Dominic Monaghan 

Biography:

Full Name: Dominic Monaghan 
Birthday: December 8, 1976 
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany 
Haircolor: brown 
Eyecolor: blue 
Height: 5'6" / 5'7" 
Spouse: none 

Dominic Monaghan was born in Berlin, Germany on the 8th of December 1976 as 
a second son for father Austin and mother Aureen. He stayed in Germany for 12
years, when he moved back to England with his family. His first big role on 
television was "Hetty Wainthrop investigates", a detective series where he played alongside Patricia Routledge. He also starred in "This is personal: the hunt for the Yorkshire ripper", "Hostile waters" and "Monsieur Renard", a series with John Thaw, better known as Inspector Morse. He is also no stranger to the stage, playing in "Annie and fanny from Bolton to Rome" and "The Resurrectionists". His latest project is the part of Meriadoc 'Merry' Brandybuck in the real-life adaption of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. When he is not acting he enjoys music, writing, surfing -which he picked up while filming Lord of the Rings and football. Dominic is a big Manchester United fan. Because of the years he spent in Germany he speaks fluent German and is also very good in impersonations and accents (USA, London, Scots, Australian, Yorkshire). 

Some "fun" Facts : 

-Apparently he had to choose between his girlfriend and filming Lord of the Rings. 
-When asked about the friendship between the hobbits, he answered: "We're all incredible friends. I made the greatest friends that I've ever had doing a job. I spent nearly two years with these people on the films and I'm going to spend the next few years working with them, as the subsequent films are released). I'll know them for the rest of my life, so we're all brothers and we all became incredibly close. We supported each other every day and helped each other out. In that sense it was an incredibly valuable job, making friends who are actors. 
-During the premiere of the LotR exhibition in Casa Loma he said:" [Hobbits] are very emotional creatures. They're very true to the moment they are living in. If they feel upset they will act that way, but hobbits are able to find the brighter side of life and can move from one emotion to another easily." 
- Dominic Monaghan predicted "at least five" awards for Lord Of The Rings, in which he plays Meriadoc Brandybuck - accurately, as it turned out. 
- "My initial reaction to being cast as Merry was one of silent wide smiling reflection for a couple of minutes, and then of a huge rush of adrenaline..." 
- "I'd love to play a gangster but I think people might say I looked a bit too young and cheeky to play a character who'd just blown someone's head off!" 
- On Lord of the Rings: "I won't miss having to stand for two hours at 4:30 a.m. and having freezing cold glue applied to my feet. I won't miss two-hour drives to work or long, long, long, days sitting in my trailer waiting... waiting... waiting. I won't miss glue in my ears. But I would do it all again tomorrow." 
- On Lord of the Rings: "We all had such a great time together, and we wanted something to remember the experience. At first, we talked about a ring, and then we got on to the tattoo. It became a group project. We rang up this guy who had a tattoo parlor that was closed on Sunday--our only day off--so we convinced him to open up for us, and we had a real party, taking photos of each other and everything." 
- We work so well with Peter Jackson, because Pete understands Hobbits so well. Because he is a Hobbit. He has so many Hobbit qualities to him. 
- "If my house caught fire I would save myself and anyone in there and I would try and save all the diaries and letters that I have collected as everything else is replaceable. And I would sit on the lawn watching my house burn cherry red and record it in my diary." 
- "That's just the kind of thing Pippin would say. That's my Billy. He's so charming - it's like he can do no wrong." 
- "I like to have a tidy kitchen but I am not too bothered about my room or living room etc. My theory is that when it's untidy I feel comfortable, like it feels lived in, and its only gonna get untidy if you tidy it so wait, wait, wait..." 
- On playing Tig, a fake game they made up to fool Elijah (from FOTR DVD cast commentary): "So we would play. The three of us [Dom, Sean and Billy] were constantly getting it right. Every time. Elijah tried a new way of tigging someone, we'd say "No Elijah, you can't tig on a tog" "You can't tag on a tig" "You have to do an elephant impression if you're gonna tig Billy... and for like three weeks he [Elijah] was saying how much he enjoyed playing Tig." 
- On how he gets along with Elijah: "Elijah's a cool guy. I think the thing that linked Elijah and I together was that we have an intense geek-like love for music. We can both sit around and talk for hours and hours about Coldplay, Eminem and Radiohead." 
- "I think deep down I always wanted to be an actor. It was the one thing in school that I was undoubtedly enthusiastic about and good at. I coasted along being good at German, Georgraphy, English and football but there wasn't anything I could really call my thing, my niche." 
- Merry is the sharpest and wittiest of the hobbits, he's very intelligent, quick thinking and very observant. At the start of the movie he is in the prime of his life, very happy, very content. He has a big fat tummy and has led a good life. We find Merry not wanting to leave his home at all.

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