Name: Orlando Bloom

D.O.B.: January 13, 1977

Hometown: Canterbury, Kent, England

Height: 5'11"

Siblings: Orlando has one sister, named Samantha, who is also an actor.

How You Know Him: Orlando plays Legolas Greenleaf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies, the first of which, The Fellowship of the Ring, premiered in December 2001. He also starred alongside Josh Hartnett in the gritty war drama Black Hawk Down. In that film, Orlando played Ranger Pvt. First Class Todd Blackburn.

Landing the Role: There was a huge casting call for most of the characters in Lord of the Rings, and Orlando sent in his audition tape along with everyone else. BUT, he actually first sent it in for the role of Faramir, a human on the side of good who appears in the second and third movies in the trilogy. Orlando met director Peter Jackson and impressed him enough that, when the role of Faramir was filled by another actor, Orlando was asked to read for Legolas. He was very excited to be considered for the role, which is bigger than Faramir. "I was over the moon to do that obviously, so I read for Legolas and I was offered the role a few weeks after that," says Orlando. "[Getting cast in Lord of the Rings] was a six-month process but a mind-blowing time for me, really."

Who is Legolas, Anyway?: In the Lord of the Rings story, Legolas Greenleaf is a brave and goodhearted elf who joins the Fellowship of nine who are sworn to protect the ring. Legolas is the representative of all the elves of Middle Earth in the Fellowship. He is tall, fair, highly skilled in archery and has enhanced senses of hearing and sight. "Legolas is a very interesting guy," says Orlando. "The Elves were created by Tolkien to be the magical and mystical race, capable of almost anything in terms of their abilities. They have super human strength, their reflex speed is incredible, their sensory awareness is amazing and they are immortal; they're ageless." Orlando goes on to say, "Legolas has all these special qualities: He's a warrior, he's an archer and he becomes the eyes and ears of the Fellowship really."

Getting the Skills: In order to play Legolas, Orlando had to learn about various forms of combat and master Legolas' favorite weapon: the bow and arrow. "I spent a lot of time learning archery, which is basically my weapon of choice," says Orlando. "What you'll see me doing for most of the movie is firing arrows." Later, Orlando had to gain horseback skills for his parts in the second and third movies, and he was also taught swordplay. "It was an amazing time for me," the actor says. "I spent a lot of time trying to make [Legolas] as real as possible. I was always aware that there were people out there that were fans of Lord of the Rings who were hoping to see Legolas and the rest of the Fellowship. We just wanted to do justice to it."

Learning the Language: To play his part in Lord of the Rings, Orlando had to learn another language--one that isn't spoken anywhere on Earth! The language Orlando learned was Elvish, spoken by the elves in Middle Earth. "It's very a difficult language to get your mouth around," Orlando told Movieline magazine. "My first scene on the first day was delivering a line of Elvish to a group of Elves, which wasn't the easiest sort of thing to open with. We were in the studio in New Zealand, and it was very hot, and I just remember thinking, God, man, the Elves look really strange. But it was fun." And you thought Spanish class was hard!

Joking Around on Set: Since the core cast of the Lord of the Rings trilogy spent 18 months in New Zealand together filming all three movies, they all became pretty close. The guys spent a lot of time joking around on set, especially Orlando and Viggo Mortensen, who plays Aragorn. "Viggo will go on about Elves and how they're always doing their nails and brushing their long, blonde hair, and being all prissy," says Orlando, laughing. "And I just say: Well, at least I'm going to live forever! Got that? LIVE FOREVER!" He does make a good point. (In LOTR mythology, elves live forever. Aragorn is a human, so he will not.)

Outdoor Employment: Orlando had a rather unusual first job when he was 13. He was a clay trapper for men shooting skeet. (You know, that's where guys shoot rifles at little clay discs that fly through the air.) "I set the clay disks the gentlemen would try to shoot. It was fun to be out in the fresh air," he says. Happily, much of the shooting for LOTR was on location in the mountains of New Zealand so Orlando got lots of fresh air in that job, too.

Acting Heroes: Orlando says he decided to become an actor when he realized his favorite TV heroes, like Superman, were actually actors. "When I realized the heroes on The A-Team, The Fall Guy and Knight Rider weren't real, I decided I wanted to act because I thought I'd love to be any number of those guys," says Orlando.

Clumsy Cutie: It seems our Orlando is always hurting himself. "I'm rather accident-prone, I have to admit," Orlando told Interview magazine. "I've broken my back, my ribs, my nose, both my legs, my arm, my wrist, my finger and a toe, and I've cracked my skull three times." Geeze! Put a helmet on that guy.

Beating the Odds: In fact, Orlando's back injury was far more serious than just a clumsy fall. "Almost four years ago, I fell three stories and landed on a roof terrace," says Orlando. "I crushed one vertebra and fractured three others. The doctors thought I wouldn't walk again. I had this operation, and 12 days later I walked out of the hospital on crutches." Just think, Orlando's acting career might have been over that day, but he fully recovered and was able to take on a physically difficult role like Legolas in LOTR.

Extreme Stud: Orlando is very into "extreme sports" like sky diving, bungee jumping, paragliding, surfing and snowboarding. (That's probably why he's always injuring himself.) After they finished shooting Lord of the Rings Orlando and two of the Hobbits--Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan--went surfing together in Florida. "The cast was always trying to find something cool to do during filming, and surfing is definitely the way to go," says Orlando.

Marks on Him: Orlando has two tattoos. One of them is the number nine written in Elvish, which he and his fellow actors got while filming Lord of the Rings.