Orlando's Biography
*Full name: Orlando Bloom
*Date of Birth: 13th January 1977
*Birthplace: Canterbury, Kent, England
*Nationality: South African
Lives: LA, but still has a home in England
*Height: 5'11
*Hair: Dark brown, naturally wavy
*Eyes: Dark brown
*Siblings: 1 older sister - Samantha
*Pets: A dog named Maude
*Hobbies: Photography, sculpting
If you're wondering when Orlando decided acting was for him, he was quoted as saying, "I think it began when I spent a Christmas in Boston with my cousin. I was like 12 and my cousin from LA who's a commercials director was in town and he rented some videos for the holiday period, and one of them was The Hustler with Paul Newman. I was young and didn't think I was going to be impressed with it, but I was so impressed by the cool of Paul Newman in that film - as a young kid my mum was quite into us being creative, we'd go to musicals, plays and theatre - I somehow knew that's what I wanted to do." So, the story begins...
At age 16, Orlando dropped out of school, which he didn't particularly enjoy. He says, "As a kid I was dyslexic so I always struggled in school. I'm still mildly dyslexic." He then moved to London to kick-start his acting career. By age 16, Orlando had been with the National Youth Theatre for 2 seasons. He then landed himself a scholarship to train with the British American Drama Academy. Later, he joined the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he says he finally felt like he was receiving a real education, as opposed to at a regular school. Orlando says, "It was only when I went to Guildhall that I started to feel like I got a proper education. We would learn about Milton and Donne and read Chekhov and Shakespeare and that kind of inspired me."
He had bit-parts in British TV shows such as "Casualty" and "Midsomer Murders". His first movie role was a cameo in the critically acclaimed "Wilde", when he was 20 years old. His performance led to various movie offers, but he turned them down to work in the theatre industry for a few years.
He performed in many theatre plays during that period, including "The Twelfth Night", "Trojan Woman" and "The Seagull".
Then came the audition call for the casting of "The Lord of the Rings" triolgy - he originally auditioned for the role of "Faramir" by videotape. A few months later Peter Jackson (Director of LOTR Trilogy) and his business partner Fran Walsh met up with Orlando personally. Again he went on videotape, this time directed by Peter, for the role of Faramir. Later on Peter phoned Orlando's agent and asked if Orlando would read for the role of "Legolas Greenleaf" as the role of Famamir (which went to Aussie actor David Wenham) would not be available for him. Orlando read for the part and a few weeks later he was offered the role.
Orlando spent 18 months in New Zealand filming the epic trilogy. Since then he has filmed "Black Hawk Down", "Deed Poll", "Lullaby in Clubland", "Ned Kelly" and "The Calcium Kid". Orlando is currently filming "Pirates of the Caribbean" in which he co-stars alongside his acting idol, Johnny Depp. When filming of "Pirates" has wrapped he will start work on another epic feature, "Troy", in which he will play Paris, the character who instigates the Trojan War that triggers an epic battle between Achilles (Brad Pitt) and Hector (Eric Bana).
Orlando Bloom was born January 13th, 1977 in Canterbury, Kent (England) and was raised there with his sister, Samantha. He comes from a family of distinguished intellectuals who endured the hardships of political persecution while fighting against the apartheid regime in South Africa. His father is the novelist Harry Bloom, who's efforts to help South Africa's embattled black population even resulted in him spending a spell in prison. The Bloom family eventually fled to Britain, and settled in Canterbury where Orlando was born. Just a few years later, in 1981, his father passed away. "Harry was a great man," says the actor. "It was as though he'd done his job and he left the world."
Orlando is currently single but it is rumoured that he was once engaged to model/make-up artist Jemma Kidd. Now that Orlando's acting career has taken off he doesn't have a lot of time to commit to a serious relationship. He says, "Right now my only big relationship is with my work."
His hobbies include adrenaline sports such as sky diving, bungee jumping (which he did while filming in New Zealand), paragliding, surfing and snowboarding. He enjoys all sorts of music, especially folk singers such as Ben Harper, David Gray and Bob Dylan.
He stands at 5'11, has olive skin and dark brown hair and eyes. He has 2 tattoos, including the number 9 tattooed in Elvish script on his forearm and a sun on his lower torso.
A few years ago, Orlando suffered a devastating back injury when he fell three floors from a drainpipe while at a friend's apartment. He spent several days in hospital and seriously contemplated the possibility of having to live his life in a wheelchair. Miraculously, he walked from the hospital several days later and fully recovered from his injuries. Orlando has said that the accident made him slow down a lot in his life and tries to look at it as a positive thing as opposed to a negative thing. He says, "It made me appreciate things more. I try not too take myself too seriously. I feel fortunate to be doing everything that I'm doing. I feel quite privileged to be an actor, I think it's unbelievable that I'm being paid to do something I love!"
QUICK QUOTES:
"Legolas' moves are smooth and elegant, like a cat...it's very balletic. It's also bloody hard to do without falling over!" - E!Online Force of the Hobbit.
"This is Wellington, man. It's great. I was out surfing in Lyall Bay today." - Commenting on the windy and wet weather at the New Zealand LOTR Premier.
"I've grown up here," he said. "And it's been a great place to grow up." - Commenting on living in Wellington during filming of LOTR.
"You have to be quite serious about tattoos [because] they're there forever." - On tattoos
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