Elijah Wood biography
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[h3]Born Elijah Jordan Wood, the middle of three creative children who were raised as Catholics and named after Biblical figures. His older brother, Zachariah, born in 1974, is now a video game producer and his younger sister, Hannah, born in 1983, is now a poet and actress.[/h3]

Wood started singing in the chorus at elementary school, took piano lessons and performed in school theatrical productions. At age seven his mother, Debbie, enrolled him at modelling school and he began appearing in national commercials and small television parts.

In 1989, his parents sold their delicatessen and the family – minus father, Warren, who elected to remain in Iowa - moved to Los Angeles in order for Wood to pursue a career in acting. His lucky break came swiftly, when he landed a small role in Paula Abdul’s video for her debut album, ‘Forever Your Girl’ (1989), directed by David Fincher. It certainly got him noticed and shortly after that, he was offered a cameo role as a videogame boy, in ‘Back to the Future Part II’ (1989), making his feature film debut at age eight. His leading role debut followed the next year with Barry Levinson’s ‘Avalon’ (1990), in which he was cast as Michael Kaye, with Aidan Quinn who played his father. The critically acclaimed film received four Academy Award nominations. That same year, Wood made his television debut as Luke in ‘Child in the Night’ (1990).

With all these achievements before his tenth birthday, Wood began to play ever more demanding roles, both in television and feature films. These included co-starring with Don Johnson and Melanie Griffiths in ‘Paradise’ (1991); with Joseph Mazzello in ‘Radio Flyer’ (1992); with [urlnew=http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_home/16:0/Mel_Gibson.htm]Mel Gibson[/urlnew] and [urlnew=http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_home/140:0/Jamie_Lee_Curtis.htm]Jamie Lee Curtis [/urlnew]in ‘Forever Young’ (1992), also singing ‘You Are My Sunshine’ for the film’s soundtrack; and with Macaulay Culkin in ‘The Good Son’ (1993).

His critically acclaimed performance with[urlnew=http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_home/523:0/Kevin_Costner.htm] Kevin Costner [/urlnew]in ‘The War’ (1994) gained him a Young Star Award nomination. Wood then starred as Huckleberry Finn in ‘The Adventures of Huck Finn’ (1993), before playing the title role in Rob Reiner’s comedy ‘North’ (1994), to much praise. He even mastered a Cockney accent for the part of the Artful Dodger in Disney’s ‘Oliver Twist’ (1997) on ABC television.

In 1996, when Wood was 15, his parents decided to put an end to their struggling marriage and were divorced later that year. Interestingly, it was at this time that Wood was noted for his performance as a troubled teenager, with Sigourney Weaver and Jamey Sheridan in Ang Lee’s ‘The Ice Storm’ (1997). He then co-starred in the blockbuster ‘Deep Impact’ (1998) as well as in sci-fi horror ‘The Faculty’ (1998). Whilst these roles did not allow Wood much scope for character development, they added further kudos to his growing versatility as an actor.
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Three films followed, which never made it into wide release: ‘Black and White’ (1999), ‘The Bumblebee Flies Anyway’ (1999) and ‘Chain of Fools’ (2000). Then the role appeared for which Wood is best known and which made him a star. It was that of the furry-footed hobbit, Frodo Baggins, in Peter Jackson’s blockbuster film trilogy version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic ‘The Lord of the Rings’.

Over the next three years, between the filming of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’ (2001) and ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ (2002), Wood appeared on several videos and played Sean Sullivan in crime drama ‘Ash Wednesday’ (2002). Before the last in the trilogy, ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ (2003), he managed to squeeze in a small role as The Guy in ‘Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over’ (2003) and host a 2003 episode of ‘Saturday Night Live’. Wood was also the First Assistant Director on Sean Aston’s ‘The Long and Short of It’ (2003), in which Peter Jackson played a bus driver.

Once ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy was complete, Wood played opposite [urlnew=http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_home/867:0/Kirsten_Dunst.htm]Kirsten Dunst[/urlnew], Mark Ruffolo and Kate Winslet in the wonderful and slightly off-beat ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ (2004). In ‘Sin City’ (2005) he starred as a cannibalistic serial killer, with Mickey Rourke, in this visually spectacular but chilling adaptation of Frank Miller’s crime noir comic book series. Wood was a journalist-turned-thug in ‘Green Street Hooligans’ (2005), a film about violent gangs in the world of English football, before starring in actor Live Schreiber’s directing debut, ‘Everything is Illuminated’ (2005), filmed in Prague.

After living for many years in Los Angeles, Wood shared an apartment with his sister Hannah in New York for a while, starting in 2003, but found he was spending very little time there, due to his filming commitments. In 2005, he bought a house in Venice Beach, California and started his own record label, Simian Records. On 19 September 2006, Wood announced the label had signed their first band, indie rock group, ‘The Apples in Stereo’. Another of Wood’s favourite bands, ‘Heloise and the Savoir Faire’, has since been signed to Simian.

Wood had a small part as a young American tourist in ‘Paris, je t’aime’ (2006) before being cast in Emilio Estevez’s directorial debut, ‘Bobby’ (2006), telling the story of the night prior to Senator [urlnew=http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_home/710:0/Robert_Kennedy.htm]Robert F. Kennedy’s[/urlnew] assassination. Wood provided the voice of Mumble, a vocally challenged, tap dancing penguin, in the hugely successful animated adventure, ‘Happy Feet’ (2006). On this film, he worked alongside the likes of Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Jackman and [urlnew=http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_home/83:0/Robin_Williams.htm]Robin Williams[/urlnew]. He was the voice of Spyro in the videogame ‘The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning’ (2006).
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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. In this drama about military conscription, directed by Bryan Gunnar Cole, Wood stars as Aaron Feller, a young man who marries in order to dodge the draft. He has also filmed ‘The Oxford Murders’ (2007), in which he plays a graduate student in the film adaptation of Guillermo Martinez’s novel of the same name. Wood is set to star in ‘The Passenger’, a biopic about singer Iggy Pop as a young man, currently in pre-production. He will provide voice work for Tim Burton’s animated feature film ‘9’ (due for release in 2008), currently in production.

Over the years, Wood has appeared in a number of single episodes of television shows and sitcoms, including ‘Frasier’ (1994), ‘Homicide: Life on the Street’ (1996), ‘King of the Hill’ (2004), ‘The Osbournes’ (2004), ‘American Dad!’ (2006) and ‘Robot Chicken’ (2006). He appeared in his second Paula Abdul video, ‘Video Hits: Paula Abdul’ (2005). On 19 November 2006 he hosted the Discovery Kids Channel special ‘Saving a Species: The Great Penguin Rescue’. On 4 January 2007, Wood joined Alan Rosenberg, President of the Screen Actors Guild, to announce the nominees for the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

An intensely private person, Wood prefers to keep his romantic relationships out of the media spotlight. He dated German actress, Franka Potente in 2002 and was rumoured to have dated Bijou Phillips, his co-star from ‘Black and White’ (1999), but in September 2005 he confirmed this as untrue. His current girlfriend is Pamela Racine, a backup dancer for ‘Gogol Bordello’, a gypsy punk band from New York City. The couple met in 2004, on the set of ‘Everything Is Illuminated’ (2005), and began their relationship a while later.

Wood’s generosity of spirit is appreciated by all who know him and is evident in the charity work he does. His focus is on helping children and he supports Keep A Child Alive and YouthAIDS/ALDO. His talent, experience and the careful selection of a variety of roles, has enabled Wood to avoid typecasting. He has been nominated for innumerable awards and won several others. With a career spanning nearly two decades, this talented actor, singer, musician and music director is only in his mid-twenties. His mix of affability and dedication to his career will certainly continue to ensure a productive work life ahead and give us much to anticipate from him in the future.

Carey Latimore

Elijah Wood biography



- Height: 5’ 6” (1.68m).

- Nicknames: Spark Plug (he was an extremely energetic child), Monkey (he loved to climb things), Elwood and Lij.

- Plays the piano.

- Favourite bands: Smashing Pumpkins, Zwan (ex-frontman of Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan’s new band), The Stone Roses, Black Sabbath, The Beatles, The Sundays and Verbena.

- His personal favourite songs playlist can be accessed on iTunes.

- Favourite film: ‘Harvey’ (1950)

- Least favourite film: ‘Godzilla’ (1998).

- Favourite actresses: Vanessa Redgrave and Liza Minnelli.

- Favourite food: Fried artichoke hearts dipped in ranch dressing.

- After filming, he was given Frodo’s sword, ‘Sting’, as well as one of the two prop rings used in ‘Lord of the Rings’. The other ring was given to Andy Serkis, who played Gollum.

- Has a tattoo just below his waist, on the right side. It is the Elvish word for ‘nine’. He and his fellow actors all had these tattoos done, in commemoration of being a member of the Fellowship in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’ (2001).

- Was hospitalised briefly for acute appendicitis in August 2003.

- Sings professionally and started his own record label called Simian Records in 2005.

- Sang and played various instruments on fellow ‘Lord of the Rings’ star Viggo Mortensen’s album ‘pandemoniumfromamerica’ (2003).

- Dressed up as Bacchus, the god of wine and mirth, to ride on the head float in the 2004 Bacchus Parade for Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

- Owns two dogs, Levonne and Rascal.

- In May 2005, hosted ‘MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed’ when the Xbox 360 was launched.
Elijah Wood biography



As Actor

9 (2008) – in production

The Oxford Murders (2007) - filming

Day Zero (2007)

Happy Feet (2006)

Robot Chicken (TV series) (2006 episode)

The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning (2006) (Videogame)

Bobby (2006)

Paris, je t’aime (2006)

American Dad! (TV series) (2006 episode)

Punk’d (TV series) (2006 episode)

Everything Is Illuminated (2005)

Green Street Hooligans (2005)

Sin City (2005)

Video Hits: Paula Abdul (2005) (Video)

Christmas on Mars (2005)

The Osbournes (TV series) (2004 episode)

King of the Hill (TV series) (2004 episode)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Saturday Night Live (TV series) (2003 episode)

Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

The Cranberries: The Best Videos 1992-2002 (2002) (Video)

Try Seventeen (2002) (Video)

The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina (2002) (Video)

Ash Wednesday (2002)

The Electric Playground (TV series) (2002 episode)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Chain of Fools (2000)

The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1999)

Black and White (1999)

The Faculty (1998)

Deep Impact (1998)

Oliver Twist (1997) (TV)

The Ice Storm (1997)

Homicide: Life on the Street (TV series) (1996 episode)

Adventures from the Book of Virtues (TV series) (1996 episode)

Flipper (1996)

Cranberries: Ridiculous Thoughts (1995) (TV)

The War (1994)

North (1994)

Frasier (TV sitcom) (1994 episode)

The Good Son (1993)

The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993)

Forever Young (1992)

Day-O (1992) (TV)

Radio Flyer (1992)

The Witness (1992) (TV)

Paradise (1991)

Avalon (1990)

Child in the Night (1990) (TV)

Internal Affairs (1990)

Back to the Future Part II (1989)

Paula Abdul: Forever Your Girl (1989) (Video)

As First Assistant Director

The Long and Short of It (2003)

Soundtrack

Forever Young (1992) (Performer: ‘You Are My Sunshine’)
Elijah Wood biography

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