Elijah Wood

Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa) is a U.S. actor of English, Irish, German and Polish descent. He is the middle of three children born to Warren and Debbie Wood, who nicknamed Elijah "Spark Plug" because he was a manically energetic child. He has a brother Zack, a video game producer and seven years his senior, as well as a younger sister Hannah, a poet and actress who has had small roles in a number of his films.

Quotes

• "There's a lot more to life than Hollywood."
• "Child acting is a cutthroat world, which is pretty frightening and really silly in retrospect. But it's the parents who are evil. It is a really difficult world to live in if you don't have a base, if you don't have a strong sense of yourself. My mom wanted me to maintain a reasonable degree of normalcy and to enjoy my childhood. Family is so important. I rarely meet families who are as close as we are. I feel really blessed."
• "I find it offensive that it reflects on us that we as a society are fascinated by other people's lives and need that kind of information and it's more sensitive when you are kind of in the middle of it and you recognize that that could kind of be you at some point or people could be that interested in your private life and it's a weird thing. It's bizarre. I still find it incredibly strange, the breakup of Brad and Gwyneth made the front page of newspapers. That's our focus? That's kind of sad."
• "I will be completely honest. I am not a huge fan of awards shows. It's a little -- it can be a little overwhelming -- it was fun for "Lord of the Rings" and I enjoyed the process, the first couple of times for the first couple of award shows, but once you've been to five in a row, it's a lot of fanfare that gets kind of old, especially if you're not particularly interested in the awards. I don't find it to be all that important. I would rather be home watching those kind of things on television. My God, the Oscars were -- I think it was like five hours. I was nearly falling asleep on camera. It was funny."
• "I'm kind of insane when it comes to music, a little obsessed."
• "I think being different, going against the grain of society is the greatest thing in the world."
• "There's a real purity in New Zealand that doesn't exist in the states. It's actually not an easy thing to find in our world anymore. It's a unique place because it is so far away from the rest of the world. There is a sense of isolation and also being protected."
• "I really don't think there is anybody in the business with better eyes than Elijah Wood"- Liev Schreiber
• "If the eyes are the windows to the soul, Elijah Wood has garage doors."- Liev Schreiber