No wonder people are slow to recognise Orlando Bloom in the flesh. Up till now he's been best known as the 2,931-year-old immortal elf Legolas Greenleaf from The Lord Of The Rings, although in real life the actor bears no resemblance to his most famous screen character. "Legolas was cool because the blond wig and blue contacts were a nice disguise." The Orlando sitting opposite me today has dark hair that can only be described as a bouffant/mullet hybrid. Gone too is Legolas' translucent complexion, in its place a nutty brown tan.

By the time the third and final The Lord Of The Rings instalment, The Return Of The King, opens on December 17, the 26-year-old British actor will more likely be known as the natural successor to swashbuckling legend Errol Flynn. You see, Orlando's new movie Pirates Of The Caribbean, in which he plays blacksmith Will Turner, has the feel of a Flynn movie. Not only have the omnipresent computer graphics been ditched in favour of more traditional filmmaking, Orlando also bears a striking resemblance to the aforementioned Hollywood hero. So it's no surprise to discover his inspiration for the role.

"I looked at a lot of Errol Flynn films like Captain Blood and The Master Of Ballantrae," he says. Plus, the sword fighting in the movie (and there's a lot of it) was choreographed by sword master Robert Anderson, who'd previously taught - you guessed it - Errol Flynn a few tricks of the trade.

The $150m Pirates Of The Caribbean has already been a big hit in the States, no mean feat considering the number of blockbusters and sequels we've been bombarded with so far this summer. Then again, the film also stars Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Depp and was produced by Gerry Bruckheimer, of Con Air, Armageddon and Veronica Guerin fame.

Keeping the swashbuckling theme alive, Orlando is in the middle of shooting the Greek historical epic Troy in Malta with Brad Pitt - hence the deep tan and the flowing locks. However the actor insists that these kinds of movies are just one aspect of his repertoire. "It's just one aspect of what I want to do. I feel very fortunate to have had opportunities to work on such great epics, films that will hopefully stand the test of time, but I just happen to have not been working and been around when these things came up," he says by way of explaining his recent career trajectory. He then adds with a laugh: "I feel like I'm just hanging out to do a role where there's, like, three guys sitting around a table playing cards."

As you'd probably expect from someone with such an exotic sounding name, Orlando has had an interesting life thus far. He lived in South Africa with his Mum, Dad and sister (who's two years younger) when he was very young but due to the country's precarious political situation the family fled to the more sedate enclave of Canterbury in England.

Despite suffering from dyslexia, he decided at an early age that he wanted to become an actor. "I got into acting because when I was a kid I used to see these larger than life characters on the TV or in the cinema or theatre, and I used to think they were so awesome. Then when I realised that an actor could be any of those characters, that was what inspired me to pursue an acting career." He cites The Hustler, in particular, which he saw thanks to his American cousin who brought a copy of the video over to England while on holiday.

The first step on the ladder was to enroll in London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama: however, it all went pear-shaped back in 1998 when an accident almost left him paralysed. He fell three floors from a roof and broke his back. For 12 days it looked like he wouldn't walk again. Multiple operations later, the prognosis wasn't so miserable and he eventually hobbled out of hospital on crutches. Two days before graduating from the Guildhall Lord Of The Rings director Peter Jackson gave him the nod and the nascent actor soon found himself in New Zealand.

One thing you notice about Orlando when you spend time in his company are the shy-boy, nervous giggles that punctuate his conversation. You get the feeling he's still desperately trying to get his head around the whole fame thing and it's proving to be a difficult task. While working on Pirates, he sought advice from Depp on how to deal with the big fat merry-go-round that is being a movie star. "His advice was, don't go for the money and just keep it real; remember why you got into it in the first place. He's very gracious, and generous with his time."

With his Errol Flynn-esque good looks, one thing Orlando hasn't managed to avoid is the teen pin-up/sex symbol scenario. He's well mannered and gracious enough to admit "it's all very flattering" but you get the impression he doesn't want to go there.

Another area he won't go anywhere near is his private life (he's reportedly going out with actress Kate Bosworth, who starred in the surfing movie Blue Crush) . The one concession he makes is admitting that he likes to hang out with his friends and go and visit his grandparents when he's not working - just "normal stuff".

"When you're working and doing all this surreal stuff like pirate movies, you tend to want to do just really mellow stuff in your down-time."

Working on Pirates, which was shot largely at sea, presented a special set of problems to both cast and crew. "We'd be on a boat, 20 miles out at sea..." says Orlando, "sometimes the swirls would get really big but you couldn't get off it!" Seasickness tablets were de rigueur although luckily Orlando likes being on the ocean so he didn't find things too hazardous.

No doubt there'll be plenty of hazards to overcome too for his role of 'misguided youth' Paris in Troy, due out next year. Set in 1193BC, Prince Paris of Troy steals Helen away from her husband Menelaus, King of Sparta, setting the two nations at war with each other. He'll certainly be a dab hand at the fight scenes.

But before that comes the climactic end to the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Having taken up such a massive amount of his time and having gifted him his first major role, it will be the end of an epoch for the actor. He's tight-lipped as to what we can expect.

"I always think the third part of a movie is the best part because you've got closure. With Return Of The King you can expect at least as good again. I just hope that Pete (Jackson) gets all the recognition and appreciation he deserves for it."

Pirates Of The Caribbean opened nationwide this Friday