hobbit film trilogy, but he refused the part, saying, "I don't think my face could take that punishment again", being allergic to the heavy makeup needed.

In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, he was additionally chosen to provide the voice of the Ent Treebeard.

John Rhys-Davies is also famous for playing the Egyptian character Sallah in Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. One of his earliest television roles was as the Praetorian Guard commander Macro in the miniseries I, Claudius, which also featured Bernard Hill, Derek Jacobi, and Brian Blessed.

He is also known for his many television credits, including Professor Maximillian P. Arturo in Sliders, Agent Michael Malone in The Untouchables, the voice of Macbeth in Gargoyles, Sammy Mutterperl in War and Remembrance, Professor Lampley in Revelations, the Narrator for Takezo Kensei: Sword Saint, and he also appeared as the hologram of Leonardo da Vinci in Season 3 of Star Trek: Voyager.



