Elijah Wood
 Born January 28, 1981,
Elijah Wood has grown up to be one of the most well respected and
steadily employed actors of his generation. Born in Cedar Rapids, IA,
Wood modeled and did local commercials before moving with his family
to Los Angeles in 1988. It was there that Wood got his first
break, a small role in a
Paula Abdul video. Film work almost instantly followed, with a
bit part in the 1989 Back to the Future II. It was Wood's
role as
Aidan Quinn's son in
Barry Levinson's 1990
Avalon (the third film in the Baltimore trilogy containing
Diner [1982] and
Tin
Men [1987]) that first gave Wood attention, as the film
received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for four Academy
Awards. After a small part in the
Richard Gere potboiler
Internal Affairs (1990), Wood secured his first starring
role in
Paradise (1991), in which he played a young boy who brings
estranged couple
Melanie Griffith and
Don
Johnson back together. He received good reviews for his
performance -- some said it was one of the best things about the film --
and from there went on to co-star with
Mel
Gibson and
Jamie Lee Curtis in Forever Young and in
Radio Flyer (both 1992).
In 1993, Wood co-starred with
Macaulay Culkin in
The
Good Son, which was a failure both at the box office and with
filmgoers who couldn't stomach the idea of the little blond boy from
Home Alone as a pre-teen psychopath. In casting Wood as
the good to Culkin's evil, the film helped further establish the
kind of characters Wood was to become known for: thoughtful, well
meaning, and perhaps a bit confused. Wood's next film, the same
year's
The Adventures of Huck Finn, provided a departure from this
type of character, but
The
War (1994) with
Kevin Costner marked something of a return. Also in 1994,
Wood had the title role in
North, a film remarkable for the volume of bad reviews and bad
box office it received, but also for the fact that practically every bad
review contained a positive assessment of Wood's performance.
Wood's follow-up, the 1996 Flipper, was hardly an
improvement, but the subsequent critical and financial success of
Ang
Lee's
The
Ice Storm (1997) provided a positive development in the young
actor's career. As the soulfully dazed and confused Mikey Carver,
Wood gave a portrayal remarkable for its rendering of the
thoughtfulness and exquisite hopelessness inherent in the character.
1998's
Deep Impact and
The
Faculty did not allow Wood the same degree of character
development, but were great financial successes and further stepping
stones in Wood's evolution from winsome child star to impressive
young actor.
Following a brief turn as the boyfriend of a wannabe hip-hop
groupie in
James Toback's problematic Black & White (1999), Wood
further evolved as an actor in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of
the Rings, the first installation of director
Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of
the Rings trilogy. His most hotly anticipated project, the 2001 film
gave Wood top billing as Frodo Baggins alongside a
glittering cast that included
Ian
McKellen,
Cate
Blanchett, and
Liv
Tyler. That same year the young actor could be seen in less
mystical surroundings courtesy of Ed Burns'
Ash
Wednesday, a crime drama that also featured
Oliver Platt and
Rosario Dawson. In 2002, Wood let his vocal chords for
Disney's straight-to-video release of The Adventures of Tom Thumb
and Thumbelina. Of course, his most substantial role of 2002 is
unarguably his return to the role of hobbit Frodo Baggins in the second
installment of Tolkien's
Lord of the Rings trilogy; specifically,
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
2003 proved to be a similar year for Wood -- after two
relatively small jobs (his role credited only as "The Guy" in
Spy
Kids 3-D: Game Over and his stint as First Assistant Director in
Sean
Astin's The Long and Short of It served purely as a break
for Elijah), the young actor once again resumed his role for
The
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Though
Return of the King is the last in the Tolkien trilogy,
2004 nonetheless looks to be a significant year for Wood, as he
is slated to star in soccer flick Hooligans, as well work
alongside Jim Carrey and
Kate
Winslet in director Michael Gondry's fantasy feature
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Filmography & Theater
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