Martin Freeman Martin Freeman Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor and comedian, who became known for portraying Tim Canterbury in the original UK version of sitcom mockumentary "The Office", Dr. John Watson in the British crime drama "Sherlock", Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" film trilogy, and Lester Nygaard in the dark comedy-crime drama TV series "Fargo". His other notable film roles include the romantic comedy "Love Actually" (2003), the comic science fiction film "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (2005), the semi-improvised comedy "Nativity!" (2009), the comedic "Three Flavours Cornetto" trilogy, most prominently in
The Hobbit Enterprises. Since then all "authorized" adaptations have been signed-off by Tolkien Enterprises. In 1997 Tolkien Enterprises licensed the film rights to Miramax, which assigned them in 1998 to New Line Cinema. The heirs of Tolkien, including his son Christopher Tolkien, filed suit against New Line Cinema in February 2008 seeking payment of profits and to be "entitled to cancel... all future rights of New Line... to produce, distribute, and/or exploit future films based upon the Trilogy and/or the Films... and/or... films based on "The Hobbit"." In September 2009, he and New Line reached an undisclosed settlement, and he has withdrawn