Does Elijah Wood Have Kids?

The Short Answer

Elijah Wood is 45 years old — born on January 28, 1981. That makes Elijah Wood one of the most-searched public figures for age-related questions, with fans regularly looking up birthday and family details.

Elijah Wood: Early Life and Background

Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. A prominent child actor of the 1990s and a prolific figure in major studio features during the 2000s, he has received various accolades including two Saturn Awards, an Actor Award, a Critics' Choice Award and an Empire Award in addition to a nomination for a Daytime Emmy Award.

Wood made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II (1989) at age eight and gained recognition in the early 1990s as a child actor with roles such as Avalon (1990), Forever Young (1992), The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993), and The Good Son (1993). As a teenager, he starred in the films North (1994), The War (1994), Flipper (1996), The Ice Storm (1997), Deep Impact (1998), and The Faculty (1998). Wood achieved international recognition in the early 2000s for playing Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003), based on the classic fantasy novel of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien.

As an adult, Wood has appeared in a wide range of films, including Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Sin City (2005), and I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017). He has had voice roles in projects such as Happy Feet (2006), The Legend of Spyro (2006–2008), 9 (2009), Tron: Uprising (2012–2013), and Over the Garden Wall (2014). On television, Wood starred in the series Wilfred (2011–2014), Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (2016–2017), and Yellowjackets (2023–2025).

Wood founded the record label Simian Records in 2005, which was dissolved in 2015. He directed the 2007 music video "Energy" for The Apples in Stereo. In 2010, Wood co-founded a film production company for horror films, The Woodshed, renamed SpectreVision in 2014. Wood is a disc jockey, and has toured globally with his friend Zach Cowie as the duo Wooden Wisdom.

Career and Rise to Fame

Early life

Elijah Jordan Wood was born on January 28, 1981, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Debbie (née Krause) and Warren Wood, who operated a delicatessen together. He is of English, Danish, Irish, and German ancestry, and was raised Catholic. He has an older brother named Zachariah and a younger sister named Hannah. At age seven, Wood began modeling and taking piano lessons in his hometown. In elementary school, he appeared in The Sound of Music and played the title character in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He served as a choirboy in a production of See How They Run. Wood's parents sold their delicatessen in 1989 and the family, without his father, moved to Los Angeles to allow him to pursue an acting career while attending Laurel Springs School, an accredited distance education high school, to gain flexibility to pursue his career; they divorced when he was fifteen.

1989–2000: Early work

Wood modeled and appeared in local commercials; his first appearance was in the music video for Paula Abdul's "Forever Your Girl", directed by David Fincher. This was followed by a pivotal role in the made-for-TV film, Child in the Night, and a minor role in Back to the Future Part II, as a boy from a futuristic 2015 who teases Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) for playing an arcade game because "you have to use your hands". Nine-year-old Wood auditioned for a role in Kindergarten Cop, but was told by director Ivan Reitman that his performance was not believable, which Wood later said was "a harsh thing to say to a nine-year-old."

Playing Aidan Quinn's son in Avalon garnered professional attention for Wood; the film received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for four Academy Awards. A small part in Richard Gere's Internal Affairs was followed by the role of a boy who brings estranged couple Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson back together in Paradise (1991). In 1992, Wood co-starred with Mel Gibson and Jamie Lee Curtis in Forever Young, and with Joseph Mazzello in Radio Flyer.

Age and Birthday Details

Elijah Wood was born on January 28, 1981.

As of 2026, Elijah Wood is 45 years old.

Birthday milestones for public figures like Elijah Wood routinely trend on social media, which is why "how old is" questions generate such consistent search demand.

Personal Life and Family

In 1993, Wood played the title character in Disney's adaptation of Mark Twain's novel, The Adventures of Huck Finn, and co-starred with Macaulay Culkin in the psychological thriller The Good Son. The following year, he starred in The War, alongside Kevin Costner. Although the film received mostly negative reviews, Wood's performance earned praise. Roger Ebert's review of the film praised Wood highly, stating that Wood "has emerged, I believe, as the most talented actor, in his age group, in Hollywood history."

Wood's title role—opposite Bruce Willis—in the Robert Reiner film North (1994) was followed by a Super Bowl commercial for Lay's "Wavy" potato chips (with Dan Quayle). In 1995, Wood appeared in the music video for The Cranberries' "Ridiculous Thoughts", played the lead role in Flipper, and co-starred in Ang Lee's critically acclaimed The Ice Storm. In 1996, he guest starred in the episode entitled "The True Test" in Homicide: Life on the Street. In 1997, Wood played Jack "The Artful Dodger" Dawkins in a made-for-TV adaptation of Oliver Twist, alongside Richard Dreyfuss. The following year, he had a leading role in the sci-fi disaster film Deep Impact, and a starring role in The Faculty, directed by Robert Rodriguez. In 1999, Wood played a suburban white teenager who affects hip-hop lingo in James Toback's Black and White, and a junior hitman in Chain of Fools.

2001–2003: The Lord of the Rings

Wood played Frodo Baggins in the 2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first installment of Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's multi-volume novel. Wood was a fan of the Hobbit, and he sent in an audition tape of himself dressed as Frodo, reading lines from the novel. He was selected from 150 actors who auditioned. Wood was the first actor to be cast. This gave Wood top billing, alongside a cast full of stars.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed in New Zealand; principal photography took over a year, and pick-up shooting continued annually for the next four years. Before the cast left the country, Jackson gave Wood two gifts: one of the One Ring props used on the set and Sting, Frodo's sword. He was also given a pair of prosthetic "hobbit feet" of the type worn during filming.

Recent Years

In 2002, Wood lent his voice to the DTV release of The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina. Later that year, the second part of Peter Jackson's trilogy was released, titled The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. In 2003, Wood starred in the DTV film All I Want and cameoed as 'The Guy' in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. The concluding chapter of the Rings trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was released in December of that year.

2004–2010: Post Lord of the Rings

Wood's first role following his Lord of the Rings success was in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), in which he played Patrick, an unscrupulous lab technician who pursues Kate Winslet. The film received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2005. He next played the silent serial killer Kevin in Robert Rodriguez's adaptation of Frank Miller's comic book series, Sin City (2005). Wood's audition for the role only consisted of staring at a film camera while passages from the graphic novel were read. On May 12, 2005, Wood hosted MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed for the launch of the Xbox 360 video game console.

In Everything Is Illuminated (2005), Wood starred as a young Jewish-American man on a quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II. It was based on the novel of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer. In Green Street (also 2005), he played an American college student who joins a violent British football firm. Both had limited release but were critically acclaimed.

Wood shot a small part in Paris, je t'aime (2006), which consists of 18 five-minute sections, each directed by a different director. Wood's section, called "Quartier de la Madeleine", was directed by Vincenzo Natali. The film played at the Cannes Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. In George Miller's animated musical Happy Feet (2006), Wood provided the voice of Mumble, a penguin who can tap dance, but not sing. Happy Feet grossed over $380 million worldwide, and received both the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film. Wood...

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