Orlando Bloom

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Orlando Bloom
Orlando Bloom at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival promoting Elizabethtown
Birth name	Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom
Born	January 13, 1977 (age 30) Canterbury, Kent, England
Other name(s)	Orli
Notable roles	Legolas in The Lord of the Rings Paris in Troy Balian of Ibelin in Kingdom of Heaven Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean

Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom^[1] (born January 13, 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's most recent releases are the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Haven.

1 Biography
2 Career
3 Personal life
4 Selected filmography
5 Trivia
6 References
7 External links

Biography

Bloom was born in Canterbury, Kent, England. 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.^[1] 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.^[1] Bloom had thought that his father was South African-born Jewish lawyer Harry Saul Bloom, but during his younger years and after Harry's death, Bloom's mother revealed to him that his biological father was actually Colin Stone, a family friend. Bloom, who is named after the 17th century composer Orlando Gibbons,^[1] has one sister, Samantha Bloom, who was born in 1975.

Bloom managed to struggle through St Edmund's School in Canterbury despite his dyslexia.^[2] In 1993, he moved to London and joined the National Youth Theatre, spending two seasons there and earning a scholarship to train at the British American Drama Academy.

Bloom began acting professionally with a television role in an episode of Casualty, 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, sculpture and photography. In 1998, he broke his back in a three story fall, and it was briefly feared that he would not regain the ability to walk. However, he made a complete 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.

Career

His first appearance on the screen was a small role as a rent boy in the 1997 film Wilde. Shortly after graduating in 1999, Bloom 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 2nd 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.^[3] 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 movies 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.

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. He subsequently played the lead roles in Kingdom of Heaven (gaining 15 to 20 lb of muscle by eating six times a day and lifting weights during filming) and Elizabethtown (both 2005). Both films were box office failures in the United States, although Kingdom of Heaven performed better internationally and Elizabethtown was critically acclaimed.

Bloom later starred in sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which was released on July 7, 2006, and the independently made Haven, which received a limited release in the U.S. on September 15, 2006. He recently concluded filming the third of the series, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which is to be released on May 25, 2007. Bloom was set to subsequently appear in the Great Depression-themed independent film drama, Seasons of Dust, which would have starred Kate Bosworth, due to their break-up however, the film was put on hold.^{[citation needed]} After Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest earned over 1 billion dollars at the box office, Bloom became only the second actor after Bernard Hill to have 2 movies to gross over 1 billion dollars worldwide (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King).

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 to appear in stage roles, and is "avidly looking for the right sort of material that [he] can do something with".^[4]

Personal life

Orlando 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 met American actress Kate Bosworth outside a coffee shop in 2002, where he was introduced to her by a mutual friend, soon after he met her again at the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers later in that year. The two actors dated from 2002 until splitting up temporarily in 2005.^[5] However, on September 6, 2006, sources reported that the couple had separated again.^[6]

In 2004, he became a full member of Soka Gakkai International, a lay Buddhist association affiliated with the teachings of Nichiren. ^[7] ^[8]

He has on his right wrist a tattoo of the Elvish word for "nine", 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 who sent his stunt double to get the tattoo. He covers the tattoo up with armbands or sleeves in other films, however it is possible to catch a glimpse of it during Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He also has a tattoo of a sun-like image to the bottom-left of his navel.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Wilde	Rentboy
2001	Black Hawk Down	Private 1st Class Todd Blackburn
2001	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	Legolas of the Woodland Realm	First major role
2002	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	Legolas of the Woodland Realm
2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	Legolas of the Woodland Realm
	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	Will Turner
	Ned Kelly	Joe Byrne	limited release
2004	Troy	Paris
2005	The Calcium Kid	Jimmy Connelly	(2003 film released direct-to-video)
	Elizabethtown	Drew Baylor
	Kingdom of Heaven	Balian of Ibelin
2006	Love and Other Disasters	Hollywood Actor playing Paolo	cameo appearance
	Haven	Shy	also co-producer
	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	Will Turner
2007	Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End	Will Turner	filming; opens May 25

Trivia

The FoxTrot book Orlando Bloom Has Ruined Everything ISBN 0740749994 references his popularity among teenage girls.

He was one of the guest stars in the Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant hit sitcom Extras, in which he portrays of an arrogant, narcissistic version of himself who seems to have a great loathing for Johnny Depp (his co-star in Pirates of the Caribbean).