Which actor portrayed Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit films?

Martin Freeman portrayed Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit films. He plays the younger Bilbo, the home-loving hobbit recruited by Gandalf to join Thorin Oakenshield and thirteen Dwarves on their quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain.

Freeman was cast in October 2010, after initially facing scheduling conflicts with the BBC series Sherlock. His performance emphasizes Bilbo’s transformation from a cautious resident of the Shire into a resourceful adventurer. The role requires both comic timing and emotional weight as Bilbo confronts trolls, Goblins, Gollum, and the burden of the One Ring.

Ian Holm, who played the older Bilbo in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, also appears in The Hobbit films’ framing scenes. This often causes confusion, but Holm does not replace Freeman as the main Bilbo of the trilogy. The three Hobbit films were released between 2012 and 2014 and serve as a prequel-era story set about sixty years before The Lord of the Rings.