• Faith: Buddhist
• Career: Actor
• Birthday:  January 13, 1977

Orlando Bloom is an actor. He made his breakthrough as Legolas in “The Lord of the Rings” film series and reprised the role in “The Hobbit” film series. Considered by some to be the Errol Flynn of his time, Bloom gained further notice appearing in historical, epic fantasy, and adventure films, notably as Will Turner in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” film series, Paris in “Troy,” Balian de Ibelin in “Kingdom of Heaven,” and the Duke of Buckingham in “The Three Musketeers.” Bloom also appeared in Hollywood movies like “Black Hawk Down,” “Ned Kelly,” “Elizabethtown,” and “New York, I Love You.” In 2020, he gained acclaim for the drama film “The Outpost.” He also starred in the Amazon Prime Video series “Carnival Row.”

Bloom made his professional stage debut in “In Celebration” at the Duke of York’s Theatre in the West End in 2007 and starred in a Broadway adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” in 2013. He returned to the theatre in a West End revival of Tracy Letts’ “Killer Joe” in 2018. In 2009, Bloom was named a UNICEF Goodwill ambassador. In 2015, he received the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. He shares a daughter with pop star Katy Perry. Bloom was born in 1997 in Canterbury, Kent and was named after the 16th-century English composer Orlando Gibbons. He has an older sister, Samantha. He initially thought that his biological father was his mother’s husband, the South African-born anti-apartheid novelist Harry Bloom, who died when Bloom was four years old.

However, when he was 13, Bloom’s mother revealed to him that his biological father was actually Colin Stone, his mother’s partner and family friend. Stone, the principal of the Concorde International language school, became Bloom’s legal guardian after Harry Bloom’s death. Bloom’s mother, Sonia, was born in Kolkata, India, and was the daughter of British parents from Kent. He attended St. Peter’s Methodist Primary School, then the junior school of The King’s School, before proceeding to St. Edmund’s School Canterbury. Bloom was discovered to be dyslexic and was encouraged by his mother to take drama and art classes. After being spurred into action and following his school prize submission to panto actor Richard Sieben in 1992, in 1993, Bloom moved to London to follow a two-year A-level course in Drama, Photography, and Sculpture at Fine Arts College, Hampstead.

He then joined the National Youth Theatre, spending two seasons there and earning a scholarship to train at the British American Drama Academy. Bloom started acting professionally with TV roles in episodes of “Casualty” and “Midsomer Murders” and subsequently made his film debut in “Wilde,” opposite Stephen Fry, before entering the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he studied acting.

What religion is Orlando Bloom?

Orlando Bloom identifies as a Buddhist who typically recites Buddhist chants before embarking on any adventure. Bloom, a practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism and a follower of the Soka Gakkai organization says he likes the philosophy that the Buddha believed would lead all living creatures to enlightenment in their current lifetime. He said, “At its core, it’s about respecting all living beings. And I liked that as a roadmap. I always wanted a roadmap, and in a way, this practice has been that for me.” Bloom has been practicing Buddhism since he was 16 years old.