Happy birthday to Ken Stott! Photo source: IMDB.
Actor Ken Stott, our very own Balin son of Fundin, is celebrating his 60th birthday today! He was born on October 19, 1954, in Edinburgh, Scotland, to David Stott, a Scottish teacher, and Antonia Stott, a Sicilian lecturer. Ken was educated at George Heriot’s School and London’s Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Ken Stott as DI John Rebus in ‘Rebus.’ Photo credit: Huffington Post UK.
After finishing school, Ken began working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. His early work focused on theatre, but he also appeared in small roles in BBC series. By the 1990s, he was being cast in leading roles for television. Among Ken’s most visible television roles were as Eddie McKenna in Takin’ Over the Asylum (1994), which also featured David Tennant, DCI Red Metcalfe in the BBC series Messiah (2001-2005), and the title character in Rebus (2006-2007). His performance as comedian Tony Hancock in Hancock and Joan earned him a Scottish BAFTA nomination in 2008.
Ken Stott in ‘The God of Carnage,’ a role he created for a West End production in 2008 and reprised on Broadway in 2009. Photo source: Broadway.com.
Theatre has remained an important part of Ken’s work throughout his career. In 1997, his performance in Art by Yasmina Reza was honored with a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor. In 2008, Ken appeared in London’s West End in another Reza play, The God of Carnage, a role that he reprised on Broadway in 2009.
Balin, son of Fundin, is among Ken Stott’s most prominent film roles to date. Photo credit: Warner Bros, Newline Cinema.
Ken’s work in film has most often been in supporting roles, in such films as King Arthur (2004), Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), and One Day (2011). In 1999, he appeared in more prominent roles in The Debt Collector, opposite Billy Connolly (Dain Ironfoot in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies) and Iain Robertson, and in Plunkett and Macleane, with Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle, and Liv Tyler (Arwen Undómiel in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy). Fans of The Hobbit films know Ken best as Balin, brother of Dwalin and trusted companion of Thorin Oakenshield. His performance as the wise dwarf has met critical acclaim and popular approval alike. Fans around the world are anxiously awaiting the return of Balin and the rest of the Company of Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in December 2014.
All of us at Middle-earth would like to wish Ken a very happy birthday!
