Elijah Wood: ‘I still have a pair of Hobbit feet in my house’

The 40-year-old actor on living with Frodo, coping with fans and why he loves fatherhood

I grew up in a blue-collar, working-class family in Cedar Rapids in Iowa. My dad worked at the box factory, and my mum worked at the Quaker Oats factory. Eventually they pooled resources and built a deli called Souper, which sold soups, sandwiches and salads. There's normally a moment of inspiration that inspires an actor's origins. For me it was minestrone soup... Of course it wasn't! I never had that moment.

When I was six a talent manager spotted me and asked me if wanted to become an actor. I was like, Yeah, why not?" My mother took me and my brother, Zack, who is seven years older than me, to LA for six weeks to a talent-spotting event and I ended up getting a job on a Paula Abdul video. Things moved relatively fast in the grand scheme of things.