From heroic elf warrior to romantic buccaneer: The archer from "Lord Of The Rings" sails on a wave of success with "Pirates Of The Caribbean"

He is adored by every girl. And he knows it, although he's often embarrassed by it. Orlando Bloom, 26, was an unknown actor a couple of years ago who every now and then could be seen on English television without leaving a lasting impression.

Then he spent 18 months in New Zealand to play the elf warrior "Legolas" in Peter Jackson's "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy. And soon enough the son of a South African lawyer and human rights activist had the world at his feet, or better: the female part of the world. Although the ringbearer Frodo, played by Elijah Wood, is the hero of the series, the blonde tressed Legolas is its pin-up. Never before has an archer hit more hearts.

Before the last part of "Lord Of The Rings", "The Return Of The King", starts in cinemas at the end of the year, Bloom now sails in the ways of classic pirate actors Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power with "Pirates Of The Caribbean". Producer Jerry Bruckheimer had already asked Bloom on the set of war movie "Black Hawk Down" about the intention of giving the pirate movie genre a new twist: "Back then the script wasn't finished and there was less humour."

Bloom immediately signed with Bruckheimer, in doing so career-strategic reasons played a part as well: After his fantastic breakthrough with the ethereal Legolas it was about time to step out of his shadow and prove himself in more stalwart roles. Bloom made three very different movies in a short period of time: the Australian gangster ballad "Ned Kelly" - filmed in 1970 with Mick Jagger in the starring role -"Pirates Of The Caribbean" and "The Calcium Kid", a comedy about a milkman and hobby boxer who steps in the ring in his hometown with the world champion.

A long way for a man who was diagnosed five years ago with the possibility of maybe never walking again. In 1998 Orlando Bloom fell three stories deep from a roof terrace in London and broke his back. Doctors had little hope that he would ever walk again but miraculously after several operations he could leave the hospital healed. Some time later he packed his suitcase and flew to New Zealand.

Since then he became a jet-setter movie-wise, lately filming in Malta, shooting director Wolfgang Petersen's "Troy", a movie about the Trojan War. Beside Brad Pitt and Eric Bana, Bloom plays Troy's Prince Paris, favourite of love goddess Aphrodite and challenger of Greek general Menelaos. Once again a costume role. Orlando Bloom seems to be made for ancient hero epics. Is he sometimes looking forward to a role where he can act in his normal street clothes? "God yes", he sighs. "My dream role would be to finally play an ordinary guy who sits in a bar with his three friends and plays cards." Totally without bow and grapnel. The day will come.