Orlando Bloom

Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor. He had his break-through roles in 2001 as the elf-prince Legolas in The Lord of the Rings^[1] and starring in 2003 as blacksmith Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, and subsequently established himself as a lead in Hollywood films, including Elizabethtown and Kingdom of Heaven. He appeared in the ensemble films New York, I Love You, Sympathy for Delicious, and Main Street. Bloom made his professional stage debut in West End's In Celebration at the Duke of York's Theatre, St. Martin's Lane, which ended its run on 15 September 2007. On 12 October 2009, Bloom was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Early life

Orlando Bloom was born in Canterbury, Kent, England, and has one sister, Samantha Bloom, who was born in 1975. His mother, Sonia Constance Josephine (née Copeland), was born in the British section of Kolkata, India, the daughter of Betty Constance Josephine Walker and Francis John Copeland, who was a physician and surgeon. Through her, Bloom is a cousin of photographer Sebastian Copeland.^[2] Bloom's maternal grandmother's family lived in Tasmania, Australia, Japan, and India, and were of English descent, some of them having originally come from Kent.^[3] During his childhood, Bloom was told that his father was his mother's husband, Jewish South African-born 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.^[4] Stone, the principal of the Concorde International language school,^[5] was made Orlando Bloom's legal guardian after Harry Bloom's death.^[4] Bloom is named after the 16th century composer Orlando Gibbons.

Bloom was raised in the Church of England.^[6] As a child, he managed to get through The King's School Canterbury and St Edmund's School in Canterbury despite his dyslexia.^[4][7] He was encouraged by his mother to take art and drama classes.^[4] 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 Isa Youth Theatre, spending two seasons there and earning a scholarship to train at the British American Drama Academy.^[8] Bloom began acting professionally with television roles in episodes of Casualty and Midsomer Murders,^[4] 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.

Career

Bloom's first appearance on the screen was in a small part, as a rent boy, in the 1997 film Wilde. Two days after graduating from Guildhall in 1999,^[9] he was cast in his first major role, playing Legolas in The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003).^[8] He had originally auditioned for the part of Faramir, who does not 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.^[10] At the same time, Bloom also played a brief role in the war film Black Hawk Down as PFC. Todd Blackburn. The success of both The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and Black Hawk Down transformed Bloom from an unknown actor into one of the 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.^[8] 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 Lord of the Rings: 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.^[1]

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 started the Trojan War, in the 2004 Spring blockbuster, Troy opposite Brad Pitt, Eric Bana 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 and in the independently made Haven, of which he was also executive producer. In the same year he was one of the guest stars in the sitcom Extras, in which he portrayed an exaggeratedly 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 by making his part unlikeable, and contributed to the gag about him admiring Depp out of sheer jealously, that Depp was far more talented than he was, not to mention rated higher than him on the 'top hottest' charts.^[11] Also in 2006, Bloom was the most searched male on Google News.^[4] As of May 2007, Bloom has appeared in four of the top 15 highest grossing films of all time.^[9]

Bloom's most recent film role is in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, released on 24 May 2007. Bloom, who had intended to become a stage actor after graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, had stated that he would to like to leave films for a time and instead appear in stage roles,^[8] and is "avidly looking for the right sort of material that [he] can do something with"^[12] and go "back to basics".^[13] During the summer of 2007, he appeared in a London revival of In Celebration, a play by David Storey.^[13][14] His character was one of three brothers returning home for their parents' 40th wedding anniversary.^[15] On 24 August 2007, he made 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 kicked off the product's marketing campaign.^[16] In 2008 he signed on to play a small role in the British film An Education^[17] but dropped out to take the lead in Johnny To's film Red Circle.^[18] Also in 2009, he was one of many stars to appear in New York, I Love You, which contained twelve short films in one.

Bloom will reprise his role as Legolas in The Hobbit.^[19]

Personal life

Relationships

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"^[20] from 2002 until splitting up in September 2006.^[21][22]

In late 2007, Bloom began dating Australian model Miranda Kerr.^[23] The couple's engagement was announced on 21 June 2010.^[24] Kerr released a statement on 22 July 2010 announcing that she and Bloom had married in "an intimate ceremony."^[25] On 19 August 2010, Kerr announced that she was four months pregnant with the couple's first baby.^[26] Kerr gave birth to a son, Flynn Christopher Blanchard Copeland Bloom, on 6 January 2011 in Los Angeles.^[27][28][29]

Other interests

Bloom has said that he tries "not to exclude [himself] from real life as much as possible".^[4] He is a Manchester United fan and lives in London.^[30] 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).^[31] Bloom is a practicing Buddhist.^[9] In 2004, he became a full member of Soka Gakkai International, a lay Buddhist association affiliated with the teachings of Nichiren.^[32][33] Bloom has also been a part of Global Green, an environmental company, since the early 2000s.^[1] As part of his environmental involvement, he has renovated his London home to use solar panels, incorporate recycled materials, and utilise energy efficient lightbulbs.^[1][4] Bloom has been approached by UNICEF to act as an international ambassador.^[1]

Bloom has a tattoo of the English word "nine" on his right wrist, written in letters of the fictional Tengwar Elvish 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.^[34] Bloom also has a tattoo of a sun on his lower, left abdomen, which he got at the age of 15 just before moving to London.

Bloom has sustained several injuries: he broke his left arm and cracked his skull three times, 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.^[9] He also broke his back when he slipped trying to reach a roof terrace of a friend's house and fell three floors.^[35]

On 12 February 2009, Bloom actively participated in the 'Australia Unites' fundraiser to raise support for the victims of the Australian bushfires on 7 February 2009.^[36]

On 13 July 2009, four hooded teenagers broke into the Hollywood Hills home of Orlando Bloom and stole nearly half a million dollars worth of possessions. The burglars, dubbed the "Bling Ring", targeted the homes of young celebrities. Most of Bloom's stolen items have been retrieved.^[37]

On 12 October 2009, Bloom was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He has been involved in the organisation since 2007 and has visited schools and villages in Nepal in support of sanitation and education progammes.^[38]

On 15 November 2008, Bloom participated in a test drive in Moscow celebrating the 60th anniversary of Land Rover.^[39]

Accolades

On 13 July 2010, Bloom was presented with an Honorary Degree from the University of Kent at Canterbury Cathedral.^[40]

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Orlando Bloom at the Internet Movie Database
• Orlando Bloom at AllRovi
• Orlando Bloom at Yahoo! Movies
• Orlando Bloom at People.com
• Orlando Bloom discusses Haven'BI' at independentfilm.com