The Only Actor Who Has Appeared In Lord Of The Rings, The Hobbit & The Rings Of Power

There are a lot of crossovers and connections within Middle-earth media. Even with completely separate projects, like Prime Video's "The Rings of Power" series and Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" trilogies, you can see the throughlines. Some are obvious, like the similarities in Balrog design between Jackson's movies and Prime Video's show. Others are more subtle, like the ways "The Rings of Power" tries to recapture the magic of Jackson's Middle-earth movies. And then there is the human link.

Overall, there isn't too much personnel crossover between the Warner Bros. and Prime Video Middle-earth universes. However, there is one actor who has managed to pop up in both of them: Jed Brophy. Even more impressive? He managed to land full-blown character roles in all six of Jackson Middle-earth films and has since shown up on "The Rings of Power." He's even developed a reputation for playing multiple parts in the various J.R.R. Tolkien productions.

Brophy, for those not familiar, is a native to New Zealand, a country that has hosted more than its fair share of Middle-earth media productions. The Kiwi actor has held the following roles in "The Lord of the Rings," "The Hobbit," and "The Rings of Power":

• In "The Fellowship of the Ring," he plays an uncredited Ringwraith, a Hobbit at Bilbo's birthday party, and a wandering Elf.

• In "The Two Towers," he plays a Rohan soldier, Sharku (the Warg-riding Orc who sends Aragorn careening off a cliff), and Snaga (the Orc decapitated by the Uruk-hai captain Uglúk).

• In "The Return of the King," he plays the Witch-king's armorer and another Orc.

• In all three "Hobbit" films, he plays Nori, one of Thorin and Bilbo's Dwarven companions.

• In "The Rings of Power," he plays multiple Orcs in multiple episodes, including a hunter, a Tavern Orc, and a gnarly fella named Vrath.

On top of this impressive Middle-earth resume, Brophy's characters and talents have popped up across multiple additional media, including LEGO video games based on "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" and the "Lord of the Rings: The Third Age" video game. To say the man is neck-deep in Tolkien adaptations is an understatement.

While Jed Brophy is the only individual to cross studio productions in his Middle-earth acting career, there are many instances where Tolkienian actors have popped up in other spin-offs and trilogies. Ian McKellen is one of the most obvious. The Gandalf actor played a key role (with lots of screen time) in all three "The Lord of the Rings" movies before doing the same in the "Hobbit" trilogy.

Hugo Weaving also reprised his role as Elrond across both trilogies, as did Cate Blanchett as the Elven leader Galadriel, Orlando Bloom as the Elven prince Legolas, and Christopher Lee as the Wizard Saruman. While Martin Freeman was cast as a younger version of Bilbo for "The Hobbit" movies, Ian Holm was brought back as an elderly version of the character for a flashback — and Elijah Wood joined him as Frodo again, too.

Of course, we can't neglect Andy Serkis' performance as Gollum. While Serkis didn't appear on screen in the flesh (apart from a brief stint as Sméagol in the opening scene of "The Return of the King"), he played an instrumental part in bringing Gollum to life and did so over and over again across both of Jackson's trilogies. The final one we'll mention here is the unexpected return of Miranda Otto as Éowyn. Otto played the heroic shieldmaiden of Rohan in "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King," but her character couldn't feasibly return for the "Hobbit" trilogy, as it is a prequel set before Éowyn is born. However, Otto ended up returning two decades after her initial Middle-earth foray to narrate the 2024 anime spin-off "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim."

Playing the same character across multiple trilogies is one thing, but one of the impressive things about Jed Brophy's career is the sheer number of characters he's played in different films. He isn't alone in that regard, either. There are multiple well-known actors and several less well-known ones that have accomplished that feat.

Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies, for example, played Gimli in the "Lord of the Rings" films (even if the makeup for the role left him physically ill and his stunt double ended up in a lot of the shots). On top of that role, Rhys-Davies helped voice the arboreal leader Treebeard. (Listen for it. Once you know it, it's obvious.) Bret McKenzie, of cult-classic "Flight of the Conchords" fame, was also in both the "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" trilogies. The New Zealander first popped up as a pair of minor elves: Aegnor in "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "Elf Escort" in "The Return of the King." Fans jumped on his cameo, too, naming him Figwit. (According to the fan site figwitlives.net, the name is an acronym standing for "Frodo is grea ... who is THAT?!?") Along with playing the kind-of two-part Elven character across the "Lord of the Rings" movies, McKenzie returned to portray the Elf Lindir in "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey."

If you expand the search to consider stunt doubles, the number rises. For instance, Jason Hood played men of Rohan and Gondor in Jackson's original trilogy before taking up the mantle of the Númenórean Tamar in "The Rings of Power." Similarly, Mana Hira Davis and Winham Hammond were stunt performers for all six "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" films (including serving as Richard Armitage and Graham McTavish's stunt doubles, respectively) before joining "The Rings of Power," also as stunt doubles. Finally, we have the man, the myth, and the legend himself, Mr. Peter Jackson. Jackson popped up in all six of his Middle-earth films, playing everything from a carrot-chomping Breelander to pirates, soldiers, Dwarves, and even Bilbo's dad.