Aidan Turner (born 19 June 1983)^[1][2] is an Irish actor. He began his career in the RTÉ medical drama The Clinic (2008–2009),^[3] and the BBC series Desperate Romantics (2009)^[4] and later gained attention for starring in Being Human (2009–2011).^[5][6] He starred as the eponymous character in the BBC adaptation of Winston Graham's Poldark (2015–2019). He also starred as Kíli in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014).^[7][8]

Turner was born at home in Clondalkin, a suburban town of Dublin. The family moved later to Walkinstown.^[9] Turner attended secondary school at St Mac Dara's Community College in Templeogue before leaving to join his older brother at Firhouse Community College. Turner has stated: "I probably wasn't a great student. I had a car when I was 17, so I used to just run out of school when I could, jump in the car and go play pool in Tallaght. I don't know how I knew, but I convinced myself that my Leaving Cert results were never going to matter to me."^[10]

Before becoming an actor, Turner was a successful ballroom dancer, once obtaining third place in the adult section of the Irish National Championships.^[9] After finishing secondary school, he briefly worked as an apprentice electrician, alongside his father. After he saw a notice up in Dublin's Gaiety School of Acting, and having become interested in acting while working in a cinema, he applied.^[11][12][13] He graduated from the Gaiety School of Acting in 2004.^[11]

After graduating, Turner appeared in several theatre plays, including The Plough and the Stars, Romeo and Juliet, and A Cry from Heaven.^[11][14][15]

Turner's television acting career began in 2007 with an uncredited appearance on the first episode of The Tudors.^[16] In the same year he produced and starred in the film Porcelain, directed by Gavin Cleland, which was shot in a convent in Dublin. However only a trailer of the movie was ever released.^[17] Between 2008 and 2009, he appeared in a recurring role on The Clinic.^[18] Appearing in 18 episodes as Ruairí McGowan, he followed The Clinic with a BBC production, Desperate Romantics.^[16] He portrayed Dante Gabriel Rossetti in all six episodes of the show, which aired in 2009.^[16][19][20] Turner played the vampire John Mitchell on the supernatural drama programme Being Human during the first three series from 2009 to 2011, for which he received widespread praise.^[21][22][23]

His film career began with two short films, The Sound of People and Matterhorn, both in 2007. He later played Mal in the thriller feature film Alarm (2008).^[24][25]

His role on Being Human brought Turner to the attention of Sir Peter Jackson, who cast him as the dwarf Kíli in The Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014).^[11] In 2014, he won the Empire Award for Best Male Newcomer for the second film in the series, The Desolation of Smaug, which had been released the previous year.^[13] In 2013, he also played shadowhunter-turned-werewolf Luke Garroway in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.^[16]

In the 2015 BBC TV miniseries And Then There Were None, based on the Agatha Christie novel, he plays the cynical mercenary Philip Lombard.^[26]

Turner performed the title role of Ross Poldark in the 2015 revival of the BBC series.^[11][27][28] At the National Television Awards ceremony in 2016, Turner was presented with the "Impact Award" for his performance in Poldark.^[29]

Since Poldark ended in 2019, Turner has led the Italian series Leonardo and also had a role in the ITV police procedural The Suspect as Dr Joseph O'Loughlin.

In 2017, Turner met actress Caitlin FitzGerald. He also bought an 18th-century house in East London that year.^[30][31] The couple married in August 2020;^[32] they have a child together, born in January 2022.^[33]