Elijah Wood - Biography

Last Editor: patricia712001				Elijah Wood Biography -   Name : Elijah Wood Birthdate : 28 January 1981 Birthplace : Cedar Rapids, Iowa Birth Name : Elijah Jordan Wood Height : 5' 6'' Education : Enrolled in modeling school at Avant Studios in Cedar Rapids Nationality : American Occupation : Actor Relationship : Bijou Phillips (model, actress) Best Known As : Frodo in The Lord of the Rings

Elijah Wood Trivia -

Melissa Joan Hart wanted him to play the male lead in Drive Me Crazy (1999) because she thought it would take some of the pressure off her in her first leading role. However, she was told that he looked too young next to her, and the role went to Adrian Grenier. Parents' names are Warren and Debbie Wood. Elijah has an older brother Zachariah (b. 1974) who works in video games and a younger sister Hannah Wood (born 7th October 1983). Presented at Academy Awards in place of Macaulay Culkin. He was the first recipient of the NATO/ShoWest Young Star of the Year Award. He heard about the Lord of the Rings trilogy while filming The Faculty (1998). Immediately, he sensed that this was the chance of a lifetime. Director George Huang, a personal friend of Wood's, filmed his audition tape for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. He shot the scene from different angles which were cut together for the video. They sent the video off to New Zealand for director Peter Jackson and a few months later, he got the part. Smashing Pumpkins is his favorite band. Owns one of two prop rings used in "Lord of the Rings." The other went to Andy Serkis, who played Gollum. Plays piano. As of December 2003, Elijah lived in a New York apartment with his sister Hannah Wood. However, within a few months he moved back into his mother's guest house in Santa Monica, California, where he lived previously, stating he couldn't justify the rent on the apartment since he spent so little time there. He became a child model when his mother wanted him to burn off excessive energy. Admits to owning thousands of CDs in many musical genres, because he loves music so much. Two of his favorite books are "The Hobbit" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." Is a fan of ex-Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan's new band, 'Zwan'. Considers Frodo Baggins to be his best role. Is the first member of the official "Lord of the Rings" fanclub. Studies singing professionally. Suffered acute appendicitis and was briefly hospitalized [August 2003] Wears clear contact lenses. [hearing that Sean Astin wanted to correct rumors that his character Sam Gamgee had a homosexual love for Frodo:] "Yeah, we've never had that perspective on the relationship, but there is a real bond and a real closeness. Which was easy for Sean and I because we became so close making the film. So it's a natural thing to display and to show and I think it comes across without any real effort ... Frodo really starts to fail physically and emotionally and mentally, so Sam is there to kind of pick up the pieces and show his affection for Frodo and really almost carry him to the end. So that relationship is really important in this film, particularly. ... I think it's really refreshing and nice. I'm really close with my friends and affectionate, and I don't think that there is anything suspicious about that, necessarily. So it's good to show it and have it be an unisexual thing, definitely." [The Toronto Star, December 12, 2003] Dressed up and rode on a float as the god of wine and mirth to head the Bacchus 2004 parade in New Orleans, Louisiana, for Mardi Gras in February, 2004. In the original book "The Lord of the Rings," Frodo is 50 years old when he leaves Bag End, which makes him the oldest of the four lead hobbits. Wood is actually the youngest of the four actors. Loves The Hives. His favorite movie is Harvey (1950). His uncle is Turk E. Krause from the band Molly Nova and the Hawk. 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. Served as the Bacchus of the 2004 Mardi Gras Parade, and returned the next year. Received an injury under his eyebrow during the filming of Hooligans (2005) (aka "The Yank), leaving a visible scar. Favorite food is fried artichoke hearts dipped in ranch dressing. During the filming of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), he found a small restaurant that served him artichokes at least three times a week. Frequently attends the popular annual gaming convention known as E3 (Electronic Entertainment Exposition) which takes places in Los Angeles at the convention center. The week long event features all of the soon-to-be-released games and gaming systems and is open to those working in the gaming industry. In 2005, he started his own record label. His favorite music groups include Smashing Pumpkins, The Stone Roses, The Beatles, The Sundays, Black Sabbath, Verbena and The Beach Boys. Among his favorite actresses are Liza Minnelli and Vanessa Redgrave. Was number 75 on vh1's "100 Greatest Kid Stars." Roger Ebert called him "The most talented actor in his age group in Hollywood history.". Was ranked #16 in E's 50 cutest child stars all grown up (2005). Godzilla (1998) is his least favorite movie. His family owned a deli which they sold so they could move to California. Was ranked #2 on Entertainment Weekly's '30 Under 30' the actors list. (2008). Real life fan of West Ham United, the team he played a fan of in Green Street. Other fans include Danny Dyer, Ray Winstone and Matt Damon.

Elijah Wood Detailed Biography -

Angel-faced with impossibly blue eyes, this young thespian was born Elijah Jordan Wood on the 28th of January, 1981, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a town of some 200,000 souls a couple of hundred miles due west of Chicago. His parents, Warren and Debbie, ran a deli in town, and were already supporting 7-year-old Zack, later a video game producer in San Diego (sister Hannah, later a poet, would arrive two years after Elijah). He's widely known as the most talented and hard-working child actor of the 1990s, and he’s still going strong. Preferring to spend his time acting than posing for the press’s cameras, he hadn’t been so much of a star sensation as someone who has proved himself through his craft. Wood began his career as a model and quickly moved on to television commercials. But it wasn’t long at all before Hollywood came knocking. He first did some smaller roles, as children actors are wont to do: notable first films include Back to the Future II (1989) and Internal Affairs (1990). He began to draw some important attention to himself, however, in another 1990 film, Avalon, Barry Levinson’s epic family saga film about immigrants to the United States. By 1992, he was doing starring roles; Radio Flyer was a great forum for Wood, who played a victim of child abuse. The next year, he starred in Disney’s The Adventures of Huck Finn, and did small but important roles in the Oscar-winning Witness, and Showtime 30-Minute Movie, where he played a little Jewish boy haunting a Nazi taking children to the gas chamber. From there it’s been smooth sailing. He co-starred with another child star, Macauley Culkin, playing the ‘straight man’ in the psychological thriller The Good Son (1993). 1994 saw Wood star in an hilarious comedy, Rob Reiner’s North, as a child looking around the world for better parents. He then entered the world of Kevin Costner in the coming-of-age film The War (1994), and then starred in Flipper (1996) as a troubled teen who befriends a dolphin. Next came a role in the fantastic ensemble film by Ang Lee, The Ice Storm (1997), followed by strong appearances in Deep Impact and The Faculty (both 1998). This young man hasn’t stopped to look back once: his next huge venture was The Lord of the Rings, in which he stars as hobbit Frodo Baggins, and all three films were shot at once, making for one long shoot! We look forward to all three, and anything else Wood might decide to do at this early stage in what will be a long and rewarding career.