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 .
Irish 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 .