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Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor. He had his break-through role in the early 2000s as the elf-prince Legolas in The Lord of the Rings and blacksmith Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy of films, and subsequently established himself as a lead in Hollywood films, including Troy, Elizabethtown and Kingdom of Heaven. Bloom most recently appeared in the sequels Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Bloom recently made his stage debut in In Celebration at the Duke of Yorks Theatre, St Martins Lane, which ended its run on September 15, 2007. Had Orlando Bloom’s career stalled after just a few years, the English actor’s place in film history would have still been assured. He was, after all, the second actor to appear in two of three movies to earn over one billion dollars at the box office – namely, “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” (2003) and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (2006). His status was particularly impressive when considering the fact that just a few years prior to these films’ release dates, Bloom was a virtual unknown. But the twin mega-successes of the “Rings” and “Pirates” franchises helped rocket him to superstardom, making him a crush object for women of all ages. Bloom was born in Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom. His mother, Sonia Constance Josephine Copeland, was born in Calcutta, India, the daughter of Betty Constance Josephine Walker and Francis John Copeland, a physician and surgeon. Bloom's maternal grandmother's family has lived in Tasmania, Australia and India, and are of English descent, some of them having originally come from Kent. Bloom was raised by his mother Joan and father Harry Saul Bloom, a lawyer and acclaimed novelist who spent time in jails in his native South Africa for protesting the apartheid government. Years after Harry Bloom’s death in 1981, the teenaged Bloom discovered that his biological father was in fact a family friend named Colin Stone because Harry Bloom was unable to father children. His friend, Stone, then stepped in, making the arrangement unique, to say the least. Whenever Bloom would give interviews in later years, he would refer warmly to both men as his father. Bloom had thought that his father was his mother's husband, South African-born Jewish anti-Apartheid novelist Harry Saul Bloom; but when he was thirteen (nine years after Harry's death), Bloom's mother revealed to him that his biological father was actually Colin Stone, his mother's partner and family friend, and the principal of the Concorde International language school. Stone was made Orlando Bloom's legal guardian after Harry Bloom's death. Bloom, who is named after the 17th century composer Orlando Gibbons, has one sister, Samantha Bloom, who was born in 1975. Bloom was not academic or athletic as a child, and managed to struggle through St Edmund's School in Canterbury despite his dyslexia. He was encouraged by his mother to take art and drama classes. In 1993, he moved to London to follow a two year A Level course in Drama, Photography and Sculpture at Fine Arts College, Hampstead. He then joined the National Youth Theatre, spending two seasons there and earning a scholarship to train at the British American Drama Academy. Bloom struggled in school due to dyslexia, gravitating instead towards creative endeavors like sculpting and recitations, for which he won several prizes. Acting also caught his fancy, and by the age of 16, he relocated to London to study with the National Youth Theatre, through which he landed a scholarship to study with the British American Dramatic Academy. While in London, he also began auditioning for film and television roles, winning bit parts in TV series like “Casualty” (BBC, 1986- ) and “Midsomer Murders” (BBC, 1997- ). He made his film debut in 1997 with a small part as a homosexual prostitute in the historical biopic, “Wilde,” starring Stephen Fry as playwright and author Oscar Wilde. Bloom began acting professionally with television roles in episodes of Casualty and Midsomer Murders, and subsequently made his film debut in Wilde (1997), opposite Stephen Fry, before entering the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he studied acting. In 1998, he fell three stories while trying to reach the roof of terrace of a friend's house, and was told he would not regain the ability to walk. However, he made a recovery and was able to walk out of the hospital on crutches within twelve days. Bloom had steel plates inserted into his backbone to support it, which have since been removed, except for a single screw. He regularly practices yoga and Pilates to strengthen his back. Bloom's first appearance on the screen was a small role as a rent boy in the 1997 film Wilde. Two days after graduating from Guildhall in 1999, he was cast in his first major role, playing Legolas in The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003). He had originally tried out for the part of Faramir, who doesn't appear until the second movie but the director, Peter Jackson, cast him as Legolas instead. While shooting a scene, he broke a rib after falling off a horse, but eventually recovered and continued shooting. The success of the trilogy transformed Bloom from an unknown actor into one of world's best-known celebrities. In 2002, he was chosen as one of the Teen People "25 Hottest Stars Under 25" and was named People's hottest Hollywood bachelor in the magazine's 2004 list. All members of the cast of the Rings films were nominated for Best Ensemble Acting at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for three years in a row, finally winning in 2003 for the third film, The Return of the King. Bloom has also won other awards, including European Film Awards, Hollywood Festival Award, Empire Awards and Teen Choice Awards, and has been nominated for many others. Most of Bloom's box office successes have been as part of an ensemble cast, with his leading roles not having performed as well. Bloom continued his dramatic training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and while there in 1998, he suffered a traumatic back injury after falling three stories from a rooftop. The damage was so severe that it was thought Bloom would be paralyzed, but after extensive surgery, he made a complete recovery. In a curious parallel with his own real life experiences, Bloom’s supporting character in Ridley Scott’s controversial war drama “Black Hawk Down” (2001) – about a doomed battle between American and British forces and Somalian fighters in the mid-90s – suffers a fall from a moving helicopter and breaks his back. In 1999, Bloom auditioned for New Zealand director Peter Jackson’s epic three-part film adaptation of the fantasy novels, “The Lord of the Rings.” Bloom was interested in the role of Faramir (the brother of Sean Bean’s Boromir), but Jackson cast him in the larger and showier role of Legolas, the elvish prince who becomes part of the nine adventurers who set out to destroy the Ring. Bloom’s boyish good looks and physical prowess helped catch audiences’ attention, even in a film populated by such powerhouse talent as Sir Ian McKellan, Viggo Mortenson, and Cate Blanchett. Perhaps sensing that viewers would take to Bloom, Jackson gave him a show-stopping physical set piece in each of the films. In “The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001), he subdues a rampaging troll like a bucking bronco, while in “The Two Towers” (2002), he caps a ferocious fight scene by planting his feet on his shield and “surfing” down a flight of stairs while firing arrows. In the last installment, “The Return of the King,” he single-handedly dispatches a war elephant and its rider. Male viewers were impressed by his cool demeanor and fighting skills, while female fans swooned over his pin-up-ready features. Thanks to the “Rings” trilogy, Bloom became a star overnight. Bloom next starred opposite Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which was a blockbuster hit during the summer of 2003. After the success of Pirates, Bloom next took to the screen as Paris, the man who effectively startd the Trojan War, in the 2004 Spring blockbuster, Troy opposite Brad Pitt and Peter O'Toole. He subsequently played the lead roles in Kingdom of Heaven and Elizabethtown (both 2005). In 2006, Bloom starred in sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the independently made Haven, and was one of the guest stars in the sitcom Extras, in which he portrayed an arrogant, narcissistic version of himself who had a great loathing for Johnny Depp (his co-star in Pirates of the Caribbean); Bloom pushed for Extras to go further with making his part unlikeable and contributed to the gag about him loathing Depp. Also in 2006, Bloom was the most searched for male on Google News. As of May 2007, Bloom has appeared in four of the top 15 highest grossing films of all time. But the naysayers were emboldened by the failure of Bloom’s post “Rings.” His turn as the vain Paris in Wolfgang Petersen’s “Troy” (2004) was met with audience indifference and “Ned Kelly” (2003), based on the legendary Australian outlaw, barely saw a release in America. “The Calcium Kid” (2004), a lightweight English mockumentary in which Bloom played a milkman turned boxer, had been made prior to the “Rings” trilogy and saw no Stateside theatrical screenings. Bloom forged ahead with his career, but whether he was toting a medieval weapon – as in Ridley Scott’s expensive “Kingdom of Heaven (2005) – or not – he played an American attempting to reconnect with his family and roots in Cameron Crowe’s critically maligned “Elizabethtown” (2005) – he seemed unable to recapture his former success. Then came the inevitable “Pirates” sequel, “Dead Man’s Chest,” and Bloom’s fortunes seemed to be on the rise again. Though pilloried by critics for its overblown production and unnecessarily baffling storyline, “Dead Man’s Chest” surpassed its predecessor in terms of ticket sales, allowing Bloom to once again show off his knack for action scenes in an eye-popping fight atop a rolling water wheel. The scene was so impressive, Bloom would take home a 2006 Teen Choice Award for this particular set piece. The film was shot back to back with the third entry in the “Pirates” franchise, “At World’s End” (2007) released in time for the highly competitive summer movie season. After the hysteria over “Dead Man’s Chest” died down, Bloom helped produce and star in a small independent thriller called “Haven” (2006). As a white resident of the Cayman Islands who falls for the sister of a local black gangster, Bloom showed grit and depth in his performance. Sadly, few got the opportunity to see it due to the film’s limited release. However, a larger viewership enjoyed his self-deprecating turn as an impossibly vain version of himself on Ricky Gervais’ comedy series “Extras” (HBO, 2005-) that same year. Bloom's most recent film role is in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, released on May 25, 2007. Bloom, who had intended to become a stage actor after graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, has stated that he would like leave films for a time and instead appear in stage roles, and is "avidly looking for the right sort of material that he can do something with" and go "back to basics". Bloom is currently appearing in a London revival of In Celebration, a play by David Storey. His character is one of three brothers returning home for their parents' 40th wedding anniversary. On August 24, 2007, he makes his first ever TV commercial appearance, on late-night Japanese TV promoting the Uno brand of cosmetics maker Shiseido. A "one night only", 2-minute version of the Sci-Fi themed commercial kicks off the product's marketing campaign. In 2001 Bloom also appeared in Black Hawk Down, the story of the US Battle of Mogadishu amongst an all star cast including British actors Ewan McGregor, Jason Isaacs and Ioan Gruffudd. In 2008 he was slimed at the Kid's Choice Awards. In 2008 he signed on to play a small role in the British film An Education but dropped out to take the lead in Johnny To's film Red Circle. Bloom has said that he tries "not to exclude [himself] from real life as much as possible". He is a Manchester United fan and lives in London. During filming in Morocco for Kingdom of Heaven, Bloom rescued and adopted a dog, Sidi (a black Saluki mix with a white mark on his chest). Bloom is a practising Buddhist; In 2004, he became a full member of Soka Gakkai International, a lay Buddhist association affiliated with the teachings of Nichiren. Bloom has also been a part of Global Green, an environmental company, since the early 2000s. As part of his environmental involvement, he has renovated his London home to use solar panels, incorporate recycled materials, and utilize energy efficient lightbulbs. Bloom has been approached by UNICEF to act as an international ambassador. Bloom met American actress Kate Bosworth outside a coffee shop in 2002, where he was introduced to her by a mutual friend. He met her again at the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers later that year. The two had an "on-and-off relationship" from 2002 until splitting up in September 2006. Bloom has also been linked to model Miranda Kerr, actresses Uma Thurman, Kirsten Dunst, Sienna Miller, Jessica Biel, Penélope Cruz, and Pirates of the Caribbean co-star Naomie Harris. There has been recent speculation that he is seeing Jennifer Aniston after the pair were spotted on holiday in Mexico together. Bloom has a tattoo of the Elvish word "nine" on his right wrist, written in the Tengwar script, a reference to his involvement in the Lord of the Rings and the fact that his character was one of the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring. The other actors of "The Fellowship" (Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, and Elijah Wood) got the same tattoo with the exception of John Rhys-Davies whose stunt double got the tattoo instead. Bloom also has a tattoo of a sun on his lower, left abdomen, which he got at the age of 16 after moving to London. Bloom has sustained several injuries: he broke his left arm and cracked his skull while falling out of a tree, broke his nose while playing rugby union, broke his right leg skiing in Switzerland, broke his left leg in a motorbike crash, broke his right wrist while snowboarding. He also broke his back when he slipped trying to reach a roof terrace of a friend's house and fell three floors. |
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