The film also received the American Film Institute\'s prestigious Film Award and was nominated for 12 awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), winning awards for Best Film and garnering Jackson the David Lean Award for direction. In addition to four Golden Globe nominations, the film also received numerous distinctions and awards around the world.
Jackson previously received widespread acclaim for his 1994 feature Heavenly Creatures, which was awarded a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay. Written by Jackson and his collaborator, Fran Walsh, the film is based on an infamous New Zealand murder of the 1950s, and the story of two intelligent and imaginative young girls whose obsessive friendship leads them to murder one of their mothers.
Other film credits include The Frighteners starring Michael J. Fox, the adult puppet feature Meet the Feebles and Braindead, which Jackson co-wrote. Braindead played at festivals around the world winning 16 international science fiction awards including the prestigious Saturn. Jackson also co-directed the television documentary "Forgotten Silver" which also hit the film festival circuit.
Born in New Zealand on Halloween in 1961, Jackson began at an early age making movies with his parents\' Super 8 camera. At seventeen he left school, and failing to get a job in the New Zealand film industry as he had hoped, started work as a photo-engraving apprentice. After purchasing a 16mm camera, Jackson began shooting a science fiction comedy short, which, three years later, had grown to a seventy-five minute feature called Bad Taste, funded entirely from his own wages. The New Zealand Film Commission eventually gave Jackson money to complete the film, which has become a cult classic.
Elijah Wood has been widely regarded as one of the most gifted actors of his generation. After coming to attention in Paradise, he went on to star in Radio Flyer, Forever Young, Huck Finn, The Good Son, North, The War and Flipper. He also appeared in Internal Affairs, Avalon and Back to the Future Part 2. For his performance as Frodo in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Wood was nominated for an MTV Award and shared an ensemble nomination from the Screen Actors Guild.
Wood\'s feature credits include James Toback\'s Black and White, Robert Rodriguez\'s The Faculty, Ang Lee\'s The Ice Storm, the sci-fi thriller Deep Impact and the crime comedy Chain of Fools. He also lent his voice to the animated film The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina. Wood starred in Ash Wednesday opposite Ed Burns, who also wrote and directed this mobster drama which premiered at the Tribecca Film Festival. He will next be seen in Try Seventeen, opposite Mandy Moore and Franka Potente
Sean Astin made his feature film debut in The Goonies and soon had a starring role in the critically acclaimed Rudy. Other film credits include Bulworth, Courage Under Fire, Memphis Belle, Encino Man, Like Father Like Son, Where the Day Takes You, Staying Together, War of the Roses and Safe Passage. Astin received Best Actor honors for his performance in Low Life at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival.
Astin has also been seen in the indie releases Deterrence, Kimberly, The Last Producer and Boy Meets Girl. He made his professional debut with his mother, Patty Duke, in the television After School Special "Please Don\'t Hit Me Mom." For his role in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Astin and the rest of the principal cast were nominated for Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture by the Screen Actors Guild.
A promising director, Astin garnered an Academy Award nomination for his short film Kangaroo Court, which he also co-produced with his wife, Christine. A Directors Guild of America member, Astin also directed an episode of the HBO anthology series "Perversions of Science."
Astin has earned a degree in History/American Literature and Culture from UCLA.
Dominic Monaghan, who was introduced to international film audiences in The Fellowship of the Ring, is best known for the British television drama "Hetty Wainthrop Investigates." His other television credits include "This is Personal -The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper," and a leading role in "Monsignoir Renard," a new series starring John Thaw. Monaghan\'s film debut was in Boomber with Rutger Hauer and Martin Shaw. On the stage, Monaghan has performed in the U.K. productions of "The Resurrectionists," "Whale" and "Annie and Fanny from Bolton to Rome."
He and the rest of the cast of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring were nominated for the Screen Actor\'s Guild ensemble award.
John Rhys-Davies began acting in Shakespeare plays at the age of thirteen at Truro School in Cornwall, England. By the time he had graduated from the then new University of East Anglia, where he founded the University Dramatic Society and starred at the acclaimed Maddermarket Theatre in Norwich, he had created an impressive amateur resume. He taught for a year before spending two years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), graduating in 1969. He then worked in repertory theatres throughout Britain and at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Rhys-Davies made his feature film debut in Don Siegel\'s The Black Windmill, starring Michael Caine, where he was blown up before the title sequence. His eighty plus film credits include Victor/Victoria, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Living Daylights and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. For his role in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Rhys-Davies and the rest of the principal cast were nominated for Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture by the Screen Actors Guild. He will next be seen in Highbinders, opposite Jackie Chan and Claire Forlani.
For television, he was nominated for an Emmy for his performance as Rodrigues in "Shogun," starred as Professor Arturo in "Sliders," and is remembered for performances in "I, Claudius" and "The Naked Civil Servant." He would like to spend more time piloting planes, playing with old cars and writing.
