Orlando Bloom

Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Copeland Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor. He made his breakthrough as the character Legolas in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series (2001–03). He reprised his role in ''The Hobbit'' film series (2013–14). Considered by some to be the Errol Flynn of his time, he gained further notice appearing in epic fantasy, historical, and adventure films, notably as Will Turner in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' film series (2003–07, 2017), Paris in ''Troy'' (2004), Balian de Ibelin in '' Kingdom of Heaven'' (2005), and the Duke of Buckingham in ''The Three Musketeers'' (2011).

Bloom appeared in Hollywood films such as the war film '' Black Hawk Down'' (2001), the Australian Western ''Ned Kelly'' (2003), the romantic comedy '' Elizabethtown'' (2005), and ''New York, I Love You'' (2007). In 2020, he gained acclaim for the Afghanistan War drama film '' The Outpost'' (2020). He also starred in the Amazon Prime Video series ''Carnival Row'' (2019–2023).

He made his professional stage debut in '' In Celebration'' at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End in 2007 and starred in a Broadway adaptation of William Shakespeare's ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 2013. He returned to the theatre in a West End revival of Tracy Letts' '' Killer Joe'' in 2018. In 2009, Bloom was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. In 2015, he received the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award.

Early life

Bloom was born to Sonia Bloom (''née'' Copeland) on 13 January 1977 in Canterbury, Kent, and was named after the 16th-century English composer Orlando Gibbons. He has an older sister, Samantha Bloom. Bloom initially believed that his biological father was his mother's husband, the South African-born anti-apartheid novelist Harry Bloom, who died when Bloom was four years old. However, when he was thirteen, Bloom's mother revealed to him that his biological father was actually Colin Stone, Harry Bloom's student and family friend. Stone, the principal of the Concorde International language school, became Orlando Bloom's legal guardian after Harry Bloom's death. Bloom is a cousin of photographer Sebastian Copeland.

Bloom was brought up in the Church of England. He attended St Peter's Methodist Primary School, then the junior school of The King's School before proceeding to St Edmund's School Canterbury. Bloom was discovered to be dyslexic, and was encouraged by his mother to take art and drama classes. After being spurred into action following his school prize submission to panto actor Richard Sieben in 1992, in 1993, he moved to London to follow a two-year A-Level course in Drama, Photography and Sculpture at Fine Arts College, Hampstead. He then joined the National Youth Theatre, spending two seasons there and earning a scholarship to train at the British American Drama Academy. Bloom began acting professionally with television roles in episodes of ''Casualty'' and ''Midsomer Murders'', and subsequently made his film debut in ''Wilde'' (released in 1997), opposite Stephen Fry. Just after the filming in 1996, he then went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Acting in 1999.

Career

Bloom's first appearance on the screen was in a small role, as a rent boy, in the 1997 film ''Wilde''. Two days after graduating from Guildhall in 1999, he was cast in his first major role, playing Legolas in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy (2001–2003). He had originally auditioned for the part of Faramir, who does not appear until the second movie, but the director, Peter Jackson, cast him as Legolas instead. While shooting a scene, he broke a rib after falling off a horse, but eventually recovered and continued shooting. At the same time, Bloom also played a brief role in Ridley Scott's war film '' Black Hawk Down'' as PFC Todd Blackburn. In 2002, he was chosen as one of the '' Teen People'' "25 Hottest Stars Under 25", despite him having turned 25, and was named ''People'' hottest Hollywood bachelor in the magazine's 2004 list. All members of the cast of the Rings films were nominated for Best Ensemble Acting at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for three years in a row, finally winning in 2003 for the third film, '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King''. Bloom has also won other awards, including European Film Awards, Hollywood Festival Award, Empire Awards and Teen Choice Awards, and has been nominated for many others. Most of Bloom's box office successes have been as part of an ensemble cast.

Bloom next starred opposite Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp in '' Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl'', which was a blockbuster hit during the summer of 2003. After the success of ''Pirates'', Bloom next took to the screen as Paris, the prince of Troy, in the 2004 Spring blockbuster ''Troy'' opposite Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Peter O'Toole. He subsequently played the lead roles in Ridley Scott's '' Kingdom of Heaven'' and Cameron Crowe's '' Elizabethtown'', both released in 2005, and starred in the 2006 film '' Haven'', for which he also served as executive producer. In 2006, Bloom was one of the guest stars in the sitcom '' Extras'', in which he portrayed an exaggeratedly arrogant, narcissistic version of himself who had a great loathing for Johnny Depp (his co-star in ''Pirates of the Caribbean''). Bloom pushed for ''Extras'' to go further by making his persona very unlikable, and contributed to the gag about him admiring Depp out of sheer jealousy because Depp was far more talented than he was, not to mention rated higher than him on the 'top hottest' charts. In 2004, the second and third films of the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' series were conceived, with screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio developing a story arc that would span both sequels, in which Bloom reprised his role as Will Turner. Filming for the projects took place in 2005; '' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'' released in July 2006, with the worldwide collections of $1.066 billion, becoming the biggest financial hit of Bloom's career. The third installment in the series, '' Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End'', was released in May, the following year. Afterwards, Bloom repeatedly stated that he was done with the ''Pirates'' series, noting that there was closure for his character in ''At World's End''. By 2010, both Bloom and Keira Knightley were quoted in saying they wanted to move on from the franchise.

In 2006, Bloom was the most searched male on Google News. As of May 2007, Bloom has appeared in four of the top 15 highest-grossing films of all time. Bloom, who had intended to become a stage actor after graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, had stated that he would like to leave films for a time and instead appear in stage roles, and is "avidly looking for the right sort of material that ecan do something with" and to go "back to basics." During the summer of 2007, he appeared in a London revival of '' In Celebration'', a play by David Storey. His character was one of three brothers returning home for their parents' 40th wedding anniversary. On 24 August 2007 he made his first ever TV commercial appearance on late-night Japanese TV, promoting the Uno brand of cosmetics maker Shiseido. A "one night only", 2-minute version of the Sci-Fi themed commercial kicked off the product's marketing campaign. In 2008 he signed on to play a small role in the British film '' An Education'' but dropped out to take the lead in Johnnie To's film ''Red Circle''. Also in 2009, he was one of many stars to appear in ''New York, I Love You'', which contained 12 short films in one.

In 2011, Bloom appeared in ''The Three Musketeers'' opposite Milla Jovovich, Logan Lerman, Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, Juno Temple and Christoph Waltz. Bloom also reprised his role as Legolas in parts two and three of ''The Hobbit'', Peter Jackson's three-part prequel to ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy.

He made his Broadway stage debut as Romeo in ''Romeo and Juliet'' in August 2013 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. ''The New York Times'' theatre critic Ben Brantley described Bloom's performance as "a first-rate Broadway debut" in the title role: "For once, we have a Romeo who evolves substantively, from a posturing youth in love with love, to a man who discovers the startling revelation of real love, with a last-act descent into bilious, bitter anger that verges on madness." Bloom made statements about returning to the ''Pirates'' franchise as early as October 2011, and there were discussions for him to reprise his role as Will Turner by 2014. Although it was announced as a supporting role, Bloom ultimately made a cameo appearance in the fifth film, '' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales'', which was released in May 2017.

Bloom starred in the Trafalgar Studios production of '' Killer Joe'' in 2018. Bloom is currently starring in the Amazon Prime TV show ''Carnival Row'', which was filming its second season in Prague before temporarily postponing production due to COVID-19. Together with a number of his ''Lord of the Rings'' co-stars (plus writer Philippa Boyens and director Peter Jackson), on 1 June 2020 he joined Josh Gad's YouTube series '' Reunited Apart'' which reunites the cast of popular movies through video-conferencing, and promotes donations to non-profit charities.

In July 2020, Bloom starred in the war film '' The Outpost'' in which he portrayed the character of captain Benjamin Keating. In 2023, he played Danny Moore, a Nissan marketing executive in the sports film '' Gran Turismo'' based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough.

In 2024, Orlando Bloom starred in and produced the boxing film '' The Cut'', directed by Sean Ellis. To authentically portray his character, Bloom underwent a significant physical transformation, losing 35 pounds to depict a boxer's intense weight-cutting process. He described the film as focusing on "the battle to lose weight," offering a unique perspective on the challenges athletes face.

Personal life

Bloom has said that he tries "not to exclude himself from real life as much as possible." During filming in Morocco for '' Kingdom of Heaven'', Bloom rescued and adopted a dog, Sidi (a black Saluki mix with a white mark on his chest).

In 2004, he became a full member of SGI-UK (the UK branch of Soka Gakkai International), a lay Buddhist association affiliated with the teachings of Nichiren.

Bloom has also been a part of Global Green, an environmental company, since the early 2000s. As part of his environmental involvement, he has renovated his London home to use solar panels, incorporate recycled materials, and has used energy efficient lightbulbs.

Involved in modelling work, in 2002 he starred opposite English actress Kate Beckinsale in a Gap television advertisement directed by Cameron Crowe.

Bloom has a tattoo of the Elvish word "nine" on his right wrist, written in fictional Tengwar Elvish script, a reference to his involvement in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as one of the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring. The other actors of "The Fellowship" ( Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen and Elijah Wood) had the same tattoo with the exception of John Rhys-Davies whose stunt double had the tattoo instead.

On 12 February 2009, Bloom actively participated in the 'Australia Unites' fundraiser to raise support for the victims of the Australian bushfires on 7 February 2009.

On 12 October 2009, Bloom was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He has been involved in the organisation since 2007 and has visited schools and villages in Nepal in support of sanitation and education programmes. Bloom also visited the city of Sloviansk in the east of Ukraine in April 2016 to raise awareness of the education crisis facing children during the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2014–2015. In 2023, Bloom returned to Ukraine again as a Goodwill Ambassador. Bloom met children affected by the war at a children's centre in Kyiv and met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Bloom has sustained a number of injuries: he broke his left arm and cracked his skull three times, broke his nose while playing rugby union, broke his right leg skiing in Switzerland, broke his left leg in a motorbike crash and broke his right wrist while snowboarding. He also broke his back when he slipped trying to reach the roof terrace of a friend's house and fell three floors. He also broke some ribs while shooting ''The Lord of the Rings''.

On 13 July 2009, four hooded teenagers broke into the Hollywood Hills home of Bloom and stole nearly half a million dollars' worth of possessions. The burglars, dubbed the " Bling Ring," targeted the homes of celebrities. Most of Bloom's stolen items were retrieved.

Relationships

Bloom had an "on-and-off relationship" with American actress Kate Bosworth, from 2003 until ending the relationship in September 2006.

In late 2007, Bloom began dating Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr. They announced their engagement in June 2010, and were married the following month. Kerr gave birth to their son on 6 January 2011 in Los Angeles. On 25 October 2013, Bloom and Kerr announced that they had separated several months earlier, and intended to end their marriage. They were divorced by the end of 2013.

In 2014, Bloom was in a relationship with French actress Nora Arnezeder.

Bloom began dating American singer and songwriter Katy Perry in January 2016; however, the couple confirmed in February 2017 that they had split. They resumed their relationship in February 2018, and became engaged on 14 February 2019. On 5 March 2020, it was revealed through the music video for Perry's song " Never Worn White" that the couple were expecting their first child together. Perry gave birth to their daughter on 26 August 2020.

Achievements

Bloom appeared in his home city of Canterbury on 13 July 2010 when he was presented with an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the University of Kent at Canterbury Cathedral. For contributions to the film industry, Bloom was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 2 April 2014. His motion pictures walk of fame star is located at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Video games

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloom, Orlando
1977 births
Living people
20th-century English male actors
21st-century English male actors
Audiobook narrators
English Buddhists
English expatriate male actors in the United States
English male film actors
English male models
English male television actors
English male stage actors
English male video game actors
English male voice actors
Male actors from Kent
Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Converts to Buddhism from Anglicanism
Converts to Sōka Gakkai
European Film Awards winners (people)
Members of Sōka Gakkai
National Youth Theatre members
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners
Actors from Canterbury
People educated at Fine Arts College
People educated at St Edmund's School Canterbury
People educated at The King's School, Canterbury
UNICEF goodwill ambassadors
British Nichiren Buddhists
Alumni of the British American Drama Academy
Actors with dyslexia
English actors with disabilities