As valiant elf Legolas in director Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, Orlando Bloom may be the best-looking imp ever to grace the screen. Winsome and down-to-earth, the twenty-four-year-old Brit - who scored the gig two days before graduating from London's prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama - credits his acting aspirations to '80s American TV: "Once I saw The Fall Guy, The A Team, I realized I could be all of those things if I was just an actor," Bloom says. On his right wrist is a small tattoo - the "elfish" symbol for nine, which is the number of heroes in the Rings fellowship - that represents the bond he and eight cast-mates, including Elijah Wood and Viggo Mortensen, formed over the eighteen-month shoot. Next year, he stars alongside Josh Hartnett and Ewan McGregor in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down. 

By Alyssa Giacobbe
Elle Magazine