Orlando Bloom burst on to the Hollywood scene in 2001 with his performance as the dashing elf Legolas in "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," slaying orcs and trolls with cool panache and matinee-idol looks.

Since then, he has played Legolas -- or "Leggy," as Bloom calls him -- over the course of four more movies director Peter Jackson adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" books, often as the centerpiece in many of the series' virtuosic action...