FLASHBACK: Orlando Bloom, Adrenaline Junkie, Talks Adventures on Set of 'Lord of the Rings'

While he’s not ageless like his
onscreen persona Legolas in the Lord of
the Rings franchise, Orlando Bloom’s hobbies certainly make it seem like he’s
under the impression he’ll live forever. 

The actor, who turns 40 on Jan. 13, has
proved he knows how to turn any day into an adventure since opening his
Instagram account to the public last year. Motocross racing, cliff jumping and
motorcycling through India are just a few ways Bloom is still getting his
adrenaline fix.

Bloom also recently paid tribute to
the 15th anniversary of TheLord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the
Ring, posting a series of photos of him preparing for his role taken during
the New Zealand production. There was archery, helicopter rides and catching
some waves when the cameras weren’t rolling. 

The actor talked about the cast’s time
at the beach when he sat down with ET in 2001, where he explained the reasoning
behind their decision to take up surfing on their days off from filming.

MORE: Katy Perry Hilariously Compares Orlando Bloom's Throwback Legolas Pics to Jennifer Aniston

“I arrived with
Billy Boyd [and] I was like, ‘Let's buy mountain bikes. Let's buy motorbikes.
Let's just have something, so that when we have time outside of work we can
sort of exercise and expand your mind and do stuff or whatever,’” Bloom said. “But
he was like, ‘No. I don't want to kill myself before we even get filming.’ I
was like, ‘OK, cool.’ But I said, ‘What about surfing?’”

“So we bought
surfboards that day, went in [with] a couple of wetsuits, a couple of boards,”
Bloom continued. “Went down and just learned to surf. And got everyone involved.
It was great. Everyone was surfing. We had the fellowship all with us. It was
great fun.”

While the surfing
kept anyone from getting killed off set, Bloom did walk away from the 18-month
shoot with several injuries, including a
broken rib caused by falling off his horse. Although by no means did this
incident deter him from literally getting back on the horse.

“[I] got an x-ray. Got told I cracked
a rib. Got told there was nothing I could do, so I got back on the horse,” Bloom
revealed at the time. “It's uncomfortable, but yeah. I'd broken my back a few
years ago, so I was used to that sort of pain.”

That is correct. As Boromir might put
it, one cannot simply talk about Bloom’s affinity for dangerous stunts without
mentioning that the dude broke his back just one year before hopping on a plane
to New Zealand.

In 2005, Bloom opened up to GQ about the health scare and
potentially grim outlook he faced after falling off a rooftop three stories up. “Until then, I didn't have a healthy appreciation
for life and death -- that we're not invincible," he told the magazine. He
would walk out of the hospital a few weeks later, but with a new approach to
being an adrenaline junkie.

“Until you're close to losing it, you
don't realize,” Bloom added. “I used to ride motorbikes and drive cars like
everything was a racetrack -- it was ridiculous. It wasn't because I thought it
was cool; it was just because I loved living on the edge. But I've chilled.”

MORE: Orlando Bloom Says Fatherhood Gave Him a 'New Sense of Responsibility'

Following TheLord of the Rings,
Bloom went on to star in yet another action-packed, stunt-heavy trilogy. The Pirates of the Caribbean films would be
just as physically demanding, containing countless sword fights, running
through various jungles and whatever you call that wheel sequence from Dead Man’s Chest.

Of course, it didn’t end there. While
starring in the Pirates franchise and
afterward, he would spare some agility for Troy,
Kingdom of Heaven and The Three Musketeers. Ten years after
the release of TheReturn of the King, Bloom picked up the
bow again to portray Legolas in the final two films of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy. 

In recent years, Bloom has applied his
infinite energy supply toward introducing his son to snowboarding and dodging
pies with girlfriend Katy Perry. "Being a father, you know, you kind of
have a new sense of responsibility,” the actor told ET in December, adding that
his “level of compassion” has grown since he and ex-wife Miranda Kerr welcomed
Flynn in January 2011.

“Can’t wait to shred with my boy a few years
from now,” Bloom captioned a photo of him and Flynn snowboarding on Instagram. 

We’ll be able to catch a glimpse of
Bloom’s stunt work again this summer when he reprises his character of Will
Turner for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead
Men Tell No Tales.