Orlando Bloom

Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Copeland Bloom is an English actor. He achieved his international breakthrough playing the character Legolas in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and later reprised the role in The Hobbit film series (2013–2014). He gained further worldwide notice starring as Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (2003–2007, 2017) and for his performances in major historical, fantasy, and adventure feature films.

Bloom was born on 13 January 1977 in Canterbury, Kent, to Sonia Bloom and was named after the sixteenth-century English composer Orlando Gibbons. Raised in the Church of England, he initially believed his biological father was novelist Harry Bloom, but at age thirteen learned his biological father was Colin Stone, who later became his legal guardian. Diagnosed with dyslexia as a child, he was encouraged to take art and drama classes. After moving to London in 1993 to study drama, photography, and sculpture at Fine Arts College, Hampstead, he joined the National Youth Theatre and trained at the British American Drama Academy. He subsequently earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in acting from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1999.

Bloom began his screen career with television roles in Casualty and Midsomer Murders before making his feature film debut in Wilde in 1997. Shortly after graduating from Guildhall, he was cast as Legolas in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The role brought him wide recognition, and the cast earned three consecutive Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for ensemble acting, winning in 2003 for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Around the same time, he appeared in Ridley Scott's war film Black Hawk Down (2001) and the Australian Western Ned Kelly (2003).

In 2003, Bloom co-starred as Will Turner in the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, continuing the role in sequels such as Dead Man's Chest (2006) and At World's End (2007). He established himself in prominent historical epics and dramas, playing Paris in Troy (2004), Balian de Ibelin in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), and the lead role in Elizabethtown (2005). He also executive produced and starred in Haven (2006), played the Duke of Buckingham in The Three Musketeers (2011), and starred in the Amazon Prime Video series Carnival Row from 2019 to 2023.

Alongside film, Bloom has pursued stage acting. He made his professional stage debut in a West End revival of In Celebration at the Duke of York's Theatre in 2007. He later made his Broadway debut in Romeo and Juliet at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in 2013 and returned to the West End in a 2018 revival of Killer Joe. His later film projects include the war drama The Outpost (2020), the sports film Gran Turismo (2023), and the 2024 boxing film The Cut, which he both produced and starred in.

Over his career, Bloom has earned honors including European Film Awards, Empire Awards, and Teen Choice Awards. Outside of acting, he has engaged in environmental initiatives with Global Green and extensive humanitarian work. Named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2009, he has undertaken field visits to Nepal and Ukraine, and received the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award in 2015.