Elijah Wood

Elijah Jordan Wood (English pronunciation: /ɪˌlaɪdʒ.ə ˌdʒɔː(r)d.ᵊn ˈwʊd/, born January 28, 1981) is an American actor. He made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II (1989), then landed a succession of larger roles that made him a critically acclaimed child actor by age 9. He is best known for his high-profile role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's critically acclaimed The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Since then, he has resisted typecasting by choosing varied roles in critically acclaimed films such as Bobby, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Sin City, Green Street and Everything Is Illuminated.

He starred in the film Day Zero (2007) and provided the voice of the main character, Mumble, in the award-winning animated film Happy Feet. He played an American tourist turned vampire in Paris, je t'aime. In 2005, he started his own record label, Simian Records. He was cast in the lead role of an Iggy Pop biopic to be called The Passenger, but after years of development, the project now appears to be shelved.

Elijah Wood Dancey Dance


Prank Interview with Elijah Wood



Early life

Wood, the second of three children, was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Debra D. (née Krause) and Warren W. Wood, delicatessen operators.[2] He is of English, Austrian, German, and Danish descent.[3] Wood has a brother seven years his senior, Zachariah "Zach" Wood, and a sister two years his junior, Hannah Wood. At age ten, Wood began modeling in his hometown and took piano lessons. He took to the stage in his elementary school's staging of the play The Sound of Music. The following year, he graduated to the title character in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He also served as choir boy during the production of See How They Run, produced by the Marion Creative Council.
[edit] Career
[edit] Early career

Wood modeled and did local commercials before moving with his family to Los Angeles in 1988, where he got his first break, a small role in a video by Paula Abdul – "Forever Your Girl", directed by David Fincher. Major work followed, including a pivitol role in the television movie Child in the Night (1990) with JoBeth Williams and Tom Skerritt and Back to the Future Part II (1989). It was Wood's role as Aidan Quinn's son in Barry Levinson's 1990 film Avalon (the third film in the Baltimore trilogy containing 1982's Diner and 1987's Tin Men) that first gave Wood attention, as the film received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for four Academy Awards.

After a small part in the Richard Gere movie Internal Affairs (1990), he secured his first starring role in Paradise (1991), playing a young boy who brings estranged couple Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson back together. From there, he went on to co-star with Mel Gibson and Jamie Lee Curtis in Forever Young and with Joseph Mazzello in Radio Flyer (both were released in 1992).

In 1993, he had the lead role in The Adventures of Huck Finn and also appeared with Macaulay Culkin in The Good Son. In 1994 he starred in The War (1994), with Kevin Costner. His performance in this movie gained him a nomination for a 'Young Star Award' (for which he was nominated four times, and won twice), and Roger Ebert said in his review of the film:

"Elijah Wood has emerged, I believe, as the most talented actor in his age group, in Hollywood history".[4]

Also in 1994, he had the title role in North, and was featured in a Super Bowl commercial for Wavy Lay's potato chips that had him repeatedly exchanging seats with spectators at a football game (including Dan Quayle) using its famous slogan.[5] In 1995, he appeared in the music video for The Cranberries "Ridiculous Thoughts". The following year, Wood got the lead role in Flipper (1996), which was not very successful, but the subsequent critical and financial success of Ang Lee's The Ice Storm (1997) provided a positive development in the young actor's career.

In 1997, he portrayed the pick-pocketing thief Jack "The Artful Dodger" Dawkins in Tony Bill's Oliver Twist. 1998's Deep Impact and The Faculty did not allow Wood the same degree of character development, but were great financial successes and further stepping stones in Wood's evolution from winsome child star to young actor.

Wood's next role was as the boyfriend of a wannabe hip-hop groupie in James Toback's Black and White (1999). He followed this with a role as a junior hitman in Chain of Fools.
[edit] 1999–2003: The Lord of the Rings

Wood was cast as Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first installment of director Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's novel. His most hotly anticipated project, the 2001 film gave Wood top billing as Baggins, alongside a cast that included Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Sean Bean, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, John Rhys Davies, and Miranda Otto.

The Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand and, before the cast left the country, Jackson gave Wood two gifts: one of the One Ring props used on the set and Sting, Frodo's sword. He was also given a pair of prosthetic "hobbit feet" he wore during filming. The same year, the actor appeared in Ed Burns' Ash Wednesday, a crime drama that also featured Oliver Platt and Rosario Dawson.

In 2002, Wood lent his voice to the direct-to-video release of The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina. His most substantial role of 2002 was his return to the role of Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

In 2003, he starred in the direct-to-video movie All I Want (also titled Try Seventeen) and once again portrayed Frodo Baggins for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the final part of Jackson's trilogy.
[edit] 2004–2011: Recent career

Hot on the heels of the trilogy, Wood quickly appeared in his first post-Frodo role in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), playing a lab technician who helps erase heartbreaking memories but then uses his knowledge of the past relationship of an unknowing former patient (Kate Winslet) to woo her. He then played bespectacled serial killer Kevin in director Robert Rodriguez and writer-artist Frank Miller's adaptation of Miller's crime noir comic book series Sin City (2005), appearing opposite Mickey Rourke in the segment "The Hard Goodbye". On May 12, 2005, Wood hosted a program called "MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed", when the new Xbox 360 games console was launched.[6]

Also in 2005, Wood starred in Everything Is Illuminated, in which he plays a young American Jewish man on a quest to find the woman who once saved his grandfather during World War II, and Green Street Hooligans, as an American college student who falls in with a violent English football firm. Both had limited release, but were critically acclaimed.

Wood shot a small part in Paris, je t'aime, which consists of 18 five-minute sections. Each section is directed by a different director. Wood’s section, called "Quartier de la Madeleine", was directed by Vincenzo Natali. The film opened on May 18 at 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was shown at 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. First Look Pictures acquired the North American rights, and the film opened in the US in early 2007.[7]

In 2006, he was part of the ensemble cast in Emilio Estevez's Bobby, in which his character gets married to change his draft classification.[8] It premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was released on November 17, 2006 in New York and Los Angeles. Wide release followed on November 23.

In Happy Feet,[9] Wood provided the voice of Mumble, a penguin who can tap dance, but not sing. Happy Feet was released on November 17, 2006 and has grossed over $380 million worldwide. The movie also received a Golden Globe Award nomination and won an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Animated Feature.

Day Zero,[10] a drama about the draft, had its debut at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Wood portrays draftee, Aaron Feller.

In 2006, Wood hosted the special "Saving a Species: The Great Penguin Rescue" for Discovery Kids Channel,[11] for which he has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the category of acting in a children/youth/family special.[12] On January 4, 2007 Wood joined Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg to announce the nominees for the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.[13]

In The Oxford Murders, a film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Guillermo Martínez, Wood plays a graduate student, who investigates a series of bizarre, mathematically-based murders in Oxford.[14][15] It was released in Spain on January 18, 2008.

Wood also voiced the lead in the animated feature film version of the short film 9.[16][17] A project in which Wood was set to star in, a biopic about singer Iggy Pop, putatively named The Passenger,[18] has not come to fruition after years in development.[19]

Wood's first starring TV role is on the FX pilot Wilfred in which he plays Ryan. The pilot was shot in the summer of 2010.[20]

In January 2011, it was confirmed that Wood would reprise the role of Frodo Baggins in the The Hobbit parts one and two films to be released in 2012 and 2013.[21]

Wood also starred in The Beastie Boys music video for Make Some Noise, along with Seth Rogen, Danny McBride and fellow LOTR star Orlando Bloom.
[edit] Other work

In 2005 Wood started his own record label called Simian Records. On September 19, 2006 Wood announced that Simian had signed The Apples in Stereo as their first band, with their new album New Magnetic Wonder released in February 2007.[22] In addition he also directed the music video for "Energy".[23] The other band signed to Simian thus far is Heloise and the Savoir Faire.

Wood has also provided voiceovers for videogames, providing the current voice for Spyro the Dragon since 2006's The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning,[24][25] as well as reprising Mumble in the game version of Happy Feet.[26] He also contributed his talents to fellow Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen's album Pandemoniumfromamerica, singing and playing various instruments on the album.[27]

Wood has signed to co-produce the film Black Wings Has My Angel, based on the noir novel of the same name, with Anthony Moody and Rob Malkani of Indalo Productions.[28]

On April 11, 2008, Wood was the guest host of Channel 4's Friday Night Project.

On April 25, 2009, Wood was honored with the Midnight Award by the San Francisco International Film Festival as a dynamic young American actor who "has made outstanding contributions to independent and Hollywood cinema, and who brings striking intelligence, exemplary talent and extraordinary depth of character to his roles"[citation needed].[29]

Wood also starred in an episode of Yo! Gabba Gabba entitled "Eat" where he danced and "went crazy" alongside the rest of the Yo! Gabba Gabba crew.

Wood can be seen in a short film on stepthroughtheportal.com. The site is an interactive website created by Simian Records artist' The Apples in Stereo, promoting their upcoming album, Travelers in Space and Time.
[edit] Personal life
Wood in February 2006

In an interview about Everything Is Illuminated, director Liev Schreiber commented that Wood has a "generosity of spirit" and a "sincere goodness as a human being."[30] He supported campaigns for charity as Keep a Child Alive or ALDO/YouthAIDS. Wood is a music lover, owning 4,000 CDs and at one time citing his favorite band as Smashing Pumpkins.[31][32]

Wood has a tattoo of the word "nine" written in Tengwar script, but in the English language (rather than Quenya or Sindarin as is widely believed) below his waist on the right side, a reference to his character as one of the Fellowship of the Ring. This is somewhat of a coincidence, as he would later star in 9. The other actors of "The Fellowship" got the same tattoo (with the exception of John Rhys-Davies). Reportedly, Rhys-Davies' dwarf-sized stand-in from the film got the tattoo instead, thus the cast can still assert that "all" the members of the Fellowship acquired a tattoo.[33]

In May 2006, Autograph Collector Magazine published its list of 10 Best & 10 Worst Hollywood Autograph Signers, Wood was ranked #7 of Best Signers.[34]

On 23 April 2010, in a charitable gesture, Wood visited the town of Curepto, Chile, one of the hardest hit by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile on February 27, 2010. He made personal visits to many of the victims and was accompanied by the first lady of Chile, Ms. Cecilia Morel.[35][36]

In 2008, he became the first person to cross Victoria Falls on ropes during an appearance on Jack Osbourne's show Adrenaline Junkie.[37]
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Films
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1989 Back to the Future Part II Video-Game Boy #2 (Mickey) bit part
1990 Child in the Night Luke TV film
1990 Internal Affairs Sean Stretch minor role
1990 Avalon Michael Kaye major role
1990 The Witness Little Boy short film
1991 Paradise Willard Young Major Role,10 year old boy visitor
1992 Day-O Dayo Made for TV film
1992 Forever Young Nat Cooper Major Role
1992 Radio Flyer Mike Major Role
1993 The Adventures of Huck Finn Huckleberry Finn Major Role
1993 The Good Son Mark Evans Major Role
1994 North North Major Role
1994 The War Stuart "Stu" Simmons Major Role
1996 Flipper Sandy Ricks Major Role
1997 Oliver Twist Jack "The Artful Dodger" Dawkins TV film. Wood's first adult role
1997 The Ice Storm Mikey Carver
1998 Deep Impact Leo Biederman
1998 The Faculty Casey Connor
1999 The Bumblebee Flies Anyway Barney Snow
1999 Black and White Wren
2000 Chain of Fools Mikey Direct-to-video
2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Frodo Baggins
2001 Ash Wednesday Sean Sullivan
2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Frodo Baggins
2002 The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina Tom Thumb voice; Direct-to-video
2002 All I Want aka Try Seventeen Jones Dillon Direct-to-video
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Frodo Baggins
2003 The Long and Short of It First Assistant Director Short film
2003 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over The Guy Cameo
2004 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Patrick
2005 Sin City Kevin
2005 Everything Is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer
2005 Green Street Matt Buckner
2006 Bobby William Avary
2006 Happy Feet Mumble voice
2007 Paris, je t'aime David
2007 Day Zero Aaron Feller
2008 The Oxford Murders Martin
2009 9 9[38][39] voice
2010 The Romantics Chip
2011 Fight For Your Right: Revisited Ad Rock Short film
2011 Happy Feet 2 Mumble voice
2012 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Frodo Baggins Filming
2013 The Hobbit: There And Back Again Frodo Baggins Filming
[edit] Television
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1994 Frasier Ethan voice; "Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast"
1996 Homicide: Life on the Street McPhee Broadman "The True Test"
1996 Adventures from the Book of Virtues Icarus voice; "Responsibility"
2002 Franklin (TV series) Coyote voice
2002 The Electric Playground ?
2003 Saturday Night Live Host
2004 The Osbournes Himself
2004 King of the Hill Jason voice; "Girl, You'll Be a Giant Soon"
2005 I'm Still Here: Real Diaries of Young People Who Lived During the Holocaust Klaus Langer / Dawid Rubinowicz voice
2006 Robot Chicken William David Reynolds voice; "Sausage Fest"
2006 American Dad! Ethan voice; "Iced, Iced Babies"
2006 Punk'd Himself
2006 Saving a Species: The Great Penguin Rescue Host and Narrator Television special
2007 Yo Gabba Gabba! Himself
2007 Horrid Henry Horrid Henry U.S. Dub 2007–present
2008 Friday Night Project Himself Guest host
2008 Celebrity Adrenaline Junkie Himself [40] Became the first person to cross the Victoria Falls on ropes.
2009 Saturday Night Live Himself SNL Digital Short On the Ground[41]
2010 Family Guy Himself "Brian Griffin's House of Payne"
2010 WW2 HD: The Air War Andy Rooney voice
2011 Wilfred Ryan TV Series
2011 Treasure Island Ben Gunn TV Two-Part Miniseries
2012 Tron: Uprising Beck voice
[edit] Music videos

Paula Abdul: "Forever Your Girl" (1989)
The Cranberries: "Ridiculous Thoughts" (1995)
The Apples in Stereo: "Energy" (as director) (2006)
Greg Laswell: "How the Day Sounds" (2008)
The Lonely Island: "On the Ground" (2009)
Danko Jones: "Full of Regret" (2010)
The Apples in Stereo: "Dance Floor" (2010)
Danko Jones: "I Think Bad Thoughts" (2011)
Beastie Boys: "Make Some Noise" (2011)

[edit] Video games
Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
2006 The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning Spyro Main character.
2007 The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night Spyro Main character.
2008 The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon Spyro Main character.
2010 God of War III Deimos The character Deimos did not appear in God of War III, however, his voice is heard in a portion of the game where the protagonist Kratos is within his own psyche. Deimos is the brother of Kratos.
[edit] Audiobooks

2009 Witch & Wizard
2010 Witch & Wizard: The Gift
2010 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

[edit] Awards and nominations

Young Star Awards

1995 Nominate Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Drama Film The War 1994
1997 Nominated Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy Film Flipper 1996
1998 Won Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Drama Film Deep Impact 1998
1998 Won Best Performance by a Young in a Miniseries/Made for TV Movies Oliver Twist 1997

Young Hollywood Awards

2002 Won Hottest, Coolest Young Veteran – Male N/A

Young Artist Awards

1991 Nominated Best Young Actor Starring in a TV Movie, Pilot or Special Child in the Night 1990
1991 Nominated Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture Avalon 1990
1992 Nominated Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture Paradise 1991
1993 Won Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture Radio Flyer 1992
1995 Nominated Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture North 1994
1997 Nominated Best Performance in a Drama Series – Guest Starring Young Actor Homicide: Life on the Street 1993
1998 Nominated Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Young Actor The Ice Storm 1997

Visual Effects Society Awards

2003 Won Best Performance by an Actor in an Effect Film Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 2002

Teen Choice Awards

2002 Nominated Film – Choice Actor, Drama/Action Adventure FOTR 2001
2003 Nominated Choice Movie Actor – Drama/Action Adventure TTT 2002
2004 Nominated Choice Movie Actor – Drama/Action Adventure ROTK 2003
2005 Nominated Choice Movie Bad Guy Sin City 2005

ShoWest Convention USA

1994 Won Young Star of the Year

Screen Actors Guild Awards

2002 Nominated Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture FOTR 2001
2003 Nominated Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture TTT 2002
2004 Won Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture ROTK 2003
2007 Nominated Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Bobby 2006

Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards

2002 Won Best Ensemble Acting FOTR 2001
2003 Won Best Ensemble Acting TTT 2002
2004 Nominated Best Ensemble Acting ROTK 2003

Online Film Critics Society Awards

2003 Won Best Ensemble ROTK 2003

Blockbuster Entertainment Awards

1999 Nominated Favorite Actor – Horror The Faculty 1998
1999 Nominated Favorite Supporting Actor – Sci-Fi Deep Impact 1998

National Board of Review USA

2003 Won Best Acting by an Ensemble ROTK 2003

MTV Movie Awards

2002 Nominated Best On-Screen Team FOTR 2001
2003 Won Best On-Screen Team TTT 2003

Kids' Choice Awards

2002 Nominated Favorite Male Butt Kicker FOTR
2003 Nominated Favorite Male Kicker TTT

Empire Awards UK

2002 Won Best Actor FOTR

DVD Exclusive Awards

2003 Nominated Best Animated Character Performance The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina 2002
2003 Nominated Best Audio Commentary, New Release FOTR
2003 Nominated Best Audio Commentary (New For DVD) TTT

Broadcast Film Critics Awards

2004 Won Best Acting Ensemble ROTK
1999 Nominated Favorite Actor – Horror The Faculty 1998
1999 Nominated Favorite Supporting Actor – Sci-Fi- Deep Impact 1998

Saturn Award

1994 Won Best Performance by a Young Actor The Good Son 1993
1995 Nominated Best Performance by a Younger Actor North 1994
2003 Nominated Best Performance by a Younger Actor TTT
2004 Won Best Actor ROTK

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

2004 Won Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance – Male ROTK

Hollywood Film Festival

2006 Won Best Ensemble Cast for Bobby

Daytime Emmy Awards

2007 Nominated Outstanding Performer In A Children/Youth/Family Special – Saving a Species: The Great Penguin Rescue 2006

San Francisco International Film Festival

2009 Won The Midnight Award as dynamic young American actor who bring striking intelligence, exemplary talent and extraordinary depth of character to his roles.

[edit] Further reading

Sibley, Brian. The Lord of the Rings Official Movie Guide. Houghton Mifflin, 2001. ISBN 0-618-15402-7.

References from Wikipedia.com