Orlando Bloom

Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom was born in Canterbury, Kent, England on January 13, 1977. His father Harry Bloom, was a Professor of Law at the University of Kent and also a legendary political activist who fought for civil rights in South Africa, whereas, his mother Sonia C. J. Copeland, was a businesswoman and writer who ran a language school for foreign students. When Orlando was only four years old, Harry died of stroke that he and his older sister Samantha were raised by their mother and family friend, Colin Stone, who Sonia revealed to the 13-year-old Orlando as his biological father.

Orlando first enrolled at the St. Edmunds School in Canterbury, but struggled in many courses because of dyslexia. He did good in the arts, however, and enjoyed pottery, photography and sculpturing, and he also participated in particular school plays and was active at his local theater. Landed his very first job as a clay trapper at a pigeon shooting range, her mother encouraged him and his sister to begin studying poetry and prose and eventually giving readings at Kent Festival. Later on both siblings approved Sonia's suggestion and thanked her that they could favorably win many poetry and Bible reciting competitions.

As time went by, Orlando, who always idolized larger-than-life characters, got more focus on serious acting. In realization, at the age of 16 he moved to London and joined the National Youth Theatre, spending two seasons there and gaining a scholarship to train with the British American Drama Academy. Just like any other young actors, Orlando also formerly auditioned for a number of television roles to further his career, before landing bit parts in British television shows, including "Casualty" (1986), "Midsomer Murders" (1997) and "Smack the Pony" (1999). Eventually, he made his film debut appearing in the critically acclaimed movie "Wilde" (1997) opposite Stephen Fry.

After the film project done, Orlando went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. It was there, in 1998, that he fell three stories from a rooftop terrace and broke his back. And it was briefly feared that he would never walk again, though he could finally make a complete recovery and walk out of the hospital twelve days later. As fate would have it, becoming part of the audience one night in 1999 was a director named Peter Jackson, who after the show met with and asked him to audition for his new set of movies. As soon as he graduated from Guildhall School in 1999, Orlando worked on the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, for which he originally auditioned to play the role of "Faramir" but lost out on that role and was instead asked to play the role of Legolas Greenleaf.

Spent two months trained in archery, swordplay, and horseback riding prior to shooting with the intention to bring into life the prominent figure, it was worth paid indeed as it resulted in the Best Ensemble Acting nomination at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for the entire cast of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring". Released on December 19, 2001 the film was a box office success, earning over $870 million worldwide while won four Academy Awards out of thirteen nominations, winning categories of Best Cinematography, Best Effects (Visual Effects), Best Makeup, and Best Music (Original Score) as well as five BAFTAs, including Best Film. Not only the international success of the trilogy's first installment made Orlando a sought-after young actor in the industry but also it brought him numbers of movie offers, not to mention the rest two of the "Ring" movies, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (2002) and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King" (2003). Just like the first one, the rest twos went very success, with the last one swept all eleven Academy Awards it was nominated for, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. After finishing all three films of "The Lord of the Rings", Orlando headed to Morocco for a role in Ridley Scott's "Black Hawk Down", opened only a few weeks after "The Fellowship of the Ring" and received equal acclaim.

Following those blockbusters, Orlando blew the box office again, this time with the 2003 hit "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl". Grossed almost $654 million worldwide, the flick undoubtedly becoming the 22nd highest grossing film in the United States, prompting Walt Disney Pictures to announce within weeks of its release that a sequel, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" was in development before opened in the United States on July 7, 2006. Eventually being in the same scene with Hollywood hunk Brad Pitt and Eric Bana in the 2004 historical epic "Troy," the star then earned the lead roles in the 2005 flicks, "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Elizabethtown" followed by "Love and Other Disasters" in 2006. Already has the so-called 'star-power' in him, Orlando was again billed to star in the third and last installment of Pirates, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End," released on May 25th, 2007.

As of his love life, Orlando once romancing Hollywood babe Kate Bosworth whom he first met on the set of a Gap advert in 2003. Sadly the relationship did not last long as they decided to split by September 2006, blamed their hectic filming schedules for preventing them from having a stable relationship. Since then on, he was often linked to high profile actresses, including Uma Thurman and Penelope Cruz.