The 21-year-old actor warms up to the spotlight
Hobbits represent the best of humanity," Elijah Wood tells Us, and as Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings, Wood may well represent Hollywood's latest sudden star. Actually, the 21-year-old actor has been warming up for the spotlight ever since his first professional gig, at age 8, in the Paula Abdul video "Forever Your Girl." Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Wood began his career in 1988, when his mother, Debbie Wood, enrolled him in a local modeling school.
That same year, she moved him and his two siblings, brother Zachariah, now 27, and sister Hannah, 18, to Los Angeles, while his father, environmentalist Warren Wood, remained behind (the couple are now separated). Doors opened for Elijah almost immediately, and he landed a small role in 1989's Back to the Future Part II; since then, he has appeared in more than 15 commercials and 20 films, including a widely hailed role in 1997's The Ice Storm. "Elijah has probably made more movies than I have," says his Rings costar Ian McKellen, 62. Despite having spent much of his life on the set, a reflective Wood recently said he doesn't feel cheated out of a normal childhood. "I'm so glad I didn't have to go to a prom," he said. "[Awful] music, bad venue, no thanks. Totally, totally lame." Sure, it's way cooler to party-hop through Hollywood with Leonardo DiCaprio and to date model-actor Bijou Phillips.
Now unattached and living in a guesthouse behind his mother's home in Santa Monica, California, Wood credits his family with keeping him grounded. "I rarely meet families who are as close as we are," he said. "I feel really blessed."
KATE LEE
(Us Weekly 363- Jan. 28, 2002)
