How Elijah Wood Achieved a Net Worth of $20 Million

In 1994, Elijah Wood was only 13, but he was already in debt after spending his money to buy Christmas presents for his family. At the time, his allowance was $10 per week, and since the debt was a few hundred dollars, the only way he could cover it was to sell his Fender guitar since he had never learned to play it. Now the actor is 39 years old, and his wealth has grown exponentially over the years. Read on to find out how Elijah Wood's net worth got to $20 million.

A mother's love

Elijah is the middle child, and his siblings are also in the creative arts industry; his elder brother is a video game producer while his younger sister is a poet and actress. Debbie seemed to have been determined to keep her children preoccupied, thus had them participate in all theater productions she could find. Therefore when he was had six and in elementary school, Elijah joined "The Sound of Music" cast to sing the chorus. Having already found his passion was to perform, the actor could not wait to participate in more of his school's productions. Consequently, in 1988, he auditioned to be the lead in "Wizard of OZ" as his school held a festival titled "Hooray for Hollywood." Every other theater production attracted the young boy enabling his mother to think of how her son could utilize his talent beyond the stage.

Therefore, Debbie considered enrolling young Elijah in TV productions and equipping him with the necessary skills, Elijah enrolled at the Avant Models & Talent. His talent was immediately noticed by Gary Scalzo when his mother flew him to Los Angeles for Elijah to participate in the Annual International Modeling and Talent Association Convention. At the time, Elijah only thought of himself as a model, so when Gary suggested he be an actor, the eight-year-old jumped at the opportunity. Luckily, his mother was behind his decision, and a month later, the family moved to Los Angeles at the request of Gary, who wanted to help Elijah grow his career. That became the start of Elijah's rise to stardom because, in a few months, Gary had booked him a role in Paula Abdul's "Forever Your Girl."

By the time Elijah was 15, his parents had divorced, and to date, as he told Evening Standard, he puts his mother on a pedestal. He disclosed that he is a mummy's boy, and he has very little contact with his father, whom the family left behind when they moved to Los Angeles. For Elijah, were it not for his mother, he would have lost his way in this industry that has led to the downfall of many renowned actors; thus, he feels indebted to her. The truth is the relationship he has with his mother is the closest he has ever had, and as we can see, he has every reason to feel that way.

One role changed the course of his career

With already a few acting gigs under his belt, acting alongside the biggest names in Hollywood, including Kevin Costner and Richard Gere, Elijah established himself as a child actor who was here to stay. As he filmed "The Faculty" in 1998, Elijah caught wind of an upcoming trilogy "The Lord of The Rings," and he wanted to be part of it. Therefore when auditions for the movies began, Elijah hired a Hobbit costume and filmed himself running through the woods. That became his audition tape, which landed him the role of Frodo. According to The Things, he was paid $1 million. Later on, when he reprised his role as Frodo in "The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey," the actor reportedly made another $1 million for his two-minute appearance probably.

His need to avoid being typecast led to him fulfilling his dream of being in a horror film. In 1994, he had revealed that he wanted to be in a horror film so bad that he would not even wait to be paid. Instead, it would be like a vacation because he would not use his acting skills. It is, therefore, his passion for horror films that resulted in him also starting a production company, WoodShed. He released a few movies, including "Maniac," which unfortunately did not do well in the box office, making a little over $30,000. Later the production company was rebranded as SpectreVision, and as he told IndieWire, he did not want to mix being an actor with being a producer. He kept pushing his limits as a producer, and once he noticed that his films were taking fans to the cinema, he felt it was a step in the right direction. Despite one of his productions, "The Greasy Strangler," being described as the most disgusting movie of 2016, Elijah said that once you watch it, you should get a glimpse of what interests his production company.

Prospects to increase net worth

Being a child star meant that Elijah spent a lot of time on the road, which exposed him to different types of music that he enjoyed along the way. His love for music consequently resulted in him thinking about starting a record label to release music as a hobby and not make money. His label has been successful in giving him a taste of directing, which prompted him to think about film directing. He had his chance to be a film director by becoming the first assistant director of "The Long and Short of It," Since he is fascinated by filmmaking, it could blossom into another income source.

All the same, acting will always be part of him; even if he has tried to avoid being known for "The Lord of The Rings" by going as far as lending his voice to video games, he still can't escape the lure of the trilogy. Therefore if he is asked to appear in Amazon's "The Lord of The Rings," he will be more than happy to do it. The fact that Amazon is ready to splurge $1 billion on the TV series means that his paycheck would amount to a few million, given that he already has a fan following from the film.