He made his professional stage debut in In Celebration at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End in 2007 and starred in a Broadway adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in 2013.

He then joined the National Youth Theatre, spending two seasons there and earning a scholarship to train at the British American Drama Academy.

[24] Bloom next starred opposite Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which was a blockbuster hit during the summer of 2003.

He subsequently played the lead roles in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven and Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown, both released in 2005, and starred in the 2006 film Haven, for which he also served as executive producer.

In 2006, Bloom was one of the guest stars in the sitcom Extras, in which he portrayed an exaggeratedly arrogant, narcissistic version of himself who had a great loathing for Johnny Depp (his co-star in Pirates of the Caribbean).

[25] In 2004, the second and third films of the Pirates of the Caribbean series were conceived, with screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio developing a story arc that would span both sequels, in which Bloom reprised his role as Will Turner.

Filming for the projects took place in 2005; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest released in July 2006, with the worldwide collections of $1.066 billion, becoming the biggest financial hit of Bloom's career.

In 2011, Bloom appeared in The Three Musketeers opposite Milla Jovovich, Logan Lerman, Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, Juno Temple and Christoph Waltz.

Bloom also reprised his role as Legolas in parts two and three of The Hobbit, Peter Jackson's three-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

[40] Although it was announced as a supporting role, Bloom ultimately made a cameo appearance in the fifth film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which was released in May 2017.

Bloom is currently starring in the Amazon Prime TV show Carnival Row, which was filming its second season in Prague before temporarily postponing production due to COVID-19.

In 2023, he played Danny Moore, a Nissan marketing executive in the sports film Gran Turismo based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough.

To authentically portray his character, Bloom underwent a significant physical transformation, losing 35 pounds to depict a boxer's intense weight-cutting process.

"[14] During filming in Morocco for Kingdom of Heaven, Bloom rescued and adopted a dog, Sidi (a black Saluki mix with a white mark on his chest).

[46][47] In 2004, he became a full member of SGI-UK (the UK branch of Soka Gakkai International), a lay Buddhist association affiliated with the teachings of Nichiren.

[24] As part of his environmental involvement, he has renovated his London home to use solar panels, incorporate recycled materials, and has used energy efficient lightbulbs.

[24] Involved in modelling work, in 2002 he starred opposite English actress Kate Beckinsale in a Gap television advertisement directed by Cameron Crowe.

[56] Bloom also visited the city of Sloviansk in the east of Ukraine in April 2016 to raise awareness of the education crisis facing children during the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2014–2015.

[60] On 13 July 2009, four hooded teenagers broke into the Hollywood Hills home of Bloom and stole nearly half a million dollars' worth of possessions.

[73] Bloom began dating American singer and songwriter Katy Perry in January 2016;[74] however, the couple confirmed in February 2017 that they had split.