Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom^[1] (born 13 January 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^[2] 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 most recently appeared in the sequels Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Bloom made his stage debut in In Celebration at the Duke of York's Theatre, St. Martin's Lane, which ended its run on 15 September 2007.^[3]

Biography

Early life

Bloom was born in Canterbury, Kent, England. His mother, Sonia Constance Josephine (née Copeland), was born in the British section of Calcutta, 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.^[1][4] Bloom's maternal grandmother's family lived in Tasmania, Australia and India, and were of English descent, some of them having originally come from Kent.^[1][5] During his childhood, Bloom was told that his father was his mother's husband, South African-born Jewish 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.^[6] Stone, the principal of the Concorde International language school,^[7] was made Orlando Bloom's legal guardian after Harry Bloom's death.^[6] Bloom, who is named after the 17th century composer Orlando Gibbons,^[1] has one sister, Samantha Bloom, who was born in 1975.

Bloom was raised in the Church of England.^[8] As a child, Orlando managed to get through St Edmund's School in Canterbury despite his dyslexia.^[6][9] He was encouraged by his mother to take art and drama classes.^[6] 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 Youth Theatre, spending two seasons there and earning a scholarship to train at the British American Drama Academy.^[10] Bloom began acting professionally with television roles in episodes of Casualty and Midsomer Murders,^[6] 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. In 1998, he fell three stories while trying to reach the roof of terrace of a friend's house, and was told he would not regain the ability to walk.^[6] However, he made a recovery and was able to walk out of the hospital on crutches within twelve days.^[11] 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

Bloom's first appearance on the screen was a small role as a rent boy in the 1997 film Wilde. Two days after graduating from Guildhall in 1999,^[11] he was cast in his first major role, playing Legolas in The Lord of the Rings (2001?2003).^[10] He had originally auditioned for the part of Faramir, who doesn't 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.^[12] At the same time, Bloom also played a brief but memorable role in the war film Black Hawk Down. The success of both The Lord of The Rings film trilogy and Black Hawk Down 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 Peoples hottest Hollywood bachelor in the magazine's 2004 list.^[10] 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 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.^[2]

Bloom at the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest London premiere, July 2006

Personal life

Orlando signing autographs

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"^[6] from 2002 until splitting up in September 2006.^[24][25] Bloom is currently linked to Victoria's Secret Model Miranda Kerr,^[2] but has been linked to actresses Kirsten Dunst,^[11] Penélope Cruz,^[6][11] and Pirates of the Caribbean co-star Naomie Harris in the past.^[26]

Bloom has a tattoo of the Elvish word "nine" on his right wrist, written in the Tengwar 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.^[27]

Bloom also has a tattoo of a sun on his lower, left abdomen, which he got at the age of 16 after 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 ^[11], and broke a toe and a finger. He also broke his back when he slipped trying to reach a roof terrace of a friend's house and fell three floors.^[28] The doctors operated on his back, inserting screws and plates. During the hospital stay, Bloom said that he didn't think he would walk again, but twelve days later, he was walking on crutches. Bloom also sustained cracked ribs while working on The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and along with Viggo Mortensen, who had broken two toes, and Gimli stunt double Bret Beattie, who had a knee injury, were considered by director Peter Jackson as 'the running wounded'.

Filmography

References

External links

• Orlando Bloom discusses ''Haven'' at independentfilm.com

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