He 's the man who is currently setting social media alight every Sunday evening - and whose chiselled abs and Mr Darcy smoulder have won him a legion of female fans . But while Aidan Turner was unknown to many prior to his turn as the troubled Ross Poldark in the BBC drama of the same name , the 31-year-old is no stranger to success . Yet although he may look familiar to some , others might find him hard to place - unless you 're a fan of fantasy films and supernatural drama that is . Turner plays Ross Poldark who 's lost his love , Elizabeth ( played by Heida Reed , left ) to another man . Irish actor Aidan Turner , who plays dashing Captain Ross Poldark , sets pulses racing on the BBC show . For before donning the tricorn hat and brooding scowl of the landowner who returns to Cornwall to find his true love is engaged to another man , Turner was busy fighting evil in Middle Earth . The 5ft 10in Turner was digitally shrunk for his role as Kili , one of two dwarf brothers who set out alongside Thorin Oakenshield and Bilbo Baggins in a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain in Peter Jackson 's Hobbit trilogy . But with Martin Freeman playing Bilbo Baggins and Richard Armitage 's brooding dwarf chieftan stealing all the screen thunder , you might have missed Aidan 's fantastical role - had he not also enjoyed a plotline that involved flirting with Tauriel the elf , played by Evangeline Lilly . Action stations : From left , John Callen , Dean O'Gorman , Aidan Turner , William Kircher , James Nesbitt , Adam Brown , Jed Brophy , Peter Hambleton , Ken Stott and Stephen Hunter in a scene from The Hobbit : the Battle of the Five Armies film . He became famous as vampire John Mitchell in the BBC3 supernatural housemates dramedy Being Human . But it seems training to play the warrior dwarf may have helped sculpt the abs that have become famous in their own right . Turner told Empire about the prep needed for the trilogy : ' A lot of going to the gym ; a lot of movement classes . Dwarves are just weighed down by everything , ' he said . 'They ’ re not sluggish , they just have this work-horse mentality . When they get going they ’ re unstoppable . ' Turner even popped up in The Tudors in one episode as a richly-dressed character called Bedoli . As John Schofield , Hattie Jacques ' lodger and lover , Turner had to don Sixties clothing . Aidan Turner and Dean O'Gorman as brothers Kili and Fili respectively in a scene from The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey . Since graduating from The Gaiety School of Acting in 2004 , the Dubliner has enjoyed an eclectic range of parts and notched up a number of award nominations . His career in television began in 2007 when he embraced 16th century-style costume to appear in one episode of the television series The Tudors . More period work was to follow when he was chosen to play pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the six-part BBC series the Desperate Romantics , followed swiftly by appearances as Ruairí McGowan on The Clinic . But Turner finally had a change of pace in 2008 when he was cast as the undead John Mitchell in the supernatural drama Being Human , about a werewolf , vampire and a ghost who share a house . With his hair slicked back , his face deathly pale , an all-black wardrobe and a set of menacing fangs , the actor earned a new army of fans . Head turner : Russell Tovey ( left ) as George , Aidan Turner ( centre ) as Mitchell and Lenora Crichlow as Annie won a legion of fans after starring in the hit Being Human . Aidan Turner ( second from right ) dons period costume as Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the six-part BBC series the Desperate Romantics alongside ( from left ) Samuel Barnett as John Millais , Sam Crane as Fred Walters and Rafe Spall as William Holman Hunt . But for Hattie , the 2011 TV film about Hattie Jacques ' life , Aidan returned to period costume again - this time from the Sixties - as the Carry On actress 's lodger and lover , opposite Ruth Jones . Now that he 's back in breeches for the BBC remake , Aidan is now appealing to a new class of Poldark fans . Not only are hoards of viewers tuning in to see him and learn of Poldark 's adventures for the first time , fans from the original 1975 drama are also turning on their television sets to see how Aidan 's portrayal of the charismatic hero differ . For the first time he may have become the stuff of female fantasy - rather than fantasy films . Aidan Turner is setting pulses racing with his portrayal of the troubled Ross Poldark in the new BBC series .
Poldark heartthrob has set pulses racing and social media alight . Before current costume drama , the 31-year-old played a flirtatious dwarf . Also appeared in BBC 's Being Human and The Tudors . Hunk played Hattie Jacques ' young lover opposite Ruth Jones in TV series .