Feature: Movie Idols Profile

Elijah Wood

Just into his third decade, the star of The Lord of the Rings has already had an incredible movie career.
Our cover image (far right) folds out into a 33 x 23” colour poster!

Born on january 28, 1981 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Elijah Jordan Wood was the middle child of Warren and Debbie Wood. He grew up alongside his elder brother Zack and younger sister Hannah, and from a very early age he was a bundle of energy. “I’m kind of a monkey,” he admitted when he was only 12. “I like to jump around. I can’t sit down. I have to keep moving. I like moving and running around and having fun.”

His mother was the one who suggested that acting might be a good way to use Elijah’s boisterousness. “I was about six years old, when my mother was watching a TV commercial one day,” he said, “and it popped into her head that I’d love to do this.” Unfortunately, Elijah’s mom didn’t really have a clue how to direct her son into acting, so she settled for the next best thing – modelling school! In fact, he was enrolled in two of them, one of which went to LA one year to attend the International Talent and Modelling Convention. While competing, alongside his brother Zack, Elijah was approached by one of the judges, who asked if he’d ever considered becoming an actor. That judge became Wood’s agent and the die was cast, much to Elijah’s surprise. “It wasn’t anything that I had really considered before,” he said. “Being seven years old, everything sounds wonderful, especially the prospect of moving to Los Angeles and being an actor sounds great. So we basically agreed, and I moved out to Los Angeles a week later with the family.”

The auditions began and it didn’t take long for him to land his first role, in fact he got work within six weeks – in the video for a Paula Abdul song, Forever Your Girl. The transition to movies was almost effortless, and took both Elijah and his mother by surprise. “I realized how difficult it is for actors my age and younger to get into… and stay in this business. I’ve done it with that ease, it happened very quickly and very easily.” Look closely and you can see him playing a video game in Back to the Future II, or lurking in the background of Internal Affairs.

by Scott Andrews

More on his movie career, what he's been in and how he went from an extra to a child star in:
Movie Idols #30

© Universal
Feature © Visual Imagination 2002. Not for reproduction

Taken from

Movie Idols #30
Elijah Wood 2002
ships from Oct 3 2002
News-stand Price
UK £2.50 / US $3.99

Buy it now!

VI DIRECT
Stores Info

You can order any of
our magazines via this
secure service.
To buy this issue:

To SUBSCRIBE to
MOVIE IDOLS, use these
links to our stores: