Andy Serkis is best known for his remarkable Gollum in the Lord of the Rings. To play the computer-generated figure needed a performer with immense stamina. But there is far more to the actor than that hit role. When he started with the trilogy, Serkis already had 15 years of experience in theatre, television and cinema, portraying characters who were eccentric, complex and even monsterous. Now, as he hits the big screen once more - as Captain Haddock in the long-awaited The Adventures of Tintin - and prepares to revisit Gollum for The Hobbit, writer and researcher Justin Lewis examines the life and career of this most intriguing of actors.