Orlando Bloom biography
Date of birth : 1977-01-13
Date of death : -
Birthplace : Canterbury, England
Nationality : British
Category : Arts and Entertainment
Last modified : 2010-06-16
Credited as : Actor, actor in Lord of The Rings film series, Pirates of the Caribbean
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Although British actor Orlando Bloom trained for the stage, he has became better known for his work as a film and television actor. Bloom's breakout role was as Legolas, an elf in the epic trilogy Lord of the Rings in the early 2000s.
Bloom was born on January 13, 1977, in Canterbury, England, the son of Harry Bloom, an anti-apartheid activist from South Africa who was also a poet. Bloom was raised in Canterbury, where he attended St. Edmund's School, however, he left school when he was 16 years old, after he won contests for reciting Bible verse and poems.
Trained as an Actor
After leaving St. Edmund's, Bloom joined England's National Youth Theatre on scholarship. There, he spent two years, learning how to act. Bloom appeared in a play at London's Tricycle Theatre, which led to him getting an agent. Bloom also appeared in the plays, Casualty and London's Burning.
When Bloom was 18 years old, he won a scholarship to attend British American Drama Academy in London. He later trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, from 1996 until he graduated in 1999. There, he appeared in a number of theater productions including Twelfth Night, Uncle Vanya, Little Me and Peer Gynt.
While still a student, Bloom made his film debut in Wilde. The 1997 biopic was about Oscar Wilde, the nineteenth century and early twentieth century playwright. Bloom played a young male prostitute.
Bloom's acting career was threatened by a 1999 accident when he fell three stories from a friend's roof terrace, breaking his back and three ribs. Though he was supposed to be paralyzed, Bloom had an operation and was walking within two weeks. Soon after graduating from Guildhall, he appeared in the television series Midsomer Murders.
Cast in Lord of the Rings
In 1999, Bloom was also cast in what would be his breakout role--Legolas Greenleaf, an elf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In the role, Bloom had to undergo a physical transformation, using a blond wig to cover his brown hair, blue contacts to cover his brown eyes and elf/pixie ears.
Although the three parts of the movie were filmed simultaneously over two years, 1999-2000, in New Zealand, the three parts were released over three years: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). The success of the trilogy made Bloom extremely popular and a favorite among female fans. This adoration, however, made him uncomfortable.
Became Hot Commodity
After the filming of Lord of the Rings, Bloom became a hot property as an actor, as well. He appeared in Black Hawk Down in 2001 in a small, but decent role about a problematic mission by the U.S. military in Somalia. Another big role was in The Kelly Gang (also known as Ned Kelly), a western set in Australia based on the life of bushranger, Ned Kelly, in which Bloom played Joe Byrne, one of the other three members of the Kelly Gang.
Another big role for Bloom came in the 2003 pirate action movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, based on the amusement park ride and co-starring Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush. Like Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean was a box office success.
Bright Future Ahead
Bloom's future as an actor looked bright. He landed a role in the 2004 film epic Troy, as Paris, the man who abducted Helen of Troy. That same year he also landed the role of Shy in Haven. In 2005 he played opposite Kirsten Dunst in Paramount's Elizabethtown. In 2006 he starred as Hollywood Paolo in the comedy-romance Love and Other Disasters, and then repeated his former success in the next Pirates installment, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and was due to begin production on a third installment to be released in 2007.
Of his career choices, Bloom told David Matthews of The Mirror, "Acting was always what I wanted to do and I've snapped up any opportunities that have come my way."
AWARDS
Best Breakthrough Star Award, MTV Movie Awards for Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2002; Best Debut Award, Empire Awards, UK, for Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001.
