Born Ian Holm Cuthbert in Goodmayes, Essex, England; trained at RADA, London. Preeminent British character player who began his career with the Stratford (later Royal Shakespeare) Company in the mid-1950s and emerged as a solid film presence in the late 60s. He developed a severe case of stage fright in 1976 while performing The Iceman Cometh and left the theatre. He has only returned three times since then. Memorable as a calculating robot in ALIEN (1979) and a blandly evil bureaucrat in BRAZIL (1985), his film career took off in the 1990s as he assumed the late Denholm Elliott's ability to steal every scene he was in, no matter the size of the role. Other notable credits include MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN (as Baron Frankenstein) and THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE (as Dr. Willis) (both 1994), BIG NIGHT (1996), THE FIFTH ELEMENT (as Priest Vito Cornelius) and THE SWEET HEREAFTER (both 1997), EXISTENZ, SIMON MAGUS, THE MATCH, WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP and SHERGAR (all 1999), JOE GOULD'S SECRET (as Joe Gould), ESTHER KAHN, BEAUTIFUL JOE and BLESS THE CHILD (all 2000), THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES, FROM HELL and LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (as Bilbo Baggins) (all 2001), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (2003), GARDEN STATE, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW and THE AVIATOR (all 2004), STRANGERS WITH CANDY, CHROMOPHOBIA and LORD OF WAR (all 2005), THE TREATMENT and O JERUSALEM (both 2006), and RATATOUILLE (2007, voice). Holm's performance in the title role of the BBC/PBS TV production of KING LEAR (1997) is a modern standard against which all future Lears will be judged. He was appointed a CBE in 1990 and was knighted in June, 1998.  Nominated for Supporting Actor 1981: CHARIOTS OF FIRE 1 nomination