Charles Ross is a geek, and proud of it.

"Given what I do for a living and given how well it has gone, I'm definitely a super-geek," says the 30-year-old actor from Victoria, referring to how he's making an acclaimed career out of his one-man performances of Star Wars and now, The Lord of the Rings.

What Ross did first was turn a lifelong obsession with Star Wars into a one-man Fringe Festival hit that recreated George Lucas's six-hour film trilogy in 60 minutes flat. On a bare stage -- using nothing but elbow pads and the force of his imagination -- he mimics every character, plays out key battle scenes and even hums the score. Ross's uncanny knack for impersonation, the precision of his vocal effects and sheer exuberance of his taxing physical comedy has catapulted the show into a Fringe-circuit sensation that has consistently received five-star reviews at sold-out performances across North America.

Earlier this summer, Ross's One Man Star Wars Trilogy faced the ultimate test. The folks at Lucas Films had caught wind of his creation "Aw, crap!" Ross thought when he received the e-mail, expecting to be shut down. On the contrary -- the company representatives were inviting him to the annual Star Wars Fan Film Awards convention in San Diego to sweat it out in front of 3,000 hard-core devotees.

The audience -- an obviously tough crowd intimately familiar with the subtle differences between a Millennium Falcon and an X-Wing Fighter -- ended up giving him a standing ovation. And everyone at Lucas Films was so impressed they've asked him to come to Indiana this April, where the company will be throwing a four-day fan launch party for the new Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, the final instalment of the six-part epic.

"It was a total surprise to me, and a welcome one," says Ross, who has now journeyed from a far-away galaxy to the land of Middle-Earth, condensing J.R.R. Tolkien's 1,350-page tome into another one-hour work of solo genius.

For One Man Lord of the Rings, Ross has nailed the voices of Gollum, Gandalf and the four men of Gondor.

He recreates action sequences as huge as the Battle of Helm's Deep, only to shrink back with a simple wrinkle of his face and tug on his hair to conjure up greedy old King Theoden of Rohan.

After a summer string of sold-out shows -- the tour has been so successful, in fact, Ross donated half the proceeds from his most recent run at the Victoria Fringe to AIDS Vancouver Island -- One Man Lord of the Rings opens at the Vancouver Fringe Festival on Thursday.

Ross will return to Vancouver in early October for a week-long run of the One Man Star Wars Trilogy, for which he'll donate the entire proceeds to the Canadian Cancer Foundation.

"I've never been in a position where I can give back," exclaims Ross, a graduate of the University of Victoria, who says he is now earning more money than he ever imagined during previous stints as a standard equity actor that have taken him from Neptune Theatre in Halifax to Theatre North West in Prince George.

"I never really planned to be doing this. There's no handbook for people who want to do one-hour impersonations of three-part films on a Fringe tour."

Ross credits his success to George Lucas and Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson for building a ready-made fan base.

Ross was an early Star Wars fan himself. By the age of 5, he had seen the first film more than 400 times. He could recite every line, sing each refrain and imitate the swishing sound of light sabres.

In 1994, while still a student and touring the Fringe circuit for the first time with another show, he met a like-minded Star Wars geek named T. J. Dawe. One day in Saskatoon, they were playing Frisbee and trying to stump each other with Star Wars trivia.

"Total dorks," Ross recalls laughing.

Six years later, Dawe was in Toronto performing a show called Slip-Knot. Ross was visiting from Halifax. He pitched his friend, now his director, on the idea of a deconstructed Star Wars script for three people.

After a few rehearsals, it became clear to both that the concept would be better executed with Ross going it alone. One Man Stars Wars Trilogy premiered in Toronto in January of 2001. The rest, as they say, is history.

You don't have to be an avid Star Wars or Lord of the Rings fan to appreciate his shows, says Ross, but some familiarity with the films or books does help. Neophytes might have a particularly hard time understanding some of the satiric asides "Are we gay?" his Mr. Frodo asks Sam, mocking the subtle gay subtext in the Ring's final film.

Ross says he feels a certain affinity with the people he's met at Lucas Films, most of whom are fellow Star Wars geeks who have turned their obsession into a successful career.

"I'm not trying to educate people on Star Wars, but a lot of people who come to see the show and have never seen the movies before do end up going out to watch them. It's an interesting byproduct. And I think that's why Lucas Films accepts what I do. It keeps the franchise alive."

Others, however, can't help but be impressed by the subversiveness of his endeavour.

"Everything about a live, one-man Star Wars or LOTR is stunningly perverse," theatre critic Liz Nicholls wrote in the Edmonton Journal.

"The movie cycles are a pinnacle achievement in harnessing high-tech to conjure a full, imagined world on-screen. One guy in a black T-shirt with a water bottle is not only defying the towering edifice of those epic convolutions, narrative and technical, but he's doing it in the most elementally theatrical way. At the Fringe, for heaven's sake, home of cheap theatre."

Ross hasn't yet met Lucas, although he hopes to next April. Jackson hasn't come calling either, but an on-line LOTR fan group, onering.net, has invited him to perform his show in Los Angeles for its pre-Oscar party this winter.

Ross is already thinking about his next show to finish up this trilogy of trilogies and is asking for suggestions on his website, http://www.onemanstarwars.com.

"It's a bit of a deadlock between Indiana Jones, The Matrix and Harry Potter," says Ross.

Although Star Trek might seem a fitting finale, given the franchise's fanatic fan base, Ross says he won't touch it because he has a close friend who does a mean Captain Kirk impersonation.

"I'm hoping beyond hope that he'll do his own Star Trek show," says Ross, with a can-do enthusiasm that is genuinely touching.

"I really hope that people who have any sort of lofty goals just go for it," he urges. "Yes, it's daunting. But don't be afraid to try what you want to try. You can achieve what you want if you just go for it."

Is it possible that Ross has found a new mission and will follow up his one-man shows as a motivational speaker?

"Hmm. Awaken the Geek Within," Ross muses. "Cool."

One Man Lord of the Rings begins six performances at the Vancouver Fringe Festival on Thursday (http://www.festivalboxoffice.com or 604-257-0366).