Orlando Bloom was born in 1977 in Canterbury, England, UK. Upon discovery that Superman was actually an actor (Christopher Reeve), Orlando decided that he too would take up the profession. He became a member of the National Youth Theatre (Britain), before attending and graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, England.

Named after the hero in Virginia Woolf's novel 'Orlando: A Biography', Orlando's first role to impact on the public was in a cameo part in a movie about another celebrated literary figure, "Wilde" in 1997, which also included Ioan Gruffudd in the cast.

A series of film offers followed, which he turned down to work on the stage for the next three years, playing roles in Anton Chekov's "The Seagull", William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" and "Trojan Women", amongst others.

It was during this time that he broke his back in a fall from a friend's three-storey balcony, which resulted in him being told by doctors that he'd never walk again. He went into surgery four days after the accident. 12 days later, he walked out of the hospital.

In 1999, Peter Jackson then "discovered" Orlando, first looking at him for the role of "Faramir", then casting him in the role of "Legolas" in his "Lord of the Rings" triliogy, alongside Billy Boyd, Cate Blanchett, Ian Richardson and many others. During filming Orlando fell off his horse, breaking a rib. As he puts it: "I'm rather accident-prone, I have to admit. I've broken my back, my ribs, my nose, both my legs, my arm, my wrist, a finger and a toe and cracked my skull three times."

This tendency towards being accident-prone doesn't stop Orlando from indulging in high risk sports such as bungy-jumping, parachuting and surfing. He also relished the chance to learn sword-fighting, archery and horseback riding for LOTR.

He has since played roles in "Black Hawk Down", "Ned Kelly", "Pirates of the Carribbean" and is currently filming "Troy".

FILM

• The Remains of the Piano (2004) (pre-production) .... Daniel Day Lewis
• Troy (2004) (filming) .... Paris
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) (filming) .... Legolas Greenleaf
• Calcium Kid, The (2003) .... Jimmy
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) .... Will Turner
• Ned Kelly (2003) .... Joe Byrne
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) .... Legolas Greenleaf
• Black Hawk Down (2001) .... Todd Blackburn
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) .... Legolas Greenleaf
• Wilde (1997) .... Rentboy

TELEVISION

• Lord of the Piercing (2002) .... Legolas
• The Office (2001) .... Tony
• Midsomer Murders (2000) .... Peter Drinkwater in episode: "Judgement Day"

WEBSITES

• Canterbury Elf (Fan Site)
• Full Bloom (Fan Site)
• Orlando Bloom @ IMDB
• Orlando Bloom @ Google Directory
• Google Search for Orlando Bloom