Happy 46th birthday to Stephen Hunter! Photo via www.dailytelegraph.com.au.

Stephen Hunter was born on October 28, 1968, in Wellington, New Zealand. Stephen is celebrating his 46^th birthday today! By the time this story publishes in the early hours of October 28 in the USA, the day will be mostly gone in Stephen’s current home of Sydney, Australia, but that fact of time zones will not lessen the strength of our good wishes for the actor we have come to love as Bombur.

Stephen’s official website biography opens by saying, “Stephen Hunter was born in Wellington, New Zealand and was unwittingly cast as ‘the clown’ from a young age.” This role among family and friends helped propel Stephen toward a career as an actor, writer, and voice artist that began on television in New Zealand, then shifted to Australia. Comedy has always been one of Stephen’s strengths, but he has had dramatic roles as well. Those dramatic roles include the lead role of Sharpie in the award-winning drama Love My Way, and a leading guest role on the long-running Australian drama All Saints.

Behind the scenes at Beorn’s house in ‘The Hobbit” The Desolation of Smaug.’ Photo credit: Warner Bros, New Line. Photo via flicksandbits.com.

Stephen’s comedic talents remain in demand, in both Australia and New Zealand. In recent years, he has appeared in roles including The GO Show on Nickelodean, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Review with Myles Barlow, and the animated series CJ and the DJ. Fans of The Hobbit films know Stephen as the Dwarf Bombur, member of the Company of Thorin Oakenshield. In a 2012 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Stephen talked about his audition for The Hobbit:

I auditioned with Liz Mullane, she was casting it, and I auditioned with Miranda Rivers. A friend of mine told me I should do some exercise before and just pump myself up, because it’s quite a high-energy sort of style, and I remember almost getting out of breath before I went in. I think I did two takes and that was it. She did make the comment that I did look like a dwarf. There was a commercial on at the time where I sort of take my shirt off, and I’m screaming down this big flying fox, and it actually did really well. It won a couple of awards in New Zealand, and it was quite comical as well. She did make the comment that she saw that and thought I’d make a good dwarf. I kind of figured if I couldn’t get a job as a dwarf looking as I do, I should just give up acting.

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Luckily for all of us, Stephen’s audition paid off, and he has not only remained an actor, he has given us a delightful portrayal of Bombur, whose talents and skills never cease to amaze us. We can only hope that we may yet get to hear Bombur speak in the approaching final chapter, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, headed for cinemas in December 2014.

Everyone at Middle-earth News wishes Stephen a very happy birthday, and many more to come!

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