Billy Boyd

William Nathan Boyd (born 28 August 1968), professionally known as Billy Boyd, is a Scottish actor and musician.

Boyd started his career appearing in Taggart (1996), The Soldier's Leap (1998), and Urban Ghost Story (1998).

He also appeared in the 7:84 Theatre Company Scotland production of Caledonia Dreaming by David Greig in 1997.

He played Peregrin "Pippin" Took in Peter Jackson's epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003), Barret Bonden in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) and Glen and Glenda (later G.G. Valentine) in the Child's Play film Seed of Chucky (2004) and second season of the television series Chucky (2022).

Boyd was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to William and Mary Boyd, who both died a year apart when Boyd was in his early teens.

He worked as a bookbinder for six years before pursuing an acting career.

After graduating from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, he went on to perform with St Andrews Repertory and the Traverse Theatre.

His breakthrough, and most notable acting role, was Peregrin "Pippin" Took in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, from 2001 to 2003.

Boyd wrote the melody for and sang the song "The Edge of Night", which was featured in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

He topped a list of the 100 Most Eligible Men in Scotland in 2002.

Boyd made a guest appearance on Viggo Mortensen's 2003 album Pandemoniumfromamerica, where he played the bass on two songs, as well as drums on another.

In 2004, he starred as Glen and Glenda, Chucky's (Brad Dourif) and Tiffany's (Jennifer Tilly) offsprings in the Child's Play film Seed of Chucky.

He has also made a cameo appearance in the popular Scottish comedy Still Game in the second episode of the first series.

As well as being a screen actor, he also appears on the stage.

Boyd has been in several plays; including San Diego and The Ballad of Crazy Paola.

He performed at the Dundee Repertory Theatre in the role of Davie in Sunshine on Leith, as well as in Long Hong Jimmy, in which he was the lead actor.

He also starred (2007) as Richard MacDuff in the BBC Radio adaptation of the book: Dirk Gently′s Holistic Detective Agency written by Douglas Adams.

In June 2010, Beecake released an album Soul Swimming.

As well as topping some of the international MySpace charts, the band was awarded VisitScotland's award for Best Live Act at the Tartan Clef Music Awards.

The award was created by VisitScotland to celebrate Scotland's live music scene and Glasgow's new title of UNESCO City of Music.

In 2011, his feature film Glenn, the Flying Robot was shown in the Dawn Breakers International Film Festival, and was followed by a Netflix release.

In June 2012, he appeared on stage as the voice of the guide in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy live radio show.

Beecake released the EP Please Stay on 4 June 2012.

The music video for the song "Please Stay" from the EP was released to coincide with the release of the EP.

The song's music video was directed by Michael Ferns, a graduate from the RSAMD where Boyd himself graduated.

The group released their second album Blue Sky Paradise in December 2012.

In 2013, Boyd played Banquo in Shakespeare's Macbeth, at the Shakespeare's Globe alongside Joseph Millson and Samantha Spiro.

The band released a second EP titled Just B in July 2013.

The song was later used over the trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014), the final film in the Hobbit trilogy.

Boyd also wrote and performed the song "The Last Goodbye", which is played during the ending credits of the film.

In 2014, Boyd wrote and performed the song "The Last Goodbye", which was played over the ending credits of the movie The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

Boyd is an avid surfer and spent his free time surfing in New Zealand during the production for The Lord of the Rings.

He also holds a Grade 7 in foil fencing.

He trained in martial arts at the Krauseworld Academy in Glasgow under brothers Steve Krause and Mike Krause where he achieved Phase 4 rank in both Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Kali.

Boyd together with fellow Lord of the Rings castmates Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, Miranda Otto, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, Karl Urban, and Elijah Wood, plus writer Philippa Boyens and director Peter Jackson on 31 May 2020 joined Josh Gad's YouTube series Reunited Apart which reunites the cast of popular movies through video-conferencing, and promotes donations to non-profit charities.

In 2022, he reprised his Child's Play role in the second season finale of the television series Chucky, titled "Chucky Actually", as a merged incarnation of Glen and Glenda Tilly, known as G.G. Valentine.

He made his stage debut in 2024 with Lord of the Rings castmate Dominic Monaghan in the Canadian production of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Boyd fronts a band called Beecake.

The band was named after a time when Boyd's Lord of the Rings co-star Dominic Monaghan sent a picture of a cake covered in bees.

Other members of the band included Paul Burke, Billy Johnston, and Rick Martin.