McLeod knew Liz Mulane, the casting director of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings from an earlier film of his that she had appeared in called Forgotten Silver.
"[1] Her daughter, Maisy, played the infant son of Rosie and Samwise Gamgee, seen in the final scene of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
"[2] In 2007, McLeod and fourteen other Lord of the Rings actors from New Zealand sued New Line, as they felt they were legally entitled to five percent of the trilogy's net merchandising revenue.
McLeod conducted legal and personal research on surrogacy for the role, as her character's storyline involved asking her friend to be a surrogate mother for Cindy and her husband.
[4] In a 2010 episode of America's Next Top Model, McLeod appeared as herself on the set of Hobbiton, where the contestants participated in a Lord of the Rings-themed photo shoot.