Elijah Wood

Actors

Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor, voice actor, and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson‘s adaptation of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003), which collectively featured Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, and Sean Bean; and in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), with Martin Freeman, McKellen, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Lee, Weaving, Serkis, Sylvester McCoy, Barry Humphries, and Manu Bennett.

Wood made his film debut with a small part in Robert Zemeckis‘s Back to the Future Part II (1989), with Michael J. Fox. He went on to achieve recognition as a child actor with roles in Barry Levinson’s Avalon (1990), with Armin Mueller-Stahl, Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth Perkins, and Joan Plowright; Paradise (1991), with Melanie Griffith, Don Johnson, and Thora Birch; Richard Donner‘s Radio Flyer (1992), with Lorraine Bracco, John Heard, Joseph Mazzello, Adam Baldwin, and Ben Johnson; Forever Young (1992), with Mel Gibson and Jamie Lee Curtis. The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993), with Courtney B. Vance, Jason Robards, Robbie Coltrane, and Ron Perlman; and The Good Son (1993), with Macaulay Culkin, Wendy Crewson, David Morse, Daniel Hugh Kelly, and Jacqueline Brookes.

As a teenager, he starred in films such as Rob Reiner‘s North (1994), with Bruce Willis, Jon Lovitz, Jason Alexander, Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, Kathy Bates, Faith Ford, Graham Greene, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Reba McEntire, John Ritter, and Abe Vigoda; The War (1994), with Kevin Costner and Mare Winningham; Flipper (1996), with Paul Hogan; Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm (1997), with Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Katie Holmes, Glenn Fitzgerald, Jamey Sheridan, and Sigourney Weaver; Deep Impact (1998), with Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, Vanessa Redgrave, Maximilian Schell, and Morgan Freeman; Robert Rodriguez‘s The Faculty (1998), with Josh Hartnett, Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Shawn Hatosy, Laura Harris, Famke Janssen, Usher Raymond, Robert Patrick, Bebe Neuwirth, Piper Laurie, Salma Hayek, and Jon Stewart; James Toback’s Black and White (1999), with Robert Downey Jr., Gaby Hoffmann, Allan Houston, Jared Leto, Scott Caan, Claudia Schiffer, Brooke Shields, Bijou Phillips, Ben Stiller, and Michael B. Jordan; and Chain of Fools (2000), with Steve Zahn, Hayek, David Cross, and Jeff Goldblum.

Following the success of The Lord of the Rings, Wood has appeared in a wide range of films, including Ash Wednesday (2002), with Edward Burns (who also directed), Rosario Dawson, and Oliver Platt; Michel Gondry‘s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), with Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, and Tom Wilkinson; Sin City (2005), with Jessica Alba, Benicio del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Willis, Alexis Bledel, Michael Clarke Duncan, Dawson, Carla Gugino, Rutger Hauer, Jaime King, Michael Madsen, Nick Stahl, and Makenzie Vega; Green Street (2005), with Charlie Hunnam; Liev Schreiber’s Everything Is Illuminated (2005), with Eugene Hütz, Boris Leskin, and Laryssa Lauret; Bobby (2006), with Harry Belafonte, Joy Bryant, Nick Cannon, Laurence Fishburne, Spencer Garrett, Helen Hunt, Anthony Hopkins, Ashton Kutcher, Shia LaBeouf, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, Demi Moore, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone, Freddy Rodriguez, Heather Graham, and Emilio Estevez (who also directed); and The Oxford Murders (2007), with John Hurt, Leonor Watling, and Julie Cox.

Later films include Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012), with Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg; Maniac (2012), with Nora Arnezeder; Grand Piano (2013), with John Cusack, Tamsin Egerton, Kerry Bishé, and Alex Winter; The Last Witch Hunter (2015), with Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie, Julie Engelbrecht, and Michael Caine; The Trust (2016), with Nicolas Cage, Sky Ferreira, Jerry Lewis, Kevin Weisman, and Steven Williams; I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017), with Melanie Lynskey, David Yow, Jane Levy and Devon Graye; and Come to Daddy (2019), with Stephen McHattie, Michael Smiley, Madeleine Sami, and Martin Donovan.

Wood’s voice roles include Mumble in George Miller‘s Happy Feet (2006) and its sequel (2011), collectively with Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Weaving, and E.G. Daily, Ava Acres, Sofia Vergara, P!nk, Lil’ P-Nut, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Common, Richard Carter, Magda Szubanski, and Anthony LaPaglia; the title character in 9 (2009), with John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau, and Fred Tatasciore; Spyro the Dragon in the Legend of Spyro video game trilogy (2006–2008), Beck on Disney XD’s Tron: Uprising (2012–2013), and Wirt in the Cartoon Network miniseries Over the Garden Wall (2014). He also played Ryan Newman in the FX dark comedy series Wilfred (2011–2014), for which he received a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actor, and Todd Brotzman in the BBC America series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (2016–2017).

Wood founded the record label Simian Records in 2005, and it was dissolved in 2015. He founded the production company SpectreVision, which primarily specializes in producing horror films, in 2010. Titles include Cooties (2014), with Alison Pill, Rainn Wilson, Jack McBrayer, Leigh Whannell, Nasim Pedrad, Ian Brennan, and Jorge Garcia; Mandy (2018), with Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Ned Dennehy, Olwen Fouéré, Richard Brake, and Bill Duke; Daniel Isn’t Real (2019), with Miles Robbins, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sasha Lane, Mary Stuart Masterson, Hannah Marks, Chukwudi Iwuji and Peter McRobbie; Color Out of Space (2019), with Cage, Joely Richardson, Elliot Knight, Madeleine Arthur, Q’orianka Kilcher, and Tommy Chong; Seven Strangers to Achieve Eternal Bliss (2020), with Kate Micucci, Sam Huntington, Dan Harmon, Mark McKinney, Rhea Seehorn, Dana Gould, Maria Bamford, Brian Posehn, Lilan Bowden, Jon Dore, Josh Brener, Mindy Sterling, J. Lee, Brian Girard, Michael St. Michaels, and Taika Waititi; and Archenemy (2020), with Joe Manganiello, Skylan Brooks, Paul Scheer, Glenn Howerton, Zolee Griggs, and Amy Seimetz.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

  • Back to the Future Part II (1989)** – directed by Robert Zemeckis
  • Internal Affairs (1990) – directed by Mike Figgis
  • Child in the Night (1990) – directed by Mike Robe – TV movie
  • Avalon (1990) – directed by Barry Levinson
  • I’m No Fool on Wheels (1991) – directed by Diane Haak-Edson – short – uncredited
  • Paradise (1991) – directed by Mary Agnes Donoghue
  • Radio Flyer (1992) – directed by Richard Donner & David Mickey Evans (uncredited)
  • Day-O (1992) – directed by Michael Schultz – TV movie
  • Forever Young (1992) – directed by Steve Miner
  • The Witness (1993) – directed by Chris Gerolmo – short
  • The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993) – directed by Stephen Sommers
  • The Good Son (1993) – directed by Joseph Ruben
  • North (1994) – directed by Rob Reiner
  • The War (1994) – directed by Jon Avnet
  • Flipper (1996)* – directed by Alan Shapiro
  • The Ice Storm (1997) – directed by Ang Lee
  • Oliver Twist (1997) – directed by Tony Bill – TV movie
  • Deep Impact (1998) – directed by Mimi Leder
  • The Faculty (1998) – directed by Robert Rodriguez
  • Black & White (1999) – directed by James Toback
  • The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1999) – directed by Martin Duffy
  • Chain of Fools (2000) – directed by Pontus Löwenhielm & Patrick von Krusenstjerna (both credited together as Traktor)
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)* – directed by Peter Jackson
  • Ash Wednesday (2002) – directed by Edward Burns
  • The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina (2002) – directed by Glenn Chaika – direct to video
  • All I Want (2002) – directed by Jeffrey Porter
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)* – directed by Peter Jackson
  • Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)* – directed by Robert Rodriguez – cameo
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)* – directed by Peter Jackson
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) – directed by Michel Gondry
  • Green Street Hooligans (2005) – directed by Lexi Alexander
  • Sin City (2005)* – directed by Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller
  • I’m Still Here: Real Diaries of Young People Who Lived During the Holocaust (2005) – directed by Lauren Lazin – TV documentary
  • Everything Is Illuminated (2005) – directed by Liev Schreiber
  • Paris, je t’aime (2006) – directed by Emmanuel Benbihy, Joel & Ethan Coen, Nobuhiro Suwa, Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Gurinder Chadha, Frédéric Auburtin & Gérard Depardie, Sylvain Chomet, Vincenzo Natali, Richard LaGravenese, Tom Tykwer, Isabel Coixet Castillo, Christopher Doyle, Alexander Payne, Walter Salles & Daniela Thomas, Alfonso Cuarón, Bruno Podalydès, Oliver Schmitz, & Wes Craven – anthology
  • Bobby (2006) – directed by Emilio Estevez
  • Happy Feet (2006) – directed by George Miller
  • Day Zero (2007) – directed by Bryan Gunnar Cole
  • The Oxford Murders (2008) – directed by Álex de la Iglesia
  • 9 (2009)* – directed by Shane Acker
  • Beyond All Boundaries (2009) – directed by David Briggs – short
  • The Romantics (2010) – directed by Galt Niederhoffer
  • Full of Regret (2010) – directed by Jason & Josh Diamond – short
  • WWII in HD: The Air War (2010) – directed by Sammy Jackson – TV documentary
  • Boobie (2011) – directed by Bryan Gaynor – short
  • I Think Bad Thoughts (2011) – directed by Jason & John Diamond – short
  • Happy Feet Two (2011) – directed by George Miller
  • The Death and Return of Superman (2012) – directed by Max Landis – short
  • Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012) – directed by Lee Toland Krieger
  • Treasure Island (2012) – directed by Steve Barron – TV movie
  • Revenge for Jolly! (2012) – directed by Chadd Harbold
  • Maniac (2012) – directed by Franck Khalfoun
  • The Ballad of Danko Jones (2012) – directed by Jason & John Diamond – short
  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – directed by Peter Jackson
  • The Narrative of Victor Karloch (2012) – directed by Kevin McTurk – short
  • Pawn Shop Chronicles (2013) – directed by Wayne Kramer
  • The Wind Rises (2013)** – directed by Hayao Miyazaki – English dub
  • Grand Piano (2013) – directed by Eugenio Mira
  • Setup, Punch (2013) – directed by David Schlussel – short
  • Tome of the Unknown (2013) – directed by Patrick McHale – short
  • This Must Be the Only Fantasy (2013) – directed by Todd Cole – short
  • Cooties (2014) – directed by Jonathan Milott & Cary Murnion – also producer
  • A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) – directed by Ana Lily Amirpour – producer only
  • Open Windows (2014) A directed by Nacho Vigalondo – also executive producer
  • et Fire to the Stars (2014) – directed by Andy Goddard – also producer
  • Harry (2015) – directed by Ramiro Lopez Dau – short
  • The Boy (2015) – directed by Craig Macneill – producer only
  • The Last Witch Hunter (2015) – directed by Breck Eisner
  • The Trust (2016) – directed by Alex & Ben Brewer
  • The Greasy Strangler (2016) – directed by Jim Hosking – producer only
  • Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017) – directed by Macon Blair
  • The Postman Dreams 2 (2017) – directed by Autumn de Wilde – short
  • Mandy (2018) – directed by Panos Cosmatos
  • Come to Daddy (2019) – directed by Ant Timpson
  • Darrlygorn (2019) – directed by Stephen Colbert – short
  • Daniel Isn’t Real (2019) – directed by Adam Egypt Mortime – producer only
  • Color Out of Space (2019) – written by Richard Stanley – producer only
  • Archenemy (2020) – directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer – producer only
  • No Man of God (TBA) – directed by Amber Sealy – also producer
  • L.A. Rush (TBA) – directed by Jiahuang & Peng Chen
  • The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes (TBA) – directed by Joe Dante – producer only