Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor.
Bloom was born in Canterbury, Kent. His mother, Sonia Constance Josephine Copeland, was born in Calcutta, India, the daughter of Betty Constance Josephine Walker and Francis John Copeland, a physician and surgeon. Bloom's maternal grandmother's family has lived in Tasmania, Australia and India, and are of English descent, some of them having originally come from Kent. Bloom had thought that his father was South African-born Jewish lawyer Harry Saul Bloom, but during his younger years and after Harry's death, Bloom's mother revealed to him that his biological father was actually Colin Stone, a family friend. Bloom, who is named after the 17th century composer Orlando Gibbons has one sister, Samantha Bloom, who was born in 1975. Bloom managed to struggle through St Edmund's School in Canterbury despite his dyslexia. In 1993, he moved to London and joined the National Youth Theatre, spending two seasons there and earning a scholarship to train at the British American Drama Academy. Bloom began acting professionally with a television role in an episode of Casualty, and subsequently made his film debut in Wilde (1997), opposite Stephen Fry, before entering the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he studied acting, sculpture and photography. In 1998, he broke his back in a three storey fall, and it was briefly feared that he would not regain the ability to walk. However, he made a complete recovery and was able to walk out of the hospital on crutches within twelve days. Bloom had steel plates inserted into his backbone to support it, which have since been removed, except for a single screw. He regularly practises yoga and Pilates to strengthen his back. Personal life Orlando is a Manchester United fan and lives in London. During filming in Morocco for Kingdom of Heaven, Bloom rescued and adopted a dog, Sidi (a black Saluki mix with a white mark on his chest). In 2004, he became a full member of Soka Gakkai International, a lay Buddhist association affiliated with the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin. He has on his right wrist a tattoo of the Elvish word for "nine", a reference to his involvement in the Lord of the Rings and the fact that his character was one of the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring. The other eight actors of "The Fellowship (Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, John Rhys-Davies, and Elijah Wood)" got the same tattoo. He covers the tattoo up with armbands or sleeves in other films, however it is possible to catch a glimpse of it during Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He also has a tattoo of a sun-like image to the bottom-left of his navel. After meeting actress Kate Bosworth outside a coffee shop, he was later re-introduced to her by a friend, and then met her again at the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The two actors dated until splitting up temporarily in 2005. However, on September 05, 2006, sources reported that the couple had separated again.