Haley Joel Osment

Infobox actor


imagesize = 250px
birthname = Haley Joel Osment
birthdate = birth date and age|1988|4|10
birthplace = Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
yearsactive = 1994 ─ present
website = http://www.haleyjoelosment.net
awards = Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor
1999 "The Sixth Sense"
2001 ""

Haley Joel Osment (born April 10, 1988) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. After a series of roles in television and film during the early 1990s, he came to fame with his starring role as Cole Sear in M. Night Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense" (1999). He subsequently had leading roles in several high-profile Hollywood films, including "Pay It Forward" and "" Beginning October 31, 2008, he will appear on Broadway in a revival of "American Buffalo", with John Leguizamo, and Cedric the Entertainer starring. [ [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/120558.html Playbill 19 Aug 2008] ]

Biography

Personal life

Osment was born in Los Angeles, California, [cite web |url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/11/Haley-Joel-Osment.html |title=Haley Joel Osment Biography (1988-) |publisher=filmreference.com |accessdate=2008-10-01] the son of Theresa (née Seifert), a teacher, and Michael Eugene Osment, [cite news |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/fashion/23hollywood.html |title=When Childhood Is a Tough Role |publisher=New York Times |first=Mireya |last=Navarro |date=2007-09-23 |accessdate=2008-10-03] a theater and film actor, both natives of Alabama. His childhood was described by his parents as a "good old-fashioned Southern upbringing", and his father said that when Osment was learning to talk, he avoided using baby talk to communicate with him. He has one sister four years his junior, actress Emily Osment.cite news |url=http://www.kidactors.com/haley/movies/ai/articles/aia01b50br.htm |title=Acting Older Than His Age |last=Copelan |first=Libby |publisher=Washington Post |date=2001-07-02 |accessdate=2008-10-01] Osment was raised as a Catholic,cite news|last=Duke|first=Paul F.|title=Osment, Dafoe honing 'Edges'|publisher=Variety|date=2000-04-25|url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117780884.html?categoryid=13&cs=1|accessdate=2008-10-01] and was a straight-A student at Flintridge Preparatory School in La Cañada, California. [cite news |url=http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/zap-haleyjoelosmentduicharge,0,2747359.story |title='Sixth Sense' Star Charged With DUI |work=Zap2it.com |publisher=Tribune Media Services |date=2006-08-18 |accessdate=2008-10-01] As a child, Osment was talented in many sports, including basketball, football and golf. [cite web |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1999/11/04/tlhale04.html |title=Haley and the ego problem |publisher=The Daily Telegraph |date=1999-11-04 |accessdate=2008-10-02] According to Osment's official website, he has a mostly vegetarian diet, [cite web |url=http://www.kidactors.com/haley/faqs.htm |title=The Official Haley Joel Osment Web Site : FAQs and Facts |publisher=kidactors.com |accessdate=2008-10-01] and in an interview with Daniel Robert Epstein, Osment said he plays the guitar and piano. [cite web |url=http://www.ugo.com/channels/dvd/features/secondhandlions/haleyjoelosment.asp |title=Haley Joel Osment Interview |publisher=UGO Networks |accessdate=2008-10-02] He currently attends New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. [cite news |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/fashion/23hollywood.html?pagewanted=2 |title=When Childhood Is a Tough Role |publisher=New York Times |first=Mireya |last=Navarro |date=2007-09-23 |accessdate=2008-10-02]

Osment received injuries, including a broken shoulder when his car struck a mailbox and overturned near his home on July 20, 2006.cite web | title=StarPulse | work=Police Suspect Alcohol Was a Factor in Haley Joel Osment's Crash | url=http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2006/07/21/police_suspect_alcohol_was_a_factor_in_h | accessmonthday=July 21 | accessyear=2006] On October 19, 2006 Osment pleaded no contest to one count each of misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol, and possession of marijuana while driving. He was sentenced to three years probation, 60 hours in an alcohol rehabilitation and education program, a fine of $1500, and a minimum requirement of 26 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings over a six-month period.cite web | title=DesertNews.com | work=Osment pleads no contest to misdemeanor charges | url=http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,650200193,00.html | accessmonthday=October 20 | accessyear=2006] [http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=d239065b-7123-4024-9c70-d890ec4e4771 No Contest for Haley Joel] Dead link|date=October 2008, from E! News]

Career

Osment began acting at the age of four, when his mother took him to a new Ikea store. A talent scout was there looking for new actors, and Osment put his name down. He got called back for an audition, and he was asked to describe the biggest thing he had ever seen; he described an IMAX theater screen and won the part in a Pizza Hut commercial, advertising the "Big Foot" pizza. The commercial launched his career, and he starred in "Thunder Alley", his first television role, later that year. [cite news |url=http://www.amarillo.com/stories/090299/ent_rave.shtml |title=Young actor receives rave reviews |last=King |first=Susan |publisher=Los Angeles Times |date=1999-09-02 |accessdate=2008-10-02] His first film role was as Forrest Gump's son, also named Forrest Gump, in the 1994 film of the same name. [cite news |title='Something Special' About Haley Joel Osment |publisher=St. Petersburg Times |date=2001-06-30] He had roles in numerous TV series, including "The Jeff Foxworthy Show" and the final season of "Murphy Brown", in which he replaced Dylan Christopher as Murphy's son Avery. He also made a small appearance in "Mixed Nuts". He made numerous guest appearances in various TV series including "The Larry Sanders Show", "Walker, Texas Ranger" (as a child dying from AIDS), "Touched by an Angel", "Chicago Hope", "The Pretender", and as a child dying from leukemia in the emotional episode "Angels and Blimps" of the late-1990s show "Ally McBeal".

Osment starred in "Bogus" alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Gérard Depardieu, and appeared in the 1998 made-for-TV movie "The Lake" with Yasmine Bleeth, as well as "I'll Remember April" with future "The Sixth Sense" co-star Trevor Morgan. He first achieved stardom in 1999 when he appeared in the blockbuster "The Sixth Sense", co-starring Bruce Willis. For this role, he won the Saturn Award for best young actor. He was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor but lost to Michael Caine (alongside whom he would later star in "Secondhand Lions"). One of Osment's lines in "The Sixth Sense", "I see dead people" is often repeated or parodied on television programs and in other media. He also made three minor guest appearances on "Family Guy" in 2000.

The 2000 Academy Awards ceremony honored another future co-star, Best Actor Kevin Spacey, who, along with Helen Hunt, appeared in Osment's next film, "Pay It Forward". The following year, he appeared in Steven Spielberg's "", cementing his stature as one of the leading young actors in Hollywood. This role earned him his second Saturn Award. Also in 2001, Osment starred in the Polish film, "Edges of the Lord", as Romek. The movie was never released theatrically in the United States. He has since provided voices for "The Country Bears", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame II" and "The Jungle Book 2", and returned to live action with the 2003 film, "Secondhand Lions".

More recently, Osment was the voice of Sora, the main protagonist of The Walt Disney Company and Square-Enix's "Kingdom Hearts" video game series, which has been extremely financially successful as well as generally well-received critically. He was also the voice of Takeshi Jinno, the main character of the "Immortal Grand Prix" anime TV series. Osment next appeared in "Home of the Giants", playing a high school journalist opposite Ryan Merriman and Danielle Panabaker. He is currently working on "Montana Amazon" as both actor and executive producer. The film also co-stars Olympia Dukakis and is expected to be released in 2009.

Osment will make his Broadway theatre debut in a revival of David Mamet's "American Buffalo", co-starring with John Leguizamo and Cedric the Entertainer, at the Belasco Theatre with the official opening on November 17, 2008. [Playbill, 26 August 2008]

Filmography

References

External links

* [http://www.haleyjoelosment.net/ Haley Joel Osment official website]
*imdb name|id=0005286|name=Haley Joel Osment
* [http://www.americanbuffalobroadway.com "Official Broadway Site"] Website for the 2008 Broadway Production of American Buffalo starring John Leguizamo, Cedric the Entertainer, and Haley Joel Osment