Elijah Wood: 5 Things You Didn't Know

The actor stars in FX's quirky comedy "Wilfred," which debuts Thursday night.

10:22 PM PDT 6/22/2011 by THR staff

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Elijah Wood makes his first foray into series TV with Wilfred, a quirky comedy debuting Thursday night on FX.

Elijah Wood to Star in FX Comedy Pilot

In the series, Wood plays Ryan, a suicidal guy who finds salvation in the form of a neighbor’s dog who appears to him as an Australian man (Jason Gann) dressed in a dog costume but as an actual four-legged furry friend to everyone else.

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Here are five things you didn't know about the actor:

1. He appeared in a Paula Abdul video. Wood, born in 1981, was a model and did local commercials in Iowa before moving to Los Angeles in 1998. There, he got his first break with a small role in Abdul's "Forever Your Girl" video, directed by none other than Oscar-nominated filmmaker David Fincher (The Social Network).

2. He made his film debut in Back to the Future II. Wood had a minor role in the Michael J. Fox film, playing a character known only as "video game boy." He is now best known for his role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy; he reprises the role for Jackson's upcoming Hobbit films.

3. He voices video games. Wood has provided the voice for Spyro the Dragon starting with 2006's The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning. He also reprised his Happy Feet role of Mumble for the game version.

4. He has his own record label. In 2005, Wood started Simian Records. The label's first album, New Magnetic Wonder by the Apples in Stereo, was released in February 2007. Simian's roster includes one other band, Heloise and the Savoir Faire.

5. He's a daredevil. Wood appeared in Jack Osbourne's British TV series Jack Osbourne: Adrenaline Junkie in 2008. The premiere featured Wood and Osbourne doing a tandem swing off Victoria Falls bridge and then white-water rafting down the Zambezi River. The stunt gave them the honor of becoming the first people to cross from one side of the Falls to the other on ropes.

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