Haley Joel Osment Biography

HALEY JOEL OSMENT

Date of Birth: April 10, 1988

This young actor made his way into the international spotlight by the time he was barely six years of age. Beginning his career with a Pizza Hut commercial when he was only four, Osment quickly followed in his father's footsteps, actor Michael Osment. Soon after, he was selected to appear in the television sitcom, Thunder Alley (1994), but he first received recognition for his performance both by viewers and critics when he appeared as Forrest Gump Jr. in his debut feature film Forrest Gump (1994). The role earned him the Youth Film Award.

Osment has worked in several television series, most notably playing Avery, son of Murphy Brown, and guest-starring as a dying child who wanted to sue God on Ally McBeal. Recently, Osment has appeared in the television movies The Lake (1998) and Cab To Canada (1998), which put him in roles that gave him a better chance to break out and show us both his diversity and talent.

In 1999, although Osment failed to get the role of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, what may have appeared to be bad luck turned out to be the best move of his career.

After being cast in the summer thriller, The Sixth Sense(1999), Osment blew audiences and critics away with his convincing performance. He portrayed Cole Sear, an 8-year-old boy haunted by the dark secret he cannot tell anyone: he sees dead people. His performance not only showed him to be what many call the best young actor of his generation, but earned him numerous awards. He was also nominated for an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award. With his nomination from the SAG, Osment became the youngest actor to receive the honor from this institution.

In 2000, Osment co-starred in Pay It Forward with Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt. His next big role came in Steven Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001), in which he convincingly played a little robot boy who longs for a real family. Unfortunately, neither film did as well as expected at the box office, and Osment stuck to voice overs for several animated features for the next little while. He reappeared on the big screen in Secondhand Lions (2003), co-starring with Michael Caine and Robert Duval.

As he approached adolescence, Haley's career slowed down somewhat, but it has recently picked up, with supporting roles in movies such as Entourage (2015), Yoga Hosers (2016), Almost Friends (2016) and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile (2019). He also plays a regular role as Damien on the TV Land series Teachers (2017-19).

Haley's younger sister, Emily, is also an extremely successful actor, with starring roles in television movies and features.

Filmography:

Entourage (2015)
I'll Follow You Down (2014)
Tusk (2014)
Secondhand Lions (2003)
The Jungle Book II (2003) (voice)
The Country Bears (2002) (voice)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2002) (V)
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Discover Spot (2000) (voice)
Pay It Forward (2000)
I'll Remember April (2000)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997) (voice)
Bogus (1996)
For Better or Worse (1996)
Mixed Nuts (1994)
Forrest Gump (1994)