Elijah Wood
That became the "Lord of the Rings" actor
Elijah Wood was eight years old in front of the camera.
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On January 28th, "Lord of the Rings" star Elijah Wood celebrates his 40th birthday. What is the actor doing today?
The role of the little hobbit Frodo Baggins turned US actor Elijah Wood ("Deep Impact") into a world-wide celebrated star. With Ian McKellen (81), Orlando Bloom (44) and Viggo Mortensen (62), he was in front of the camera for Peter Jackson's (59) "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy (2001-2003) and won the hearts of fans . In 2012 he slipped into his star role for the last time in "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". But even without hairy feet, Wood, who celebrates his 40th birthday on January 28, continued successfully.
In front of the camera at the age of eight
Elijah Wood was born in 1981 in the US state of Iowa as the middle of three children. At the tender age of seven, the boy with the bright blue eyes landed modeling jobs in his hometown of Cedar Rapids. He gained his first stage experience at elementary school. There he took part in pieces like "The Sound of Music" or "The Wizard of Oz". As a child, he was also seen in a few commercials.
Recognizing their son's talent, his parents Warren and Deborah Wood quickly moved to Los Angeles to advance Elijah's career. Shortly afterwards he was in front of the camera for the music video "Forever Your Girl" by singer Paula Abdul (58). A year later, at the age of eight, he made his cinema debut in "Back to the Future II". At the side of Michael J. Fox (59) and Christopher Lloyd (82), he made a brief appearance.
Child star goes Hollywood
In a very short time Elijah Wood developed into an absolute child star. While in 1990 he had a smaller role in "Internal Affairs – Trust him, he's a cop" alongside Richard Gere (71), a year later he had a bigger engagement for "Sommerparadies". In it he played the young Willard Young, who spent the summer holidays with his mother's friends Lilly (Melanie Griffith, 63) and Ben Reed (Don Johnson, 71).
After that, Wood could hardly save himself from offers from Hollywood: In 1992 he slipped into the role of Jamie Lee Curtis' (62) son in "Forever Young" and received the "Young Artist Award" and thus his for the film "Flight into Adventure" first award. In the movie "The Adventures of Huck Finn" (1993) Wood shone in the role of the title character and in 1994 stood next to Kevin Costner (66) in the drama "The Tree House" in front of the camera. At the age of 15 he was able to look forward to a nomination for the "YoungStar Award" for his acting performance in the remake of the classic "Flipper" (1996).
The breakthrough as a hobbit
The big breakthrough followed in 2001: star director Peter Jackson was looking for his planned "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), a leading actor. Over 150 actors are said to have applied for it – including Jake Gyllenhaal (40), as he once said in "The Tonight Show" by Jimmy Fallon (46). But in the end the decision fell on Elijah Wood, then 18 years old.
The three films "The Companions" (2001), "The Two Towers" (2002) and "The Return of the King" (2003) were shot in one piece in New Zealand. The success was gigantic: Jackson's three-part work received a total of 17 Oscars.
In addition to three million dollar gage, Wood took "the one ring" home with him, as he told "The Guardian" in an interview. But that's not the only souvenir: Together with other fellow actors, he had the word "nine" tattooed in Elvish on his right hip. "Frodo will be with me until the end of my life," said the actor in an interview with the news agency spot on news in 2016.
And so it happened that in 2012 he threw himself into costume again for the first part of the "Lord of the Rings" prequel "The Hobbit" and walked across the screen in a short scene as Frodo Baggins.
The all-rounder is still raging today
After "The Lord of the Rings" Elijah Wood's career continued, even if he largely turned his back on the fantasy genre. Highlights include "Don't forget mine!" (2004) with Jim Carrey (59) as well as the comic book adaptation "Sin City" from 2005, in which he plays a cold-blooded murderer. He also had success with the thriller "Oxford Murders" (2008) and his role in the US series "Wilfred" (2011-2014).
In addition to acting, Wood also works as a film producer and voice actor – for example, he lent his voice to the penguin Mumble in the animated film "Happy Feet" (2006). He was last seen on the big screen in 2019 in the thriller "Come to Daddy".
As "Deadline" reported in the summer of 2020, Elijah Wood is already planning the next project: In the thriller "No Man of God" he is supposed to slip into the role of FBI analyst Bill Hagmaier. The focus of the film is apparently Hagmaier's conversations with serial killer Ted Bundy (1946-1989). When the film will appear is not yet clear.