Sir Ian Holm CBE (born September 12, 1931) is a British actor. Born as Ian Holm Cuthbert in Goodmayes, Essex, he was educated at Chigwell School and then RADA. Holm was an established star of the Royal Shakespeare Company before making an impact on television and film. He has been married four times.

Holm in Atom Egoyan's
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)In 1965, Holm played Richard III in the BBCs serialisation of the Wars of the Roses plays, and gradually made a name for himself with minor roles in films such as Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) and Young Winston (1972). By the time of Alien (1979) and Chariots of Fire (1981), he was a major star in the UK, and his reputation gradually spread to the USA. He continued to perform Shakespeare, and appeared with Kenneth Branagh in Henry V (1989) and as Polonius to Mel Gibson's Hamlet. He could also be seen as Desmond Cussen opposite Miranda Richardson in Dance with a Stranger.

In 1991 he married, as his third wife, popular actress Penelope Wilton, and they appeared together in The Borrowers (1993) on British television, although in 2001 they divorced. In 1989 Holm was created a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to drama, and in 1998 he was knighted.

In 2001 he starred in From Hell as the physician Sir William Withey Gull. The same year he appeared as Bilbo Baggins in the blockbuster film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, having previously played Bilbo's nephew Frodo Baggins in 1981 BBC Radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. He reappeared in the trilogy in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). In 2004, he appeared in The Day After Tomorrow, Zach Braff's Garden State, and Martin Scorsese's The Aviator.

He has played Napoleon Bonaparte three different times. First, in the 1972 television series Napoleon and Love. Next, in a cameo comic rendition, in Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits from 1981. He completed the set in 2001 playing the fallen and exiled leader in the fanciful film The Emperor's New Clothes.

His is one of the most familiar voices in Britain, having been heard in countless TV documentaries and commercials.

It has also been announced that Holms will play the late Pope John Paul II in a CBS television special.

Credit: en.wikipedia.org