- Born
- Birth nameElijah Jordan Wood
- Nicknames
- Elwood
- Monkey
- Lijah
- Height5′ 6″ (1.68 m)
- Elijah Wood is an American actor best known for portraying Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's blockbuster Lord of the Rings film trilogy. In addition to reprising the role in The Hobbit series, Wood also played Ryan in the FX television comedy Wilfred (2011) and voiced Beck in the Disney XD animated television series Tron: Uprising (2012).
Born Elijah Jordan Wood on 28 January, 1981, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Wood is the son of Debbie (Krause) and Warren Wood, who ran a delicatessen. He has an older brother, Zach, and a younger sister, Hannah Wood. He is of English, German, Austrian, and Danish descent. Demonstrating a gift for performing at a young age, Wood's natural talent inspired his mother to take him to an International Modeling and Talent Association annual convention in Los Angeles. Soon after, he began to get bookings for small parts on television.
Although his first credit was a small part in Back to the Future Part II (1989), Wood's first major film role was in the 'Barry Levinson' historical family drama Avalon (1990). Following that, Wood became an in-demand child actor, appearing in a number of major films such as Paradise (1991), Radio Flyer (1992) and The Good Son (1993), in which he co-starred with Macaulay Culkin. This was followed by the first role for which he received top-billing, North (1994). Although the film was widely condemned and a disaster at the box office, Elijah was praised as the only good thing to come out of it.
In 1996 Elijah starred in a movie remake of an old TV show, Flipper (1996). Many critics wondered if his ability as a child actor to capture an audience was wearing thin, as had many child actors', but Wood deftly transitioned into a versatile performer with roles such as the endlessly curious Mikey Carver in Ang Lee' ensemble film The Ice Storm (1997), as well as parts in popcorn flicks like Deep Impact (1998) and The Faculty (1998). In 1999, Elijah was in three movies that never made it into wide release: The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1999) (released on satellite TV), Black & White (1999) (released on home video) and Chain of Fools (2000).
Wood's work in Peter Jackson's film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), provided a major boost to his career. The actor followed his work in the astronomically successful trilogy with a broad range of interesting screen roles and voice work, including a supporting role in Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), as well as the part of a sinister mute sociopath in Sin City (2005). His voice work has been featured in such animated films as Happy Feet (2006) and 9 (2009), as well as on television series including American Dad! (2005) and Robot Chicken (2001). Wood also played Ad-Rock in the Beastie Boys' comedic video for Beastie Boys: Fight for Your Right Revisited (2011).
An avid music fan, Wood founded Simian records and released its first album, New Magnetic Wonder by The Apples in Stereo, in 2007.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous - Elijah Jordan Wood was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where when he was old enough his mother entered him into a modeling competition in Los Angeles where he met a manager who suggested he try acting. The family dad Warren, mom Debbie, older brother Zac and younger sister, Hannah, moved to L A. where he got a part in Forever Your Girl directed by David Fincher. He was soon getting bit parts in films including Back to the Future II and was soon graduating to bigger parts. He seldom went to school but had tutors either on set or at home. His parents separated soon after their move. He was a fan of Tolkein since his early teens and the Hobbit books were his favourite so when the firs film was getting ready to go into production his agent told him to go to the audition. He made a tape using a dialogue coach to hone the accent, picked out a costume and with two friends shot a scene, cut and edited it and sent it off. but while the film, Chain of Fools was never released it launched him on the road to stardom.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tonyman 5
- ChildrenEvan
- ParentsWarren WoodDebbie Warren (Krause)
- RelativesZack Wood(Sibling)Hannah Wood(Sibling)
- Short stature
- Elven looks
- Large blue eyes
- Owns one of two prop rings used in "Lord of the Rings." The other went to Andy Serkis, who played Gollum.
- Beat out 150 actors, including Jake Gyllenhaal, for the coveted role of Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
- First person ever to cross Southern Africa's Victoria Falls by rope.
- Each of the nine Fellowship members got the same tattoo: the number nine written in Elvish. Elijah's is on his pelvic bone on the right side.
- Roger Ebert called him "The most talented actor in his age group in Hollywood history.".
- [on celebrity:] "I won't change and my perspective won't change. I want to continue my life the way I live it, and I'm not going to let anything stop me from doing that. It isn't all about acting. There's a lot more to life than Hollywood."
- [on worrying about the high expectations of Lord of the Rings fans when he was cast as Frodo:] "I definitely felt the pressure. I wanted to live up to all of the expectations. But when I got into costume and worked with the others, I just didn't think about it anymore."
- If I wasn't an actor, I'd be a secret agent.
- I think being different, being against the grain of society, is the greatest thing in the world.
- [on concluding filming of LOTR:] Frodo will look more haggard, but not as bad as Gollum. There is a massive transformation, but the journey should have a physical effect on him, which makes sense as I look a lot older than when I started filming. I was 18 then, and it's appropriate that he looks older, too. And if I've done my job right, then you should empathize with him. When it came to the end, I was very emotional. I was heaving, I couldn't breathe, and the last bits of the movie really wrecked me. They gave each actor his own farewell, when we were back there earlier this year. You'd go on to a sound stage and Peter [director Peter Jackson] would make a speech about each actor and then bring in their sword and a clapperboard. It was completely overwhelming. When it came time for me to give a speech, I was so gone I just couldn't do it. I now have the ears, the feet, the sword, the Ring, and one of the maps of Middle-Earth. The whole thing has had a massive impact on us. I think Bill [Billy Boyd] and Dom [Dominic Monaghan] and I are thinking about buying a house here [in New Zealand], because we don't want to lose our connection with the country. It makes most sense to go in on a place because we could use it like a timeshare and then holiday at different times or together. But we're so lazy and completely hopeless at doing things, so it remains to be seen if it'll ever happen. [December 11, 2003]
- Try Seventeen (2003) - $250,000
- The Good Son (1993) - $1,000,000
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