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Elijah Wood

Elijah WoodAKA Elijah Jordan Wood

Born: 28-Jan-1981
Birthplace: Cedar Rapids, IA

Gender: Male
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Frodo Baggins in Lord of the Rings

Elijah Wood's mother thought he was cute, so she enrolled him in modeling classes. And she was right -- with those huge eyes he looked like a Margaret Keane painting. Almost immediately he was earning a brisk income in commercials, and soon the Woods sold the family's deli and moved to Los Angeles.

His career as an actor started at the age of eight, with a small role in Back to the Future Part II with Michael J. Fox, and playing a pipsqueak executive in Paula Abdul's video for "Forever Your Girl". His first role demanding more than a line or two was in Barry Levinson's Avalon, as the bow-tie wearing son of Aidan Quinn. At nine years of age he played the shy visitor to troubled Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith in Paradise, and at ten he played a traumatically abused boy in Radio Flyer with Adam Baldwin. He was victimized by demonic Macaulay Culkin in The Good Son, and went shopping for parents in Rob Reiner's disastrous North with Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. In Flipper he swam with a dolphin, and in The Ice Storm he smoked dope and made out with Christina Ricci while she wore a Nixon mask.

He starred as Frodo Baggins in the blockbuster Lord of the Rings trilogy with Sean Astin and Ian McKellen. Wood got the role by designing his own costume, filming a video of himself as Baggins, and sending it to director Peter Jackson with a note telling him he loved the J. R. R. Tolkien books. After his perilous quest to destroy the Ring of Sauron, Wood played the unscrupulous lab technician who pursues Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the serial killer in Sin City with Jessica Alba, a man wandering through his grandfather's homeland in Everything is Illuminated, and the boy who plans to marry Lindsay Lohan to sidestep the Vietnam War in Bobby.

Wood likes Smashing Pumpkins, collects Star Wars memorabilia, and says his favorite movie is Harvey with Jimmy Stewart. His parents divorced in 1996, when Wood was 15. His brother, Zach Wood, produces video games for Midway Home Entertainment, including Area 51, SpyHunter 2, and Jackie Chan's Stuntmaster.

Father: Warren Wood (owned a delicatessen)
Mother: Debbie
Brother: Zachariah Wood (video game designer, b. circa 1974)
Sister: Hannah Wood (book store clerk, b. 7-Oct-1983)
Girlfriend: Bijou Phillips (actress, dated 1999-2000)
Girlfriend: Franka Potente (German actress, b. 1974, dated 2002)
Girlfriend: Pamela Racine (dancer/drummer with Gogol Bordello, b. 1977, dated 2006)

    Risk Factors: Smoking, Appendicitis

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    The Panama Papers (6-Oct-2018) [VOICE]
    I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore (19-Jan-2017)
    The Trust (13-Mar-2016)
    The Last Witch Hunter (13-Oct-2015)
    Over the Garden Wall (3-Nov-2014)
    Set Fire to the Stars (23-Jun-2014)
    Open Windows (10-Mar-2014)
    Cooties (18-Jan-2014)
    Grand Piano (20-Sep-2013)
    The Wind Rises (20-Jul-2013) [VOICE]
    Pawn Shop Chronicles (12-Jul-2013)
    The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (28-Nov-2012)
    Maniac (26-May-2012)
    Celeste and Jesse Forever (20-Jan-2012)
    Treasure Island (1-Jan-2012)
    Happy Feet Two (17-Nov-2011) · Mumble [VOICE]
    Nightmare Factory (27-Oct-2011) · Himself
    The Romantics (24-Jan-2010) · Chip
    9 (19-Aug-2009) · #9 [VOICE]
    The Oxford Murders (18-Jan-2008) · Martin
    Day Zero (29-Apr-2007) · Feller
    Operation Filmmaker (Jan-2007) · Himself
    Happy Feet (16-Nov-2006) [VOICE]
    Bobby (5-Sep-2006)
    Paris, je t'aime (18-May-2006)
    Everything Is Illuminated (3-Sep-2005) · Jonathan Safran Foer
    Sin City (1-Apr-2005)
    Green Street Hooligans (2005)
    Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (19-Mar-2004) · Patrick
    The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (1-Dec-2003)
    Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (25-Jul-2003) · The GUY
    The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (5-Dec-2002) · Frodo
    All I Want (10-Sep-2002)
    The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina (6-Aug-2002) · Tom Thumb [VOICE]
    Ash Wednesday (11-May-2002)
    The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (10-Dec-2001) · Frodo
    Chain of Fools (22-Sep-2000)
    Black and White (4-Sep-1999)
    The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (Sep-1999)
    The Faculty (12-Nov-1998) · Casey
    Deep Impact (7-May-1998) · Leo Biederman
    Oliver Twist (16-Nov-1997)
    The Ice Storm (12-May-1997)
    Flipper (17-May-1996) · Sandy
    The War (4-Nov-1994)
    North (22-Jul-1994) · North
    The Good Son (24-Sep-1993) · Mark
    The Adventures of Huck Finn (2-Apr-1993)
    Forever Young (16-Dec-1992) · Nat
    Radio Flyer (21-Feb-1992) · Mike
    Paradise (12-Sep-1991) · Willard Young
    Avalon (5-Oct-1990)
    Child in the Night (1-May-1990)
    Internal Affairs (12-Jan-1990) · Sean
    Back to the Future Part II (22-Nov-1989) · Video Game Boy

Appears on the cover of:
Time, 2-Dec-2002, DETAILS: Return of the Rings (centered, surrounded by other characters from the film)


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