Widely regarded as one of the most gifted actors of his generation, Elijah Wood continues to challenge himself with roles spanning the spectrum of style and genre. In addition to Wilfred, Wood was most recently seen in the independent thriller, Grand Piano, written by Damien Chazelle and directed by Eugenio Mira. The story concerns a once-great concert pianist (Wood) who suffers from stage fright and comes back to perform after a five-year hiatus. Just when he’s about to play the first bar, he notices somebody has written a threatening note on his music sheet. He’s now forced to play his best concert ever to save his life as well as his wife’s. The film was released limitedly on March 7, 2014.
Additionally, Wood produced and starred in the comedy/ horror film Cooties. Cooties follows a virus that strikes school children and turns them into savages, with an unlikely hero helping the teachers fight back. Saw writer and executive producer Leigh Whannell wrote the script along with Glee creator Ian Brennan. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and its U.S. rights were sold to Lionsgate.
In November of 2012 Wood worked on the set of thriller Open Windows opposite Sasha Grey and Neil Maskell. Directed by Nacho Viagalondo, Wood plays a man obsessed with an actress (Grey). When she gets abducted, he goes on a mission to find her. Everything in the movie is seen through a laptop. “So much of what my character is experiencing is happening on a computer screen,” said Wood, adding that it took him a while to get used to running around with a computer rig. A release date has not been set.
In 2010, Wood teamed with partners Daniel Noah and Josh C. Waller to form SpectreVision. Respectively, an actor, a director and a writer created the company to tell heartfelt, character-driven stories tackling real emotional and social issues that test the boundaries of the horror genre. Their first acquisition, Toad Road, a harrowing depiction of drug addiction premiered to numerous festival awards, and was released theatrically and to VOD in 2013. Their first original production, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night also made its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Next up for SpectreVision is The Boy, an intriguing look into the early childhood of a future serial killer, based on the Sundance short Henley. The Boy will be directed by Craig McNeill and will star David Morse as “John Henley” and 9 year old Jared Breeze as the title role of “Ted Henley.” Wood has also voiced the character of “Beck” in Tron: Uprising, the animated science fiction series part of the Tron series which airs on Disney XD. The series is directed by Charlie Bean.
Wood made an indelible mark in the trilogy of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings in the lead role of the hobbit, “Frodo Baggins.” Directed by Peter Jackson, the films The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and Return of the King were all critically lauded. In addition, Return of the King won the Academy Award® for Best Picture as well as 11 Academy Awards in all, tying Titanic for the record.
Additional credits include Maniac, The Hobbit, Celeste and Jesse Forever, Treasure Island, Happy Feet 2, The Romantics, 9, Oxford Murders, Paris je’taime, Day Zero, Happy Feet, Bobby, Everything is Illuminated, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Green Street Hooligans, Sin City, Ice Storm, Ash Wednesday and Black and White.
Wood is an active member and supporter of The Art of Elysium, a non-profit organization founded in 1997 that encourages working actors, artists and musicians to voluntarily dedicate their time and talent to children who are battling serious medical conditions. Wood currently resides in LA.
