Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom (born on January 13, 1977 in Canterbury, England) is a British actor who became famous playing Legolas in The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. He has also had major roles in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Troy, and his first lead role in Kingdom of Heaven, "Elizabethtown." Bloom is currently filming the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest. Bloom was born in Canterbury, Kent to Sonia J. Copeland, who was born in India to an English physician father, doctor Francis Copeland. Although he had originally thought that his father was South African Jewish lawyer Harry Bloom (who died in 1981), his mother revealed to Orlando in his teens that his biological father was not Bloom, but family friend Colin Stone. Orlando attended St Edmund's School in Canterbury, but struggled due to his dyslexia. In 1993, he moved to London and joined the National Youth Theatre, spending two seasons there and earning a scholarship to train at the British American Drama Academy. He had a few television roles and made his film debut in Wilde (1997), opposite Stephen Fry, before entering the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he studied - apart from acting - sculpture and photography. In 1998, he broke his back in a three story fall, and it was briefly feared that he would never walk again. However, he made a complete recovery and walked out of the hospital twelve days later. He had metal plates inserted into his backbone to support it, which have since been removed, except for a single screw. He regularly performs yoga and Pilates to strengthen his back. |
