Aidan Turner

Aidan Turner is 43 years old as of 3 November 2026. He was born on 19 June 1983 in Clondalkin, a suburb of Dublin [4] [3]. He is best known as Ross Poldark in the BBC drama Poldark and as the dwarf Kíli in Peter Jackson's Hobbit films [3] [5]. This autumn he is back on screen as Declan O'Hara in the second series of Rivals, with the remaining episodes due in November 2026 [1].

What is happening now

The second series of Rivals premiered on 15 May 2026 on Disney+ [1]. Disney+ says the 12 episodes are split into two batches of six, and that the remaining episodes arrive in November 2026 [1]. TheJournal.ie described the UK opening as a three-episode premiere on Disney+ [9]. Disney+ describes Turner's Declan as a gifted journalist with a short fuse, lured away from the BBC to Corinium, who resigns once he sees what working for Tony Baddingham is really like [1]. David Tennant plays Baddingham, and the returning cast also includes Alex Hassell, Bella Maclean and Nafessa Williams, with Hayley Atwell and Rupert Everett among the new names [1].

Turner spent the spring on stage. He played the Vicomte de Valmont in Christopher Hampton's Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the National Theatre in London, opposite Lesley Manville and Monica Barbaro [7]. The production ran in the Lyttelton Theatre from 21 March to 6 June 2026, and it was filmed for National Theatre Live cinema screenings that began on 25 June [7]. It was his National Theatre debut [3]. BroadwayWorld gave the Marianne Elliott production four stars out of five and wrote that Turner "treads a fine line between a flirtatious lothario and a darkly sinister rake" [8]. The reviewer added that his Irish accent adds to the charm while slightly softening Valmont's cruelty [8].

On 5 March 2026 he attended the National Theatre's Next Chapter Gala in London, which raises money for young people in theatre [6]. RTÉ, using a Press Association report, noted it was the theatre's first gala under director Indhu Rubasingham [6].

Early life in Dublin

Turner was born in Clondalkin and went to St Mac Dara's in Templeogue, then followed his older brother to Firhouse College in Tallaght [3] [5]. He told The Irish Times that he was not a strong student [5]. As a teenager he was a competitive ballroom dancer, and before acting he worked as an apprentice electrician [3].

The turn towards acting came by chance. He walked past the Gaiety School of Acting in Temple Bar as a teenager, signed up for an acting-for-camera class and was accepted [5]. IrishCentral reports that he had worked as an apprentice electrician before he noticed a notice from the school [4]. He graduated from the school's full-time actor training course in 2004 [2]. Nobody else in his family is interested in acting, he has said, and he is protective of his family's privacy [5].

Early stage and television work

Two months after graduating he got his first job at the Abbey Theatre [5]. Between 2005 and 2008 he took supporting parts in Irish productions including The Plough and the Stars (seen at the Barbican and Cork Opera House), A Cry from Heaven at the Abbey, Titus Andronicus and Romeo and Juliet [3]. On television he made an uncredited appearance in The Tudors and played in 18 episodes of the Irish medical drama The Clinic [3]. He also appeared in an egg advertisement [5]. He then moved to London, where he shared a flat with the actor Charlene McKenna [5].

The break: Being Human and The Hobbit

In 2009 the BBC cast him as Dante Gabriel Rossetti in Desperate Romantics and as the vampire John Mitchell in Being Human on BBC Three [3]. The Gaiety School's own account of his career treats Being Human as the move that followed his theatre work in Ireland [2].

Peter Jackson had first considered him for an elf, then cast him as a dwarf [5]. Turner played Kíli in all three Hobbit films, An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies, between 2012 and 2014 [4] [3]. For The Desolation of Smaug he won Best Male Newcomer at the Empire Awards in 2014 [18] [2]. The Gaiety School posted the news on 31 March 2014 [2].

Poldark

In 2015 the BBC revived Poldark, with Turner as Captain Ross Poldark [2] [3]. LondonTheatre.co.uk calls it his best-known role [3]. By the time The Irish Times interviewed him in 2016, the second series was on air and a third had already been commissioned [5].

The show brought him awards attention quickly. In January 2016 he was nominated for Best Drama Performance at the National Television Awards, against David Tennant, Sheridan Smith and Suranne Jones, and Poldark was shortlisted for Best New Drama [19]. He won the Impact Award at the same ceremony [3] [17]. The Irish Examiner reported on 21 January 2016 that he looked pleased but puzzled, saying "I'm slightly confused, I didn't know I was nominated for this award" and "This Impact Award isn't just for me, it's for all of us" [17].

In the same interview with The Irish Times he said he was cast in And Then There Were None without having to audition [5]. Outside work he follows MMA and the UFC, and he paints in a studio in Dublin [5].

After Poldark: Leonardo, The Suspect and Fifteen-Love

On 18 October 2019 Screen Daily reported that Turner had signed to play Leonardo da Vinci in a high-end series from Lux Vide and Frank Spotnitz's Big Light Productions, directed by Daniel Percival [13]. The series focuses on Leonardo as a young man, with each episode built around one of his masterpieces, inventions or projects [13]. IrishCentral lists Leonardo as a 2021 series [4].

In 2022 he led the ITV thriller The Suspect as Dr Joe O'Loughlin, a doctor whose seemingly perfect life unravels after a young woman's death and his diagnosis with early-onset Parkinson's disease [14]. RTÉ described it as a five-part series adapted by Peter Berry from Michael Robotham's debut novel [14].

In 2023 he moved to Prime Video for Fifteen-Love, a six-part drama that arrived on 21 July [15]. He played Glenn Lapthorn, the former coach of the lead character Justine Pearce, and RTÉ reported that he considers it one of his darkest roles to date [15]. The same year he returned to the stage in Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at the Harold Pinter Theatre, directed by Josie Rourke and opposite Jenna Coleman [3].

Stage work in London

His West End debut was Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Noël Coward Theatre in 2018, where he played Mad Padraig under director Michael Grandage [3]. LondonTheatre.co.uk gave that production four stars and called him "no stunt casting, but a terrific young actor" [3]. The 2023 Harold Pinter production also earned four stars from the same site [3]. The 2026 National Theatre run is the third of his London stage credits listed there [3].

Best-known work

Year	Title	Role
2009	Being Human (BBC Three)	John Mitchell [3]
2009	Desperate Romantics (BBC)	Dante Gabriel Rossetti [3]
2012 to 2014	The Hobbit trilogy	Kíli [3] [4]
2015	Poldark (BBC)	Ross Poldark [3]
2018	The Lieutenant of Inishmore (stage)	Mad Padraig [3]
2021	Leonardo	Leonardo da Vinci [13] [4]
2022	The Suspect (ITV)	Dr Joe O'Loughlin [14]
2023	Fifteen-Love (Prime Video)	Glenn Lapthorn [15]
2025	The Diplomat (Netflix), series 3	Callum Ellis [16]
2026	Rivals, series 2 (Disney+)	Declan O'Hara [1]
2026	Les Liaisons Dangereuses (stage)	Vicomte de Valmont [7]

In The Diplomat, The Cinemaholic describes Callum Ellis as a British MI6 spy, said to be a bird watcher, who enters Kate Wyler's life in the second half of the third series [16]. The site's article is dated 16 October 2025 [16].

Awards

• Empire Awards 2014, Best Male Newcomer, for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (won) [18] [2].
• National Television Awards 2016, Impact Award (won) [3] [17].
• National Television Awards 2016, Best Drama Performance (nominated) [19].

Wife, family and where he lives

Turner married the American actor Caitlin FitzGerald in August 2020 in a small ceremony in Italy [10]. He told Virgin Radio's Chris Evans Breakfast Show that it was "very private, there was almost nobody there", with six guests and no family present because of the coronavirus pandemic [10]. Hello! reported in September 2022 that the couple have one child, though neither has confirmed the birth publicly [10].

He has spoken about family life only in general terms. In a July 2023 interview with the Irish Independent he said juggling work and parenting is hard, but a little easier as his son gets older [12]. Hello! also reports that the family has settled in Nova Scotia, Canada, and that he told Goss.ie in 2024 that "Married life is great" [11]. In a Stylist interview, he said being a parent helped him play Declan in Rivals [12].

Net worth and height

This page does not give a net worth figure. We found no estimate from a named, reliable outlet that we could check, and the numbers on gossip sites have no stated method. We also do not state a height, because no source we opened states one.