Elijah Wood
Elijah Wood | |
|---|---|
| File:Elijah-premiere-eternalsunshine.jpg Elijah Wood at the "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" premiere | |
| Born | Elijah Jordan Wood |
| Height | 5’6’ (168 cm) |
Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and music executive. A professional actor since the age of nine, Wood is best known for the role of Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. He took to the stage in his elementary school's rendition of the play The Sound of Music. The following year, he graduated to the title character of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Wood also served as choir boy during the production of See How They Run, produced by the Marion Creative Council.
Making his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future II (1989), Wood landed a succession of subsequent larger roles, and became a critically acclaimed child actor. His performance in The War gained him a nomination by the 'Young Star Awards' (for which he was nominated five times, and won once), and Roger Ebert said in his review of the film that 'Elijah Wood has emerged, I believe, as the most talented actor in his age group, in Hollywood history.'
His role as Frodo in The Lord of the Rings made him a star, but he has resisted typecasting by recently choosing different roles, such as a stalker in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a mute cannibal in Sin City and a eccentric collector in Everything Is Illuminated
Career
Early career
Wood modelled, and did local commercials, before moving with his family to Los Angeles in 1988. It was there that Wood got his first break, a small role in a video by Paula Abdul. Film work almost instantly followed, with a bit part in Back to the Future 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 pot-boiler Internal Affairs (1990), Wood secured his first starring role in Paradise (1991), in which he played a young boy who brings estranged couple Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson back together. He received good reviews for his performance - some said it was one of the best things about the film - and 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).
1993-98
In 1993, Wood co-starred with Macaulay Culkin in The Good Son, which was a failure both at the box office and with filmgoers who couldn't stomach the idea of the little blond boy from Home Alone as a pre-teen psychopath. In casting Wood as the good to Culkin's evil, the film helped further establish the kind of characters Wood was to become known for: thoughtful, well meaning, and perhaps a bit confused. Wood's next film, the same year's The Adventures of Huck Finn, provided a departure from this type of character, but The War (1994), with Kevin Costner, marked something of a return.
Also in 1994, Wood had the title role in North, a film remarkable for the volume of bad reviews and bad box office that it received, but also for the fact that practically every bad review contained a positive assessment of Wood's performance. Wood's follow-up, Flipper (1996), was hardly an improvement, 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. As the soulfully dazed and confused Mikey Carver, Wood gave a portrayal remarkable for its rendering of the thoughtfulness and exquisite hopelessness inherent in the character. 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 impressive young actor.
1999-2003
Following a brief turn as the boyfriend of a wannabe hip-hop groupie in James Toback's problematic Black and White (1999), Wood further evolved as an actor in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first installation of director Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's literary trilogy. His most hotly anticipated project, the 2001 film gave Wood top billing as Frodo Baggins, alongside a glittering cast that included Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, and Liv Tyler. That same year, the young actor could be seen in less mystical surroundings, courtesy of Ed Burns' Ash Wednesday, a crime drama that also featured Oliver Platt and Rosario Dawson.
In 2002, Wood lent his voice to Disney's straight-to-video release of The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina. Of course, his most substantial role of 2002 is unarguably his return to the role of hobbit Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
2003 proved to be a similar year for Wood - after two relatively small jobs (his role credited as 'The Guy' in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and his stint as First Assistant Director in Sean Astin's The Long and Short of It served purely as a break for Elijah), the young actor once again resumed his role as Frodo Baggins for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the last chapter in Tolkien's trilogy.
2004-05
Hot on the heels of the trilogy, Wood quickly appeared in his first post-Frodo role in the off-kilter but highly effective Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), playing an ethically challenged lab technician who helps erase heartbreaking memories' but then uses his knowledge of the past relationship of an unknowing former patient (played by Kate Winslet) to woo her. He then had a chillingly silent turn as the cannibalistic, bespectacled serial killer Kevin in director Robert Rodriguez and writer-artist Frank Miller's visually arresting adaptation of Miller's crime noir comic book series Sin City (2005), appearing opposite Mickey Rourke in the segment "The Hard Goodbye".
Wood's latest work includes Everything Is Illuminated (written and directed by Liev Schreiber, and adapted from the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer) which he stars as a young American Jewish man goes on a quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather in a small Ukrainian town that was wiped off the map when the Nazis liquidated Eastern European shtetls, and Green Street Hooligans, (directed by Lexi Alexander) as an American college student falls in with a violent English football firm.
New projects
In 2005, Wood shot a small part in Paris, je t'aime, which consists of eighteen 5-minute sections. Each section is directed by a different director. Wood’s section was directed by Vincenzo Natali. The film opened on May 18 at 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was shown at Toronto Film Festival. First Look Pictures has acquired the North American rights, and the film is set to open in the US in early 2007.
In December 2005, Wood finished filming Emilio Estevez's film Bobby, alongside Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival and will be released on November 17, 2006 in New York and Los Angeles, with wider release following on November 22.
In Happy Feet, Wood provided the voice of Mumble, a penguin who can tap dance, but not sing. Happy Feet will be released on November 17, 2006, and stars Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Brittany Murphy and Robin Williams.
Wood also finished filming Day Zero, a drama about the draft, in which Elijah portrays Aaron Feller. Working with him are Chris Klein and Ally Sheedy. This movie will be released in 2007.
Elijah's upcoming projects include The Passenger, a biopic about Iggy Pop with Elijah to play the singer as young man, and a film based on a play by Steve Martin called Picasso at the Lapin Agile, in which he will play the role of a young Albert Einstein.
At present, he is in final negotiations to star with John Hurt in a film adaptation of the novel, "The Oxford Murders". If he accepts the role, he will be playing a graduate student, who, along with a professor of logic (Hurt), investigates a series of bizarre, mathematically-based murders in Oxford.
Personal life
Himself
Wood was born on January 28, 1981, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the middle of three children to Warren and Debbie Wood; he has English, Irish, German and Polish ancestry, and was raised a Catholic. As a child he took piano lessons from Marlene Loftsgaarden in Cedar Rapids. He was nicknamed Elijah 'Spark Plug' because he was a maniacally energetic child, and also 'Monkey' because he liked to climb things. He has a brother, Zack, a video game producer seven years his senior, as well as a sister, Hannah, younger by three years and who is a poet and actress (and has had small roles in a number of Elijah Wood's films). Elijah now lives in Venice Beach.
Family
- Father: Warren Wood, remained in Iowa when the family moved to LA for Elijah's career; formally separated from Debbie Wood in 1996, then divorced.
- Mother: Debbie Wood; Roman Catholic; moved from Iowa with children to LA, to aid Elijah's career; formally separated from Warren Wood in 1996, then divorced.
- Brother: Zachariah Wood, born in 1974.
- Sister: Hannah Wood, born in 1984.
Relationships
Wood likes to keep his personal life away from the media spotlight, and is particularly private about his romantic relationships. But it is known that in 2002 he dated the German actress Franka Potente, but the relationship ended later that year. Wood blamed the separation on age difference and distance. He still wears a ring Potente gave him, which bears a Hebrew inscription meaning 'if not now, when?'. Wood was also rumored to have dated Bijou Phillips, his co-star in Black And White, and pop star/actress Mandy Moore, but in September 2005, he told Howard Stern that the rumors were just rumors. Currently, he is dating Gogol Bordello backup dancer Pamela Racine, who accompanied him recently at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, but the relationship began sometime after they met on the set of Everything Is Illuminated in 2004.
Trivia
- Wood is a huge music buff who admits to owning something in the range of 3,000 CDs, and once cited his favorite band as the Smashing Pumpkins. [1] He's also made a playlist of all his favourite songs which can be accessed by his fans or anyone who is interested.
- In an interview about his latest film Everything Is Illuminated, director Liev Schreiber commented that his leading man Elijah Wood has a 'generosity of spirit' and a 'sincere goodness as a human being'.[2]
- On September 19, 2006 Elijah Wood announced that his new recording label, Simian Records, had signed The Apples in Stereo as their first band, with their new album New Magnetic Wonder due out in February of 2007.
- Made #4 on Star's Big Hollywood Countdown. (The topic was Top 10 young stars.)
- His favorite movie is Harvey.
- He has a tattoo of the Elvish word for nine, to commemorate playing a member of the Fellowship in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, just below his navel on the right side.
- His least favorite movies are Godzill and Pearl Harbor
- In 2003, Elijah's appendix burst, and he had to spend a week in the hospital while it was removed.
Filmography
Films
Video clips
Television series
- Frasier - "Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast" (1994) TV Episode (voice) .... Ethan
- Adventures from the Book of Virtues - "Responsibility" (1996) TV Episode (voice) .... Icarus
- Homicide: Life on the Street - "The True Test" (1996) TV Episode .... McPhee Broadman
- The Electric Playground - Episode #7.13 (2002) TV Episode
- Saturday Night Live - Episode #29.8 (2003) TV Episode .... Host
- King of the Hill - "Girl, You'll Be a Giant Soon (2004) TV Episode (voice) .... Jason
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 a 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 Nomineted Choice Movie Bad Guy Sin City 2005
ShoWest Convention USA
- 1994 Not Available Young Star of the Year N/A
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
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 USA
- 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
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films USA
- 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 USA
- 2004 Won Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance - Male ROTK
References
Sibley, Brian. The Lord Of The Rings Official Movie Guide. Houghton Mifflin, 2001. ISBN 0-618-15402-7.
External links
- Elijah Wood at IMDb
- Always & Forever: Elijah Wood (fansite)
- 1981 births
- American child actors
- American film actors
- Back to the Future actors
- Living people
- The Lord of the Rings film series actors
- Frasier actors
- Spy Kids actors
- Actors who have played serial killers
- People from Cedar Rapids, Iowa
- Iowa actors
- Roman Catholic entertainers
- American television actors
- Saturn Award winners
- Homicide: Life on the Street cast