<P> Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor, voice actor, DJ, and producer . He is best known for his high - profile leading role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings (2001--03). </P> <P> Wood made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II (1989). Landing a succession of larger roles, he was critically acclaimed as a child actor by age nine, being nominated for several Young Artist Awards . He began to take on teenage roles in the films The Ice Storm (1997), Deep Impact and The Faculty (both 1998). Following The Lord of the Rings, he has chosen varied roles in films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Sin City, Green Street, Everything Is Illuminated (all 2005), and Bobby (2006). </P> <P> Wood provided the voice of Mumble in the award - winning animated musical films Happy Feet (2006) and Happy Feet Two (2011), as well as the eponymous lead in the Tim Burton - produced action / science fiction film 9 (2009). In 2005, he started his own record label, Simian Records . He did the voice acting for Spyro in the Legend of Spyro trilogy . In 2012, he began voicing Beck in the animated series Tron: Uprising, Sigma in the tenth season of the web series Red vs. Blue, the television miniseries Treasure Island, and Wirt in the Cartoon Network miniseries Over the Garden Wall (2014). From 2011 - 14, Wood played the role of Ryan Newman in FX's dark comedy, Wilfred . As of late autumn 2016, he co-stars in the BBC America series Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency . </P> <P> Wood was born on January 28, 1981, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the second of three children . His parents, Debbie (née Krause) and Warren Wood, operated a delicatessen . Wood is of Austrian, Danish, English, German, and Polish descent . He was raised Roman Catholic . He has an older brother, Zachariah, and a younger sister, Hannah . At age seven, Wood began modeling in his hometown and took piano lessons . In elementary school, he appeared in The Sound of Music and played the title character in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . He also served as choir boy in a Marion Creative Council production of See How They Run . In 1989, his parents sold their delicatessen and the family--without his father--moved to Los Angeles for Wood to pursue an acting career . His parents divorced when he was 15 . </P>

Who played fredo in the lord of the rings