Elijah Wood Bio
Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. A prominent child actor of the 1990s and a prolific figure in major studio features of the early 2000s, his accolades include two Saturn Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to a nomination for a Daytime Emmy Award. Wood made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II (1989) at the age of eight and achieved recognition in the early 1990s as a child actor with roles such as Avalon (1990), Forever Young (1992), The Good Son (1993), and The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993). As a teenager, he starred in the films North (1994), The War (1994), Flipper (1996), The Ice Storm (1997), Deep Impact (1998), and The Faculty (1998). Wood achieved international fame in the early 2000s for playing the hobbit Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003), based on the classic fantasy novel of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien.
As an adult, Wood appeared in a wide range of films, including Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Sin City (2005), and I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017). He has had voice roles in projects such as Happy Feet (2006), The Legend of Spyro (2006–2008), 9 (2009), Tron: Uprising (2012–2013), and Over the Garden Wall (2014). On television, Wood starred in the series Wilfred (2011–2014), Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (2016–2017), and Yellowjackets (2023–2025).
Early Life and Background
Elijah Wood was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on January 28, 1981, to Debbie (née Krause) and Warren Wood, who operated a delicatessen together. He is of English, Danish, Irish, and German ancestry, and was raised Catholic. He has an older brother named Zachariah and a younger sister named Hannah. At age seven, Wood began modeling and taking piano lessons in his hometown. In elementary school, he appeared in The Sound of Music and played the title character in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He served as a choirboy in a production of See How They Run. Wood’s parents sold their delicatessen in 1989 and the family, without his father, moved to Los Angeles to allow him to pursue an acting career while attending Laurel Springs School, an accredited online high school to gain flexibility to pursue his acting career; they divorced when he was 15.
Path to Hollywood
Wood modeled and appeared in local commercials; his first appearance was in the music video for Paula Abdul’s “Forever Your Girl,” directed by David Fincher. This was followed by a pivotal role in the made-for-TV film, Child in the Night, and a minor role in Back to the Future Part II, as a boy from a futuristic 2015 who teases Marty McFly. Nine-year-old Wood auditioned for a role in Kindergarten Cop, but was told by director Ivan Reitman that his performance was not believable, which Wood later said was a harsh thing to say to a nine-year-old. Playing Aidan Quinn’s son in Avalon garnered professional attention for Wood; the film received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for four Academy Awards. A small part in Richard Gere’s Internal Affairs was followed by the role of a boy who brings estranged couple Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson back together in Paradise (1991). In 1992, Wood co-starred with Mel Gibson and Jamie Lee Curtis in Forever Young, and with Joseph Mazzello in Radio Flyer.
Elijah Wood Career
Early Career (1989–1999)
Wood’s title role—opposite Bruce Willis—in the Robert Reiner film North (1994) was followed by a Super Bowl commercial for Lay’s “Wavy” potato chips. In 1995, Wood appeared in the music video for The Cranberries’ “Ridiculous Thoughts,” played the lead role in Flipper, and co-starred in Ang Lee’s critically acclaimed The Ice Storm. In 1996, he guest starred in the episode entitled “The True Test” in Homicide: Life on the Street. In 1997, Wood played Jack “The Artful Dodger” Dawkins in a made-for-TV adaptation of Oliver Twist, alongside Richard Dreyfuss. The following year, he had a leading role in the sci-fi disaster film Deep Impact, and a starring role in The Faculty, directed by Robert Rodriguez. In 1999, Wood played a suburban white teenager who affects hip-hop lingo in James Toback’s Black and White, and a junior hitman in Chain of Fools.
Breakthrough (1999–2003)
Wood played Frodo Baggins in the 2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first installment of Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s multi-volume novel. Wood was a fan of the Hobbit, and he sent in an audition tape of himself dressed as Frodo, reading lines from the novel. He was selected from 150 actors who auditioned. Wood was the first actor to be cast. This gave Wood top billing, alongside a cast full of stars. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed in New Zealand; principal photography took over a year, and pick-up shooting continued annually for the next four years. Before the cast left the country, Jackson gave Wood two gifts: one of the One Ring props used on the set and Sting, Frodo’s sword. He was also given a pair of prosthetic “hobbit feet” of the type worn during filming.
Notable Works and Milestones
In 2002, Wood lent his voice to the DTV release of The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina. Later that year, the second part of Peter Jackson’s trilogy was released, titled The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. In 2003, Wood starred in the DTV film All I Want and cameoed as ‘The Guy’ in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. The concluding chapter of the Rings trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was released in December of that year.
Later Career (2004–present)
Wood’s first role following his Lord of the Rings success was in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), in which he played Patrick, an unscrupulous lab technician who pursues Kate Winslet. The film received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2005. He next played the silent serial killer Kevin in Robert Rodriguez’s adaptation of Frank Miller’s comic book series, Sin City (2005). Wood’s audition for the role only consisted of staring at a film camera while passages from the graphic novel were read. In Everything Is Illuminated (2005), Wood starred as a young Jewish-American man on a quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II. It was based on the novel of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer. In Green Street (also 2005), he played an American college student who joins a violent British football firm. Both had limited release but were critically acclaimed.
Wood shot a small part in Paris, je t’aime (2006), which consists of 18 five-minute sections, each directed by a different director. Wood’s section, called “Quartier de la Madeleine”, was directed by Vincenzo Natali. The film played at the Cannes Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. In George Miller’s animated musical Happy Feet (2006), Wood provided the voice of Mumble, a penguin who can tap dance, but not sing. Happy Feet grossed over $380 million worldwide, and received both the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film. Wood reprised his role for the film’s sequel, Happy Feet Two (2011).
Elijah Wood Award Nominations
Elijah Wood has received several nominations throughout his career, showcasing his talent and versatility as an actor.
Elijah Wood Awards Won
Elijah Wood has won multiple awards, including two Saturn Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award, highlighting his contributions to the film industry.
Elijah Wood Family
Elijah Wood is married to Danish film producer Mette-Marie Kongsved. Together, they have two children, a son born in 2019 and a daughter born in 2022.
Personal Life
Wood has a tattoo of the Elvish Sindarin word “nine,” written in Tolkien’s constructed script of Tengwar, below his waist on the right side. He refers to his character as one of the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring. Wood participated in the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement and was an active supporter of Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential election. In a 2016 interview, Wood accused Hollywood of being organized by pedophiles who preyed on children within the industry, including many of his fellow child actors. He credited his mother with protecting him from these “vipers” and parties where that kind of thing was going on. After the interview made international headlines, Wood clarified that he had no firsthand experience or observation of the topic and that his comments had been partly based on the documentary An Open Secret that he had seen.
