Information » Timeline

Timeline written and compiled by Admin
Copyright © 2005-2008 ElijahNet. All rights reserved.
Please do not explicitly copy. Portions may be re-posted as long as proper credit is given (a link back to the site).
Revised: April 2008.

1981

(1981) Elijah Jordan Wood is born on January 28th, 1981 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Warren and Debbie Wood. He has one brother, Zachariah, 7 years his senior.

1982-1988

(1983) Hannah Wood, Elijah's sister, is born.

(1987) Appears in the school’s adaption of The Sound of Music.

(1987) Appears in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the Marion Creative Council production of  See How They Run.

(1988) Mother Debbie enrolls him at Avant Studios, a local modelling school and agency located in Cedar Rapids.

1989

(January 1989) Debbie brings Elijah to Los Angeles where he attends the International Modelling And Talent Association Convention. Among hundreds of other hopeful children and adults, Elijah is spotted by Gary Scalzo, who becomes Elijah’s talent manager.

(1989) Debbie, along with her children, re-locates to Los Angeles, father Warren later joins them. Elijah's career begins with modeling after which he moves on to local commercials.

(1989) Shortly after Elijah's move to Los Angeles, within a six months period to be precise, Elijah is given a small role in Paula Abdul's music video, Forever Your Girl, directed by David Fincher (Seven and Fight Club).

(1989) Debbie enrolls Elijah at St Patrick's Catholic School at Arroyo Grande.

(1989) The Wood family sell the deli in Cedar Rapids, and are now set on a future in Los Angeles.

(1989) Elijah lands his first (minor) film role in Back to the Future II as "Video Game Boy #1" acting opposite the huge star Michael J. Fox.

1990

(1990) Elijah lands the lead role in a TV production, namely Child In The Night, in which he portrayed a young child who had witnessed the gruesome murder of his father.

(1990) Lands himself a role in Barry Levinson's Avalon, which portrays the lives of Russian-Jewish immigrants. Elijah’s mature performance receives a lot of recognition.

1991

(1991) Is nominated for the Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture at the Young Artist Awards for his performance in Avalon. The film itself becomes an instant success and is nominated for four Academy Awards in 1991.

(1991) Lands himself a role in the Le Grand Chemin remake Paradise, starring Melanie Griffith and Thora Birch. He is given good reviews and is nominated for a Young Artist Award once again.

1992

(1992) After three years in Los Angeles, Debbie replaces Gary Scalzo and takes over his talent-manager position.

(1992) At the tender age of 11, he lands himself another three lead roles, one in Richard Donner’s beautiful Radio Flyer starring Joseph Mazello and Lorraine Bracco, and for this performance he is awarded a Young Artist Award. Forever Young follows, starring Mel Gibson and Jamie Lee Curtis. Elijah feels his confidence drop when some scences require extensive ad-libbing. He also appears in Day'O, and lastly delivers in The Witness which airs on TV.

(1992) Is nominated for Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture at the Young Artist Awards for his performance as Willard Young in Paradise.

(1992) Radio Flyer premieres.

(1992) Due to the pressure of work, Elijah drops out of school, and is home schooled instead.

(1992) Elijah spends much of his time on film sets, shooting. As he is mostly surrounded by adults, and feels lonely at times. He begins to question his decision on dropping high school. He considers to quit acting, however, later changes his minds.

1993

(1993) Receives a role in The Good Son, acting alongside Macaulay Culkin (known from Chris Columbus's "Home Alone" 1 and 2.)

(1993) Lands the lead role in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

(1993) Is nominated Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture at the Young Artist Awards for his performance in Radio Flyer.

1994

(1994) Lands the lead in North co-starring Bruce Willis. Unlike The War, this production becomes a huge flop and receives bad critique, nevertheless Elijah is given good criticism for his performance, and is even said to be the only good thing to come out of the whole production.

(1994) Lands a role in The War starring Kevin Costner, a production many consider to be Elijah's best child film.

(1994) Is nominated at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films for Best Performance by a Younger Actor for his performance as Mark in The Good Son.

(2 November 1994) The War premieres.

(19 July 1994) North premieres.

(21 March 1994) Attends the Academy Awards.

(20 October 1994) Attends the Saturn Awards in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

1995

(1995) For his performance in North, Elijah is nominated in the categories Best Performance by a Younger Actor and Best Performance by a Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture at the Young Artist Awards.

(1995) Nominated at the YoungStar Award for Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Drama Film for his performance in The War.

(1995) Appears in The Cranberries' music video, Ridiculous Thoughts (pictured).

1996

(1996) Gets cast as Sandy in the film Flipper, a remake of the 1963 production. Elijah is scripted to have his first onscreen kiss. The scene is later cut out of the final version.

(1996) Attends the Flipper premiere.

(February 1996) Attends Toy Fair and Family Film.

(1996) Warren Wood and Debbie Wood go separate ways and divorce. Warren returns to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the rest of the Wood family stay in Los Angeles, CA.

1997

(1997) Lands a role in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, based on the 1994 novel by Rick Moody, acting alongside big names such as Christina Ricci, Sigourney Weaver and Tobey Maguire.

(1997) Appears in Oliver Twist as the Artful Dodger which later airs on TV.

(1997) Nominated Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy Film at the YoungStar Award for his performance as Sandy in Flipper.

(2 December 1997) Attends the premiere of Scream 2.

(Decemebr 1997) Attends the Titanic premiere.

1998

(1998) Attends the Studio 51 premiere.

(1998) Is nominated Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor at the Young Artist Awards for his performance in The Ice Storm.

(1998) Wins Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Miniseries/Made-for-TV Movie at the YoungStar Awards for his performance in Oliver Twist.

(1998) Lands himself a role in Deep Impact, which becomes the hit of the summer in the USA.

(1998) Gets a role in Robert Rodriguez's The Faculty, acting alongside Josh Harnett, Jordana Brewster, Usher, Famke Janssen, Robert Patrick and Salma Hayek.

(1998) During the shooting of The Faculty he hears about Peter Jackson's huge project: The Lord of the Ring Trilogy and decides to send in his own audition tape, filmed by his friend and director George Huang (Swimming With Sharks) to New Line.

1999

(1999) Attends the Faculty premiere.

(1999) Attends the 49th Berlin Film Festival.

(1999) ilming Chain Of Fools, by Patrik Von Krusenstjerna and Pontus Lowenhielm, acting alongside Salma Hayek (once again) and Lara Flynn Boyle.

(1999) Working on Black and White starring Jared Leto, Brooke Shields and Bijou Phillips.

(1999) Also filming drama/romance flick The Bumblebee Flies Anyway which goes straight to DVD sales.

(1999) Wins a Young Star Award for Best Performance by Young Actor in Drama Film for his performance in Deep Impact.

(1999) Is nominated Favorite Actor - Horror for his performance in The Faculty and Favorite Supporting Actor-Sci-Fi at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards for his performance in Deep Impact.

(28 January 1999) Celebrates his 18th birthday.

It was my first suprise party. Terrific. My best friends ordered my favorite food. And that is a barbecue from Austin, Texas, where we shot the Faculty. There's this place where you can order spare ribs and send them to LA by air mail. You just have to heat it up...

(July 1999) Lands the part of hobbit Frodo Baggings in The Lord of the Ring Trilogy, being the first actor to be cast.

(July 1999) Arrives in New Zealand preparing for the filming of Lord Of The Rings.

I hadn't met Sean before. I met him about four or five days before I flew to New Zealand for the first time. He was getting his wig fitted, as I needed to get mine fitted. I went to this hotel, and we kind of crossed paths in the lobby. Obviously we both knew who [the] other was. And we kind of stopped and looked at each other, and we just ran and gave each other a massive hug—and that was the first time I ever met him. It was this instant connection because we knew what we were about to embark on together.

2000

(28 January 2000) Celebrates his 19th birthday in New Zealand during the filming of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

2001

(2001) Appears at the American Film Institute Awards, Cannes Film Festival, MTV Total Request Live, Conan Obrians Show, Comic-Con, Today Show, Jay Leno's.

(2001) Working on a new project, namely Ash Wednesday.

(2001) Attends the Hannibal premiere.

(28 January 2001)Elijah returns home and is celebrating his 20th birthday.

(December 2001) The Lord of the Ring, the Fellowship of the Ring premiering.

2002

(2002) Lends his voice to the character Tom Thumb in The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina.

(2002) Lands a role in Try Seventeen starring alongside Mandy Moore and Franka Potente. Meets girlfriend Franka Potente on the set of the film.

(2002) Wins an Empire Award for Best Actor for his performance in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

(2002) Nominated Favorite Male Action Hero at the Kids' Choice Awards for his performance in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

(2002) Nominated Best Male Performance at the MTV Movie Awards for his performance in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

(2002) Wins Best Acting Ensemble at the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards for his performance in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

(2002) Nominated Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for his performance in Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring

(2002) Nominated in category "Film - Choice Actor, Drama/Action Adventure" at the Teen Choice Awards for his performance in Lord of the Rings; The Fellowship of the Ring

(2002) Appearing at Viggos Art Exhabition (LA, Feb 2nd) and attends the Star Wars Episode II premiere in May 15th, Burn This premiere on September 19th and a Flaming Lips Concert.

(December 2002) Hosting MTV2.

(2002) Attends AFI Awards (Jan), Golden Globes, (Jan), GQ Men of The Year (Dec 14th), Movieline (May), NY Film Critics Cirle Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards (March), The Academy Awards (March), Cannes Film Festival (May), Hollywood Star Awards (May), MTV Movie Awards (June) Comic Con (Aug, 3rd), Toronto Film Festival (Sep 10th), Sims Online Launch Party, Two Towers Press Conference (Nov 22), Jay Leno (dec 16th), Regis & Kelly (dec 17th) Caroline Rhea (dec), Dom's 26th Birthday (Dec 8th).

(28 January 2002) Celebrates his 21st birthday with a couple of friends. Ends up throwing up.

I'm going to Vegas with a bunch of my guy friends and my brother's got a birthday very close to mine so we're going to go there. It's going to be like Ocean's Eleven, we're all going to wear suits.

(Decemebr 2002) Lord of the Rings; The Two Towers premieres.

2003

- Wins a numerous of awards at the National Board of Review, MTV Movie Awards, Online Film Critics Society Awards, Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards, Visual Effects Society Awards ...

- Attends SXSW Film Festival, Bravo Awards, Charades Events in NYC in October, Collectormania, CCICC in San Diego, G-Phoria Awards, MTV Movie Awards, National Board Review Awards and Superskate.

- Busy filming the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind starring opposite Titanic star Kate Winslet and comedian Jim Carrey.

- Filming Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over.

- January 28th: Elijah celebrates his 22nd birthday.

Last time, I said I was going to Vegas. That never happened. This time I've got another harebrained idea that I am sure in keeping with the fact that I didn't do anything last year, I probably won't do this either. But the plan at the moment is to go to Hawaii for a week

2004

- Attends the "Hidalgo" premiere in which friend Viggo Mortensen performs.

- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind premieres.

- Attends Czech Film Festival; Karlovy Vary, DirectorsGuild, E3, Empire Film, Golden Globes, Independent Spirit Awards, Mardi Grass, MTV's TRL July, NY Film Critics, NZ Filmmaker Awards,Feb, Producers Guild, Press Junket Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Academy Awards, Producers Guild, Sala Bakers Birthday Party ...

- Filming Robert Rodriguez directed Sin City

- Filming Green Streen Hooligans

- Filming Everything is Illuminated

2005

- The Green Street press conference is held.

- Sin City, Everything Is Illuminated and Green Street Hooligans all premiere.

- Filming Happy Feet, Bobby, Paris Je t'aime.

2006

- Filming Day Zero.

- March 2006: I (admin) meet Elijah Wood in person!! ♥ ♥ ♥

- May-June 2006: Attends Cannes Film Festival where Paris Je t'aime is shown.

- Happy Feet is released and tops the box office ($121.5 million in 17 days) and beats James Bond, Casino Royale!

- Bobby is released.

- Recording voice work for 9, an animated film by Tim Burton.

- Directs The Apples in Stereo's music video Energy

2007

- Filming of Oxford Murders begins in January.

- Finishes the filming of Day Zero.

2008