[with info from Contact Music]

Australian actress and Lord of the Rings star Miranda Otto is expecting her first child with actor husband Peter O'Brien.

The couple, who married on New Year's Day 2003, are "thrilled", according to a spokesperson.

Otto, who starred in as Eowyn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, recently finished filming Steven Spielberg's War of the World, in which she plays Tom Cruise's pregnant wife.

Miranda gave up studying a medical career to pursue acting, and ironically, won the role of Eowyn in Lord of the Rings after the actress who was orignally cast in the role fell out so she could have a baby.

Published January 13, 2005