Orlando Bloom

Date of Birth: January 13, 1977

This native to Canterbury, England was inspired joined the acting profession for the women. “Aged nine, I had this girlfriend, and we used to have running races in the park to see who would be her boyfriend for the day. I wanted to be like Superman and fly in and rescue her. Once I realised Superman was an actor, I thought, ‘That’s for me, mate.’”

Following a bit part on the television series, Casualty, at the age of nine, Bloom moved to London and joined the National Youth Theatre in his mid-teens. After two years of stage work, he earned a scholarship to train with the British American Drama Academy. During his time at Guildhall, Bloom performed in a number of productions including Little Me, A Month in the City, Mephisto, Twelfth Night, Trojan Women, The Seagull, Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, A Night Out and Mystery Plays. From here he continued his training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, but not before landing a small role in his first feature film, Wilde (1997).

After completing his three-year course, he almost immediately landed the role of the Elf warrior Legolas in the fantasy epic, The Lord of the Rings. Although he had not auditioned for the part initially, he fell into the role, even shaving his head to properly fit the blond wig and wearing contacts to make his brown eyes appear blue. Following the gruelling year filming LOTR, Bloom found himself to be extremely in demand, filming roles in Black Hawk Down, Chequered Past and Lullaby Of Clubland (all 2002). He returned to horseback to play Joe Byrne in the Australian film Ned Kelly opposite Heath Ledger, then swung into action with Johnny Depp in Disney’s action adventure Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).

Bloom, a vegetarian, enjoys living on the edge engaging in dangerous sports like sky diving, bungee jumping, paragliding, surfing and snowboarding. He married Australian model Miranda Kerr in 2010 and their son, Flynn, was born January 6, 2011.