TV hero and Hollywood villain, the versatile Sean Bean has been divorced three times, has two tattoos and one overriding passion:  football. Welcome to Sean’s world. 

What’s he up to?
Sean has two movies out. In The Fellowship Of The Ring, the first of three big-budget movies being made out of the JRR Tolkien classic, The Lord Of The Rings, Sean plays one of the human characters, Boromir. He’s also back playing a Hollywood bad guy, kidnapping Michael Douglas’s daughter in the thriller Don’t Say A Word.

Where’s he been for the past year?
In New Zealand, filming The Fellowship Of The Ring, and in New York, shooting Don’t Say A Word. In between, he’s been in London a bit. Last time he was here, Sean’s ‘50,000 BMW was broken into and his mobile nicked.

Where’s his house?
On London’s Hampstead. He still lives in the ‘1.5million Spanish style mansion (complete with 10-feet high perimeter fence and underground parking) he shared with his ex-wife Abigail Cruttenden. She moved out.

He’s divorced then?
Three times over. He split with his third wife, Sharpe actress Abigail, in 1999 after a two-year marriage. Previously he’d been wed to Bread actress Melanie Hill and childhood sweetheart Debra Anderson.

Any children?
Yes, three girls. He has a daughter, Evie, three, with Abigail, and Lorna, 14, and Molly, 10, with Melanie.

Where does he hang out?
Nowhere fancy. Sean prefers low-key venues, like The Holly Bush pub, Hampstead, where he can drink quietly with his mates. Celeb-haunt, the House On The Hill restaurant near his home, is as starry as he gets.

Who are his mates?
A mixed bunch, including Essex Boys co-star Billy Murray and Sharpe co-star Daragh O’Malley. His newest best mate is The Fellowship Of The Rings co-star, Viggo Mortensen. Sheffield-born Sean and New Yorker Viggo got on famously driving around New Zealand together.

We hear he has a new tattoo?
Yes, all the cast on The Fellowship Of The Rings had a ‘fellowship’ tattoo. Sean’s is on his upper right arm and is a Celtic symbol for ‘nine’ because there are nine fellowships. His other tattoo reads ‘100 per cent Blade’.

Sheffield United?
Ah yes; Sean’s overriding passion. Sean has supported ‘The Blades’ since he was two years old, and always wanted to play for them.

A bloke’s bloke, then?
Not entirely. He likes old churches and adores William Shakespeare. In fact, he’s due to act in a West End stage version of Macbeth next summer.

Is there a new girlfriend?
Nobody serious, although Sean is notoriously private and secretive about his lovelife, and tends to spring surprises. Most people didn’t even know he was seeing Abigail Cruttenden until they got married in secret. When he split from Abigail, he was linked to Essex Boys co-star Holly Davidson, who is the younger sister of actress Sadie Frost. But Holly has denied the rumour.