Little do fans know that Elijah Wood made his debut in a small part in Michael J. Fox’s Back to the Future Part II. He was just eight at the time and went on to star alongside some major names like Richard Gere and Bruce Willis as a child artist. He gained international fame when he was cast as the lead, Frodo Baggins, in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Despite the early fame in his life, Wood had a pretty good upbringing. He was never involved in any kind of trouble that other child actors are usually involved in. This didn’t mean that Wood had a smooth life as a child. At the age of 15, the Tron: Uprising actor’s parents got divorced.
Elijah Wood’s past did not hinder him from leading a successful life
Elijah Wood first gained fame as a child actor in films like Avalon and The Good Sun. As a teenager, he gave solid performances in several movies in the ’90s. The beginning of the 2000s gave him The Lord of the Rings, thus making him a recognizable name in the industry. By the time he was done with the trilogy, Wood marked a decade and a half in the industry.
Surprisingly, in his long career as a child and teen actor, he did not get into trouble like his peers. Michael Rosenbaum pointed this out when Wood appeared in his Inside of You podcast. Rosenbaum shared that despite starting very young in the industry, Wood was never jaded or disillusioned. He did not have a weird childhood at all.
Wood admitted that he had a comfortable life with a supportive mother. However, he shared that he did not have that close of a relationship with his father. His father and mother divorced when he was 15 and his family, without his father, moved to Los Angeles to support his acting career.
Wood shared that he was aware that his other friends had a “deeper relationship with their fathers.” He recognized it as an “important male relationship” for a developing person that he didn’t have as a child. However, he shared that he was also aware of his close relationship with his older brother, who was seven years older.
He shared that it was this bond that acted as the male relationship he needed in his life. He looked up to his brother and his brother too took care of him, without showing any annoyance. Even as he turned 17, Wood shared that he never got pushed away from his older brother like other siblings. He shared that he and his brother both were into music at the time.
Elijah Wood credited his mother for not getting into troubles
Elijah Wood shared that besides his brother, it was his mom who kept things going smoothly in his life. He shared that his mom was everything to him and kept him from the “unroyal life” that Michael Rosenbaum mentioned. He shared that she created the foundation for him to lead a successful life. He shared:
My mom was sort of everything and you know that that sort of sense of having a relatively unroyal life was 100% credited to her. She provided a lot of fundamentals that I still hold dear. That kind of created a foundation for me to succeed as a human being.
Wood further shared that another reason he never went looking for trouble was because he never allowed himself to be defined by his work. He shared that he would rather be defined by the person he was in life.
He shared that he learned from the things he missed out on during his developmental stage and accepted them. Wood’s philosophy of life is rare to observe in other stars who grew up in front of the camera.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
