Orlando Bloom - Career

Career

Bloom's first appearance on the screen was in a small part, 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 the 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" and was named People's 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 man who effectively started the Trojan War, in the 2004 Spring blockbuster, Troy opposite Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Peter O'Toole. He subsequently played the lead roles in Kingdom of Heaven and Elizabethtown (both 2005). In 2006, Bloom starred in sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and in the independently made Haven, of which he was also executive producer. In the same year he 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 part unlikeable, and contributed to the gag about him admiring Depp out of sheer jealously, that Depp was far more talented than he was, not to mention rated higher than him on the 'top hottest' charts. Also 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 then again portrayed Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, released on 24 May 2007. 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 can do something with" and 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 Johnny To's film Red Circle. Also in 2009, he was one of many stars to appear in New York, I Love You, which contained twelve short films in one. His most recent film role is in The Three Musketeers opposite Milla Jovovich, Logan Lerman, Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, Juno Temple and Christoph Waltz, released in 2011.

Bloom will reprise his role as Legolas in The Hobbit, Peter Jackson's three-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy.