Stuart Townsend in The Lord of the Rings

Stuart Townsend was originally set to play Aragorn in the highly successful Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003), but after two months of training and rehearsing, director Peter Jackson decided Stuart was too young to play the role of the king of men and fired him the day before filming began. He subsequently hired veteran actor Viggo Mortensen, who is 14 years Stuart's senior.