Orlando Bloom

• 1. Introduction

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  Orlando Bloom was named after Orlando Gibbons, an English composer of the 16th century. He was born in Canterbury, Kent, on the 13th of January 1977. Nothing about that start pointed toward a screen career. Some consider him the Errol Flynn of his time, a comparison earned through swords, ships and epic adventure. His work has also taken in war films, historical dramas and theatre stages in London and New York. How did a boy from a cathedral city reach that kind of fame? What did the attention cost him, and what did he choose to do with it?

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• 2. Canterbury Beginnings

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  Harry Bloom was a South African-born novelist who opposed apartheid, and young Orlando believed he was his father. Harry died when the boy was four. When Orlando was thirteen, his mother, Sonia Bloom, whose maiden name was Copeland, told him the truth. His biological father was Colin Stone, a former student of Harry's and a friend of the family. Stone ran the Concorde International language school. After Harry's death he had become Orlando's legal guardian, so he had been looking after the boy for years before the secret came out. Orlando also has an older sister, Samantha, and a cousin, the photographer Sebastian Copeland.

  Schooling began at St Peter's Methodist Primary School. He moved on to the junior school of The King's School and then to St Edmund's School Canterbury. The family belonged to the Church of England. Teachers discovered that he was dyslexic, and his mother responded by encouraging him to take art and drama classes. In 1992 he submitted a school prize entry to Richard Sieben, a pantomime actor, and the exchange spurred him into action.

  In 1993 he moved to London for a two-year A-Level course in Drama, Photography and Sculpture at Fine Arts College, Hampstead. He then spent two seasons with the National Youth Theatre, which earned him a scholarship to the British American Drama Academy. Paid work began on television, in episodes of Casualty and Midsomer Murders. His film debut was a small part as a rent boy in Wilde, alongside Stephen Fry. The film was shot in 1996 and released in 1997. Afterward he enrolled at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and he earned a Bachelor of Arts in acting in 1999. Two days after graduating, he landed his first major role.

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• 3. Finding Legolas

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  Faramir was the part Bloom hoped for when he auditioned for The Lord of the Rings. That character does not appear until the second film. Director Peter Jackson saw something else in him and cast him as Legolas. The trilogy was released between 2001 and 2003. During one scene Bloom fell off a horse and broke a rib, but he recovered and kept filming. In the same period he took a brief role in Ridley Scott's war film Black Hawk Down, playing PFC Todd Blackburn.

  On Bloom's right wrist is a tattoo of the Elvish word for nine, written in the fictional Tengwar script. It marks the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring. Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen and Elijah Wood share the same tattoo. John Rhys-Davies is the exception, because his stunt double received it instead.

  In 2002 Teen People placed Bloom on its list of the 25 Hottest Stars Under 25, even though he had already turned 25. That same year he starred opposite the English actress Kate Beckinsale in a Gap television advertisement directed by Cameron Crowe. In 2004 People named him its hottest Hollywood bachelor.

  The awards attention fell on the whole cast. Its members were nominated for Best Ensemble Acting at the Screen Actors Guild Awards three years in a row. They finally won in 2003, for The Return of the King. Bloom also collected European Film Awards, a Hollywood Festival Award, Empire Awards and Teen Choice Awards. Most of his box office successes would come as part of an ensemble cast, and the pattern began with this fellowship.

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• 4. Pirates and Blockbusters

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  The summer of 2003 brought a blockbuster hit, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Bloom played Will Turner opposite Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp. In the spring of 2004 he appeared in Troy as Paris, the prince of Troy, alongside Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Peter O'Toole. In 2005 he took lead roles in two films. One was Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, in which he played Balian de Ibelin. The other was Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown. In 2006 he starred in Haven, which he also helped produce.

  In 2006 Bloom also guest-starred in the sitcom Extras, playing an exaggeratedly arrogant, narcissistic version of himself. This fictional Bloom had a great loathing for Johnny Depp, his real co-star in Pirates. Bloom pushed to make the persona even more unlikable. He also contributed to the gag that his character admired Depp out of sheer jealousy. In the joke, Depp was far more talented and ranked higher on the 'top hottest' charts.

  In 2004 the second and third Pirates films were conceived. Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio developed a story arc that would span both sequels. Filming took place in 2005, with Bloom returning as Will Turner. Dead Man's Chest arrived in July 2006 and took in $1.066 billion worldwide. It became the biggest financial hit of Bloom's career. The third film, At World's End, followed in May 2007.

  By 2006 Bloom was the most searched male on Google News. By May 2007 he had appeared in four of the 15 highest-grossing films of all time. After At World's End, he repeatedly said he was done with the series, because his character had found closure. By 2010 both he and Keira Knightley were quoted as wanting to move on.

  Still, he had spoken about returning as early as October 2011. Discussions about bringing back Will Turner were under way by 2014. The part was announced as a supporting role, and he ultimately made a cameo in Dead Men Tell No Tales, released in May 2017. For that film he is listed at the Teen Choice Awards in the Choice Liplock category, shared with Keira Knightley.

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• 5. Back to the Stage

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  Stage acting had been Bloom's plan after the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and at the height of his film fame he said he wanted to leave movies for a time. He told interviewers he was "avidly looking for the right sort of material that he can do something with" and hoped to go "back to basics."

  His professional stage debut came in the summer of 2007, in a London revival of David Storey's In Celebration at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End. He played Steven, one of three brothers who return home for their parents' 40th wedding anniversary. In the same summer, on the 24th of August 2007, he appeared in a late-night Japanese television commercial for Uno, a brand of the cosmetics maker Shiseido. A "one night only" two-minute science-fiction version kicked off that product's marketing campaign.

  In 2008 Bloom signed on for a small role in An Education, but he dropped out to take the lead in Johnnie To's film Red Circle. In 2009 he joined the many stars of New York, I Love You, a film built from 12 short films.

  In August 2013 he made his Broadway debut as Romeo at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. The New York Times critic Ben Brantley called it "a first-rate Broadway debut." He wrote: "For once, we have a Romeo who evolves substantively, from a posturing youth in love with love, to a man who discovers the startling revelation of real love, with a last-act descent into bilious, bitter anger that verges on madness." A theatrical film release of the production came out that same year.

  In 2018 he played Joe Cooper in Tracy Letts' Killer Joe at Trafalgar Studios in the West End. The following year he began a series for Amazon Prime Video called Carnival Row.

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• 6. Later Screen Roles

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  The Three Musketeers in 2011 gave Bloom the part of George Villiers, the 1st Duke of Buckingham. His co-stars were Milla Jovovich, Logan Lerman, Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, Juno Temple and Christoph Waltz. He also returned as Legolas in parts two and three of The Hobbit, Peter Jackson's three-part prequel to the Rings trilogy. Those two films were released in 2013 and 2014.

  From 2019 to 2023, Bloom starred in Carnival Row, the Amazon Prime Video series, as Rycroft Philostrate. He also served as an executive producer. Its second season was filming in Prague when production was postponed because of COVID-19.

  On the 1st of June 2020, Bloom joined Josh Gad's YouTube series Reunited Apart. The series reunites casts of popular movies by video conference and promotes donations to charities. Bloom appeared with Lord of the Rings co-stars, the writer Philippa Boyens and the director Peter Jackson.

  In July 2020 he played Captain Benjamin Keating in The Outpost, a drama set during the Afghanistan War. The role brought him acclaim. In 2023 he played Danny Moore, a Nissan marketing executive, in the sports film Gran Turismo. The film is based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough.

  In 2024 Bloom starred in and produced The Cut, a boxing film directed by Sean Ellis. To portray a boxer in the middle of a weight cut, he lost 35 pounds. He described the film as focusing on "the battle to lose weight," and said it offered a fresh view of the challenges athletes face. A very different job came in 2024 too, when he voiced Mr. Raccoon in Peppa's Cinema Party.

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• 7. Causes and Honors

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  Bloom has been involved with UNICEF since 2007. On the 12th of October 2009 he was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. In that role he visited schools and villages in Nepal in support of sanitation and education programmes.

  In April 2016 he visited the city of Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine. His aim was to raise awareness of the education crisis facing children during the Russo-Ukrainian war of 2014-2015. In 2023 he returned to Ukraine as a Goodwill Ambassador. At a children's centre in Kyiv he met children affected by the war, and he also met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

  On the 12th of February 2009, Bloom took an active part in the Australia Unites fundraiser. It raised support for victims of the Australian bushfires of the 7th of February 2009.

  His environmental work goes back to the early 2000s, when he joined Global Green. At home in London he installed solar panels, used recycled materials and fitted energy efficient lightbulbs. In 2004 he became a full member of SGI-UK, the British branch of Soka Gakkai International. It is a lay Buddhist association affiliated with the teachings of Nichiren.

  On the 13th of July 2010, Bloom returned to Canterbury Cathedral to receive an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the University of Kent. On the 2nd of April 2014 he was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His star sits at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2015 he received the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award.

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• 8. Private Life

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  Bloom has said he tries "not to exclude himself from real life as much as possible." While filming Kingdom of Heaven in Morocco, he rescued and adopted a dog named Sidi. Sidi is a black Saluki mix with a white mark on his chest.

  Three cracked skulls are only part of Bloom's injury record. He has also broken his left arm, his nose while playing rugby union, and his right leg while skiing in Switzerland. His left leg broke in a motorbike crash, and his right wrist broke while snowboarding. He broke his back when he slipped trying to reach the roof terrace of a friend's house and fell three floors.

  On the 13th of July 2009, four hooded teenagers broke into Bloom's home in the Hollywood Hills. They stole nearly half a million dollars' worth of possessions. The burglars were dubbed the "Bling Ring" and targeted the homes of celebrities. Most of Bloom's stolen items were retrieved. He appears as himself, in archived footage, in the 2013 film The Bling Ring.

  From 2003 until September 2006, Bloom had an "on-and-off relationship" with the American actress Kate Bosworth. In late 2007 he began dating the Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr. They announced their engagement in June 2010 and married the following month. Their son was born on the 6th of January 2011 in Los Angeles. On the 25th of October 2013, they announced that they had separated several months earlier and intended to end the marriage. They were divorced by the end of 2013. In 2014 he was in a relationship with the French actress Nora Arnezeder.

  In January 2016 Bloom began dating the American singer and songwriter Katy Perry. They confirmed a split in February 2017 and resumed the relationship in February 2018. They became engaged on the 14th of February 2019. On the 5th of March 2020, the music video for Perry's song "Never Worn White" revealed that the couple were expecting their first child. Perry gave birth to their daughter on the 26th of August 2020. On the 26th of June 2025, it was reported that Bloom and Perry had separated.

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