Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28 1981) is an
American actor. Acting since the age of eight, Wood is best
known for the role of Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Making his film debut with a minor part in
Back to the Future Part II (1989), Wood landed a succession of
subsequent larger roles, and became a critically acclaimed child actor.
After his role as Frodo in The Lord of the Rings, Wood has resisted typecasting by choosing varied roles in critically-acclaimed films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Sin City and Everything Is
Illuminated. Most recently he starred in ensemble film Bobby and
provided the voice of the main character in award-winning animated film Happy Feet. He
also played an American tourist turned vampire in Paris, je t'aime. In 2005, he
started his own record label, Simian Records.
Early life
Wood, the middle of three children, was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Debra D.
Krause and Warren W. Wood;[1] he has English, Irish, German, and Polish ancestry, and was raised a Catholic. As a
child he took piano lessons from Marlene Loftsgaarden in Cedar Rapids. He took to the stage in his elementary school's staging of
the play The Sound of Music. The following year, he graduated to the title
character in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Wood also served as
choir boy during the production of See How They
Run, produced by the Marion Creative Council.
Career
Early career
Wood in
Back to the Future Part II, in which he plays a child hanging out at a Retro-80s diner in 2015
Wood modeled, and did local commercials, before moving with his family to Los
Angeles in 1988. It was there that Wood got his first break, a small role in a video by Paula Abdul, "Forever Your Girl," directed by
David Fincher. Film work almost instantly followed, with a bit part in Back to the Future Part II (1989). It was Wood's role as Aidan Quinn's son in Barry Levinson's 1990 film Avalon (the third film in the Baltimore trilogy containing 1982's
Diner and 1987's Tin
Men) that first gave Wood attention, as the film received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for four
Academy Awards.
After a small part in the Richard Gere pot-boiler Internal Affairs (1990), Wood secured his first starring role in Paradise (1991), in which he played a young boy who brings estranged couple Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson back together. He received good
reviews for his performance - some said it was one of the best things about the film - and from there, he went on to co-star with
Mel Gibson and Jamie Lee Curtis in
Forever Young and with Joseph
Mazzello in Radio Flyer (both were released in 1992).
In 1993, Wood co-starred with Macaulay Culkin in The Good Son, in the same year he had the lead role in The Adventures of Huck Finn, In 1994 he starred in The War (1994), with Kevin Costner. His performance in this
movie gained him a nomination for a 'Young Star Award' (for which he was nominated four times, and won twice), and
Roger Ebert said in his review of the film that:
- "Elijah Wood has emerged, I believe, as the most talented actor in his age group, in Hollywood history".[2]
Also in 1994, Wood had the title role in North, a film remarkable for the volume
of bad reviews and bad box office that it received, but also for the fact that practically every bad review contained a positive
assessment of Wood's performance. In 1995 he appeared in the music video for The
Cranberries’s Ridiculous Thoughts. In the following year he got lead role in Flipper (1996), which did not get much success, but the subsequent critical and financial
success of Ang Lee's The Ice Storm (1997)
provided a positive development in the young actor's career. As the soulfully dazed and confused Mikey Carver, Wood gave a
portrayal remarkable for its rendering of the thoughtfulness and exquisite hopelessness inherent in the character. Also in 1997
he starred in Oliver Twist, as The Artful
Dodger. 1998's Deep Impact and The
Faculty did not allow Wood the same degree of character development, but were great financial successes and further
stepping stones in Wood's evolution from winsome child star to impressive young actor.
The Lord of the Rings
- Main article: The Lord of the Rings
Following a brief turn as the boyfriend of a wannabe hip-hop groupie in James Toback's
problematic Black and White (1999) and as a junior hitman in
Chain of Fools, Wood further evolved as an actor in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the
first installation of director Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's literary trilogy. His most hotly anticipated project, the 2001 film gave Wood top
billing as Frodo Baggins, alongside a glittering cast that included Sir Ian McKellen,
Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee,
Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen, and Liv Tyler. When the cast were to leave New Zealand from
The Lord of the Rings, Jackson gave Wood two gifts; one of the
One Rings they used and Sting, Frodo's sword.
That same year, the young actor could be seen in less mystical surroundings, courtesy of Ed Burns' Ash Wednesday, a crime drama that also featured Oliver
Platt and Rosario Dawson.
In 2002, Wood lent his voice to Disney's straight-to-video release of
The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina. Of course,
his most substantial role of 2002 is inarguably his return to the role of hobbit Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
2003 proved to be a similar year for Wood - after two relatively small jobs (his role credited as 'The Guy' in
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and his stint as First Assistant Director in
Sean Astin's The Long and Short of It served purely as a break for Elijah), he starred
in All I Want and once again resumed his role as Frodo Baggins for
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the
King (2003), the last chapter in Tolkien's trilogy.
Recent roles
Hot on the heels of the trilogy, Wood quickly appeared in his first post-Frodo role in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), playing an ethically challenged
lab technician who helps erase heartbreaking memories' but then uses his knowledge of the past relationship of an unknowing
former patient (played by Kate Winslet) to woo her.
He then had a chillingly silent turn as the cannibalistic, bespectacled serial killer Kevin in director Robert Rodriguez and writer-artist Frank Miller's
visually arresting adaptation of Miller's crime noir comic book series Sin City (2005),
appearing opposite Mickey Rourke in the segment "The
Hard Goodbye". On May 12, 2005 , Wood hosted a program called MTV Presents: The Next
Generation Xbox Revealed, when the new Xbox 360 was launched.[3]
Also in 2005, Wood starred in Everything Is Illuminated, in
which he plays a young American Jewish man on a quest to find the woman who once saved his
grandfather during the Second World War, and Green Street Hooligans, as an American
college student who falls in with a violent English football firm, both had limited release, but were critically acclaimed.
Wood shot a small part in Paris, je t'aime, which consists of eighteen
5-minute sections. Each section is directed by a different director. Wood’s section, called Quartier de la Madeleine, was
directed by Vincenzo Natali. The film opened on May 18 at 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was shown at 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. First Look Pictures has acquired the
North American rights, and the film opened in the US in early 2007.[4]
His most recent films are Emilio Estevez's Bobby, in which his character marries a girl to change his draft classification.[5] It premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was released on November 17,
2006 in New York and Los Angeles, wide release followed on November 23, and Happy
Feet,[6] which he provided the voice of Mumble,
a penguin who can tap dance, but not sing. Happy Feet was released in November 17,
2006 and has grossed over $380 million dollars worldwide. The movie also received Golden Globe Award nomination and won Academy Award and
BAFTA for Best Animated Feature. Wood has finished filming
Day Zero,[7] a
drama about the draft, in which he portrays Aaron Feller. The film had
its debut at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
On November 19, Wood hosted the special Saving a Species: The Great Penguin Rescue for Discovery Kids Channel,[8] for which he has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the
category of acting in a children/youth/family special.[9]
On January 4, 2007 Wood joined Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg to announce the
nominees for the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®.[10]
Wood also has finished filming The Oxford Murders, film adaptation
of the novel of the same name by Guillermo Martínez, in which he plays a graduate
student, who investigates a series of bizarre, mathematically-based murders in Oxford.[11][12]
Wood also is set to star in The Passenger, a biopic about singer
Iggy Pop as young man.[13] He has finished recording voice work for Tim Burton's upcoming
animated feature film version of the short film 9.[14][15]
Other work
Elijah Wood is one of the biggest collectors of music in Hollywood. In 2005 Wood started his own record label called
Simian Records. On September 19, 2006 Wood announced that Simian had signed The Apples in Stereo as their first band,
with their new album New Magnetic Wonder released in February of
2007.[16] In addition he also directed the music video
for "Energy".[17] The other band signed to Simian thus
far is Heloise and the Savoir Faire. Wood declared to be a great fan of
these two bands.
Wood has also provided voiceovers for videogames, via roles for Spyro in
The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning[18][19] -
reprising the role for The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal
Night,[20] - and Mumble in the game version of
Happy Feet.[21] He also contributed his talents to fellow Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen's album pandemoniumfromamerica, singing and playing various instruments on the
album.[22]
Wood has signed to co-produce the film "Black Wings Has My Angel,"
based on the noir novel of the same name, with Anthony Moody and Rob Malkani of Indalo Productions. [23]
Personal life
Wood likes to keep his personal life away from the media spotlight, and is particularly private about his romantic
relationships. However, it is known that in 2002 he dated the German actress Franka
Potente, the relationship ending later that year. Wood blamed the separation on age difference and distance. He still
wears a ring Potente gave him, which bears a Hebrew inscription meaning 'if not now, when?', a quote from Hillel the Elder. Wood was also rumored to have dated Bijou
Phillips, his co-star in Black And White, but in September 2005, he told Howard
Stern that the rumor was untrue. Currently, he is dating Gogol Bordello's backup
dancer Pamela Racine; the relationship began sometime after they met on the set of
Everything Is Illuminated in 2004.
In an interview about Everything Is Illuminated, director
Liev Schreiber commented that Wood has a "generosity of spirit" and a "sincere goodness
as a human being."[24] He also has supported several
campaigns for charity as Keep a Child Alive or ALDO/YouthAIDS In addition to charity work, Wood is a known music buff who admits to owning something in the range of
3,000 CDs, and once cited his favorite band as The Smashing Pumpkins. His personal
playlist of favorite songs can be accessed on iTunes.[25]
He has a tattoo of the Elvish word for nine, to commemorate playing a member of the Fellowship in The Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the Ring, just below his waist on the right side. In 2003, he suffered an
acute appendicitis and had to stay in the hospital for two weeks.
In May 2006, Autograph Collector Magazine published its list of 10 Best
& 10 Worst Hollywood Signers, Wood was ranked #7 on the list of Best Signers.[26] Wood has, on occasion, been mistaken for Tobey Maguire and Daniel Radcliffe.[27][28]
He smokes clove cigarettes - a habit he picked up from his The
Faculty co-star Josh Hartnett.[29]
Filmography
Films
Television
Music videos
Awards and nominations
|
Young Star Awards
- 1995 Nominate Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Drama Film The War 1994
- 1997 Nominated Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy Film Flipper 1996
- 1998 Won Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Drama Film Deep Impact 1998
- 1998 Won Best Performance by a Young in a Miniseries/Made for TV Movies Oliver Twist 1997
Young Hollywood Awards
- 2002 Won Hottest, Coolest Young Veteran - Male N/A
Young Artist Awards
- 1991 Nominated Best Young Actor Starring in a TV Movie, Pilot or Special Child in the Night 1990
- 1991 Nominated Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture Avalon 1990
- 1992 Nominated Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture Paradise 1991
- 1993 Won Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture Radio Flyer 1992
- 1995 Nominated Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture North 1994
- 1997 Nominated Best Performance in a Drama Series - Guest Starring Young Actor Homicide: Life on the Street 1993
- 1998 Nominated Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor The Ice Storm 1997
Visual Effects Society Awards
- 2003 Won Best Performance by an Actor in an Effect Film Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 2002
Teen Choice Awards
- 2002 Nominated Film - Choice Actor, Drama/Action Adventure FOTR 2001
- 2003 Nominated Choice Movie Actor - Drama/Action Adventure TTT 2002
- 2004 Nominated Choice Movie Actor - Drama/Action Adventure ROTK 2003
- 2005 Nominated Choice Movie Bad Guy Sin City 2005
ShoWest Convention USA
- 1994 Won Young Star of the Year
Screen Actors Guild Awards
- 2002 Nominated Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture FOTR 2001
- 2003 Nominated Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture TTT 2002
- 2004 Won Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture ROTK 2003
- 2007 Nominated Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Bobby 2006
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards
- 2002 Won Best Ensemble Acting FOTR 2001
- 2003 Won Best Ensemble Acting TTT 2002
- 2004 Nominated Best Ensemble Acting ROTK 2003
Online Film Critics Society Awards
- 2003 Won Best Ensemble ROTK 2003
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
- 1999 Nominated Favorite Actor - Horror The Faculty 1998
- 1999 Nominated Favorite Supporting Actor - Sci-Fi Deep Impact 1998
National Board of Review USA
- 2003 Won Best Acting by an Ensemble ROTK 2003
MTV Movie Awards
- 2002 Nominated Best On-Screen Team FOTR 2001
- 2003 Won Best On-Screen Team TTT 2003
Kids' Choice Awards
- 2002 Nominated Favorite Male Butt Kicker FOTR
- 2003 Nominated Favorite Male Kicker TTT
Empire Awards UK
DVD Exclusive Awards
- 2003 Nominated Best Animated Character Performance The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina 2002
- 2003 Nominated Best Audio Commentary, New Release FOTR
- 2003 Nominated Best Audio Commentary (New For DVD) TTT
Broadcast Film Critics Awards
- 2004 Won Best Acting Ensemble ROTK
- 1999 Nominated Favorite Actor - Horror The Faculty 1998
- 1999 Nominated Favorite Supporting Actor - Sci-Fi- Deep Impact 1998
Saturn Award
- 1994 Won Best Performance by a Young Actor The Good Son 1993
- 1995 Nominated Best Performance by a Younger Actor North 1994
- 2003 Nominated Best Performance by a Younger Actor TTT
- 2004 Won Best Actor ROTK
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
- 2004 Won Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance - Male ROTK
Hollywood Film Festival
- 2006 Won Best Ensemble Cast for Bobby
|
Daytime Emmy Awards
- 2007 Nominated Outstanding Performer In A Children/Youth/Family Special - Saving a Species: The Great Penguin Rescue
2006
References
- Sibley, Brian. The Lord of the Rings Official Movie Guide. Houghton Mifflin, 2001. ISBN 0-618-15402-7.
Footnotes
- ^ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~battle/celeb/wood.htm
- ^ "Roger Ebert’s review for The War", Suntimes. Retrieved on 2006-10-29.
- ^ "New Xbox to kick off console wars", BBC News, 2005-05-12.
Retrieved on 2006-10-24.
- ^ "First Look Pictures embraced Paris, je t'aime", Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on
2006-10-18.
- ^ "Weinsteins To Present Estevez's "Bobby"", rottentomatoes. Retrieved on 2006-10-18.
- ^ "Elijah Wood and Hugh
Jackman Provide Voices of Penguins in "Happy Feet"", About - News & Issues, NY, 2006-10-14. Retrieved on 2006-10-18.
- ^ "Day Zero", Indiewire. Retrieved on 2006-10-18.
- ^ "Elijah
Wood Examines the plight of penguins in Saving a species: The Great penguins rescue", Sea World.org, 2006-11-18. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.
- ^ "PBS leads kids' Emmy noms with 18", hollywoodreporter.com, 2007-02-08.
Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
- ^ "Actor® Recipients Sandra Oh and Elijah Wood Join Sag President Alan Rosenberg to Announce Nominees", Student
Operated Press. Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
