Elijah was born on January 28th, 1981 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as the second son of Deborah and Warren Wood. During his first years nothing most uncommon happened--at least not that it was ever being noticed by the public. His "talents," of which acting is just the best known, began showing shortly after he started school. In particular, he was, in 1987, in the chorus of "The Sound Of Music," the annual festival of his elementary school. In the next year, he was cast the lead role in "The Wizard Of Oz," another musical production at his school, which was part of the festival "Hooray for Hollywood." Also, he was a choir boy in the Marion Creative Council's production called "See How They Run."

Different resources reported that, when she once saw a commercial, Elijah's mother thought that Elijah could "do" some TV-related jobs, as well. Thus, at the age of seven, she enroled him in a local modeling school, at Avant Studios (also known as Avant Models & Talent), Cedar Rapids. Half a year later, she traveled with her son to the International Modeling and Talent Association convention, in Los Angeles, which was actually the first time for Elijah being in California--this maybe makes it even more understandable why Elijah claims his mother having played a very, very important role in his career.

Later, Gary Scalzo, a talent manager, said that he relucantly had agreed being a judge at this convention. Totally, there were more than 200 children, as well as about 300 hopeful talents up to the age of 30, at this event. When Gary was suggested, by some of his friends, to watch Elijah's performance, he took quite some time to take a closer look at him. Gary himself put it into words, "(...) I watched him for two whole days without opening my mouth. He was packed with personality and nervous energy. The big question I asked myself was whether I could control his energy.

Mr. David Guillod, one of those friends, who had suggested Elijah to Gary Scalzo, recalls "Oh!, he was such a cutie! I think what struck us was the simple fact that (...) when he walked out on stage, the room was silent. Elijah had this stage presence, and he commanded the stage with his smile. He did it with a natural charm and charisma, and he won the hearts of the people. It was just a quality.

Further, Gary Scalzo told, "It was only a few days before his eighth birthday when I saw him perform his monologue. It was evident that Elijah was talented and enjoyed what he was doing, which is important. After the competition I talked to his mother and asked if Elijah would like to come to my office with her the next day and talk about the possibilities of an acting career. Elijah and I read some scenes together and he was wonderful. He read brilliantly. He's also very directable."

Elijah himself recalls, "When my mom brought me to Hollywood for the convention, I didn't think of acting because I was just a model. But when Gary asked me if I wanted to be an actor, I said, 'Yeah, sure. I'll be an actor.' Gary was one of the judges in the talent auditions and my mom said it was OK with her. He said, 'I believe in you' and asked my mom if we could move out."

One month after these events, the Wood family relocated to L.A.; although it might have seemed a little "hasty," the events that happened next had shown the correctness of this step! Guided by Mr. Scalzo, who represented Elijah during the next three years, the career of young Mr. Wood had begun. So, only six weeks had passed with auditions when Elijah had his first professional job: taking part in Paula Abdul's music film production "Forever Your Girl."

Very soon followed Elijah's first appearances in movies, where he got to know several high-class, well-known directors and actors: Michael J. Fox in Robert Zemeckie's production "Back To The Future II;" Richard Gere in "Internal Affairs." But his big break-through came in late 1990, when "Avalon" (with Armin Mueller Stahl) was released. Finally, critics started noticing what others had known from their first encounter with this young, energetic boy. "What Elijah always did was, he jumped off the screen, because he enjoyed himself and he enjoyed the business," recalls Mr. Guillod. "And you can see it. You can certainly see it." Gary Scalzo put it this way, saying "Elijah's personality is just right for the screen. When he walks in, the whole room lights up."