Orlando Bloom Biography:

Born Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom in Canterbury, Kent, England on Jan. 13, 1977, Bloom was nurtured by his mother Joan and father Harry Saul Bloom, a lawyer and celebrated author who spent time in prison in his native South Africa for standing up to the apartheid government. Years after Harry Bloom’s death in 1981, the young Orlando Bloom found that his biological father was in fact a family acquaintance named Colin Stone because Harry Bloom was not able to sire children. His friend, Stone, then stepped in, making the deal unique, to say the least. Whenever Orlando Bloom would give interviews in later years, he would refer lovingly to both individuals as his father.

Orlando had difficulty in school because of dyslexia, leaning instead towards imaginative undertakings like sculpting and speaking, for which he won quite a few awards. Acting also trapped his fancy, and by the age of sixteen, he relocated to London to work with the National Youth Theatre, were he gained a scholarship to study with the British American Dramatic Academy. While in London, Bloom also began trying out for film and television roles, winning small roles in television shows like “Casualty” (BBC, 1986- ) and “Midsomer Murders” (BBC, 1997- ). He made his film introduction in 1997 with a tiny part as a gay prostitute in the historical story, “Wilde” with Jude Law and starring Stephen Fry as playwright and novelist Oscar Wilde.

Bloom stuck with his drama schooling at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and while there in 1998, suffered a painful back injury after falling from a building. The wound was so bad that it was thought Bloom would be paralyzed, but after general surgical treatment, he made a full recovery. In a ironic twist with his own life tragedy, Bloom’s supporting role character in Ridley Scott’s divisive war production “Black Hawk Down” (2001) – about an encounter between American and British military and Somalian fighters in the mid-90s – takes a fall from a moving helicopter and breaks his back.

In 1999, Bloom auditioned for New Zealand director Peter Jackson’s epic film revision of the fantasy books, “The Lord of the Rings.” Bloom was attracted to the part of Faramir (the brother of Sean Bean’s Boromir), but Jackson cast him in the bigger and glitzy role of Legolas, the elf prince who becomes part of the nine adventurers who set out to annihilate the Ring. Orlando Bloom’s young teen good looks and physical dexterity helped catch audiences’ attention, even in a film full of explosive talent like Sir Ian McKellan, Viggo Mortenson, and Cate Blanchett. Knowing that the audience would grab onto Orlando Bloom, Jackson gave him a show stopping physical set piece in each of the pictures. In “The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001), he tames a frightening troll, while in “The Two Towers” (2002), he ends a vicious battle scene by planting his feet on his shield and “surfing” down a stairway while shooting arrows. 

In the last sequel, “The Return of the King,” he calls out a war elephant and its rider. Male audiences were overwhelmed by his cool behavior and combat skill, while female viewers went crazy over his sturdy young features. Thanks to the “Lord Of The Rings” trilogy, Bloom became famous overnight.

In 2003, Bloom picked up a sword once again to star opposite Johnny Depp and Keira Knightely in Jerry Bruckheimer’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.” Conceived by the revered Disneyland ride, the film was originally viewed as a gigantic miss. To most viewers surprise, “Pirates of the Caribbean” was a huge success. However, critics were less than happy with Bloom’s performance in this picture; crediting much of the film’s triumph to both Johnny Depp’s scene stealing antics, and to its remarkable visual effects. Though Bloom pulled out a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in for “Return of the King,” some in the industry were complaining that his destiny and skill seemed to be based on his ability to hold a sword.

It was possible, however, that some of the bad press thrown at Orlando Bloom came as a product of his relationship with the gorgeous American actress, Kate Bosworth. The two became friends after meeting in 2002, and their pictures were seen on a regular basis in tabloids on both sides of the Atlantic. Both became supporters of Buddhism in 2004, but by 2005, the task of keeping a strong romantic life long distance, and major film careers for both, seemed too much for the pair. They split that year. Bloom's capacity to remain cool in the face of such a thrashing enraged his skeptics even further, as did his public showings with such post-Bosworth stunners as Spanish actress Penelope Cruz.

Orlando's role as the hopeless Paris in Wolfgang Petersen’s “Troy” (2004) with Brad Pitt was met with audience boredom and “Ned Kelly” (2003) with Heath Ledger, based on the popular Australian outlaw, scarcely saw a release in America. “The Calcium Kid” (2004), an English documentary where Orlando Bloom played a milkman turned fighter, had been made preceding the “Rings” trilogy and saw no USA theatrical screenings. Bloom pushed ahead with his profession, but whether he was holding a medieval sword, as in Ridley Scott’s expensive “Kingdom of Heaven (2005), he played an American trying to reconnect with his family and past in Cameron Crowe’s critically acclaimed “Elizabethtown” (2005) with Kirsten Dunst, Jessica Biel and Susan Sarandon, where during an outrageous memorial for a Southern patriarch, an unexpected romance blooms between a young woman and man. 

Then came the expected blockbuster smash hit “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel, “Dead Man’s Chest,” and Bloom’s fortune seemed to be on the rise again. Though criticized by the media for its excessive production and confusing plot, “Dead Man’s Chest” overtook its predecessor in terms of ticket sales, allowing Bloom to once again show off his talent for action scenes in an over the top fight while on a rolling water wheel. The scene was so striking, Bloom would take home a 2006 Teen Choice Award for this meticulous scene. The film was produced back to back with the third entry in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, “At World’s End” (2007) released into the highly aggressive summer movie season.

After the press over “Dead Man’s Chest” died down, Bloom helped produce and starred in a small independent adventure movie called “Haven” (2006) about two shady businessmen who flee to the Cayman Islands to avoid federal prosecution. But their escape ignites a chain reaction that leads a British native (Orlando Bloom) to commit a crime that changes the nation. Next for Bloom was the romantic comedy "Love and Other Disasters" (2006) about an American intern at the U.K. Vogue who helps her friends find love. 

Next for Bloom was the strange romantic comedy "New York, I Love You" (2008), an anthology film joining several love stories set in one of the most loved cities of the world, New York. "New York, I Love You" included an all-star cast that included Shia Labeouf, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Hayden Christensen. Scheduled for release in 2009 is the action thriller "The Red Circle" (2009) with Liam Neeson. "The Red Circle" is a remake of the 1970 Alain Delon crime thriller "Le Rouge Cercle." Chow Yun-Fat is in negotiations to co-star in the Media Asia co-produced project, which has a reported $40 million budget and is tentatively scheduled to start production in June in Hong Kong and Macau. 

• Born:
  on 01/13/1977 in Canterbury, England
• Job Titles:
  Actor

Family

• Father: Colin Stone. family friend and Orlando's guardian after Harry Bloom died; is Orlando's biological father
• Father: Harry Bloom. South African human rights activist; died of a stroke in 1981, when Orlando was only four; at 13 Orlando's mother revealed to him that Harry was not his biological father
• Mother: Sonia Bloom. ran a foreign-language school
• Sister: Samantha Bloom. attended Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Significant Others

• Companion: Jemma Kidd. rumored to have been briefly engaged; no longer together
• Companion: Joanne Morley. began dating in 1996; appeared together in "Lullaby of Clubland" (2002); no longer together
• Companion: Kate Bosworth. began dating in spring 2002; briefly split in 2005; rumored to have split in September 2006
• Companion: Penélope Cruz. Rumored to be dating in fall of 2007

Education

• British American Drama Academy, London, England, 1995
• St Edmund's School, Canterbury, England