Elijah Wood, who returned to screens this month as Frank in the 1980 cult-classic remake Maniac, has built a career as one of Hollywood’s most versatile stars. He’s been on both sides of the law, and portrayed heroes, villains, a tap-dancing penguin and even a football hooligan.
Most of all, he’s best known for playing characters on the edge, and still manages to look good portraying them… other than the fact he’s pretty badass. Here are 6 things you probably didn’t know about the guy.
6. Elijah landed the role of Fredo in Lord of The Rings after he submitted an audition tape dressed as the character reading his lines from a book. Jake Gyllenhaal was one of 150 people that also auditioned for the role.
5. In 1988, he got his break playing a small role in Paula Abdul’s music video ‘Forever Your Girl’. In 2005, he started his own record label called ‘Simian Records’. His love for music didn’t stop there, as he also reportedly sang songs by The Spice Girls, whilst on the set of The Lord of the Rings.
4. In the midst of acting and playing various instruments, Elijah is also a well-known DJ, taking to the decks under the name Wooden Wisdom a.k.a. DJ Frodo.
3. He is 5’6″ tall, which places him three inches below the average height for American men. That may sound like a bit of a downer, but let’s not forget that if he wasn’t, then he wouldn’t have been cast as Frodo Baggins, one of the world’s most famous hobbits.
2. He made his very first movie debut in Back to the Future Part II in 1989. Now, at the age of 32 Elijah still looks like most of his characters, including Frodo, but minus the ears. Like his films, he doesn’t actually seem to age.
1. Elijah recently said in an interview that he is thrilled to be known as Frodo for the rest of his life. “I still get the same number of people calling me Frodo on the street,” he says. He also added: “When Maniac was announced the articles came out saying it was yet another attempt on my part to shake off Frodo. That’s bizarre to me because… I accepted a long time ago that Frodo would be a part of my life forever.”
Maniac is now in cinemas nationwide.
