Emile Hirsch Biography
Summary
"Emile Davenport Hirsch" (born March 13, 1985) is an American television and film actor. He began performing in the late 1990s, appearing in several television films and series, and became known as a film actor after roles in "Lords of Dogtown", "The Emperor's Club", "The Girl Next Door", "Alpha Dog", and "Into the Wild". In 2008, Hirsch starred in "Speed Racer" and "Milk". He is notable for playing real-life characters in his films.
Biography
Early life
Hirsch was born in Topanga, California, the son of Margaret (née Davenport), a visual artist and teacher who designed pop-up books, and David Hirsch, an entrepreneur, manager, and producer. His older sister Jenny introduced him to acting when they were enrolled at the Will Geer Theatricum, a summer drama camp in Topanga. Hirsch was raised in Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lived with his mother for several years after his parents divorced. He attended Topanga Canyon Elementary School, Paul Revere Middle School and the Academy of Music at Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. Hirsch left Hamilton High School halfway through his senior year in order to pursue his career, later graduating from Beach High School, an independent private high school in Northern California.
Career
Hirsch began acting at the age of eight, appearing in minor roles on television shows and made-for-television films, including "Kindred: the Embraced"; "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" and "NYPD Blue". Following his appearance on NYPD Blue, casting directors began singling him out as a serious young actor, leading to a 2-episode guest starring role on 'ER'. He made his feature film debut with Jodie Foster's 2002 drama, "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys", where he starred opposite Kieran Culkin in the story of two Catholic school boys. His next feature film role was in the prep school drama, "The Emperor's Club", with Kevin Kline, which was released later in 2002. Hirsch's reviews were favorable, and both films received generally positive reviews, but performed only moderately at the box office.
Hirsch was subsequently cast opposite Elisha Cuthbert in the 2004 teen comedy, "The Girl Next Door", and as a result gained excellent main-stream reviews and wider recognition among teenage audiences. "The Mudge Boy", an independent film that he had starred in before making "Girl Next Door", was given a limited release in the summer of 2004. Hirsch next appeared with Jeff Daniels and Sigourney Weaver in "Imaginary Heroes", a drama about a dysfunctional family, which received a limited release in February 2005.
Later in 2005, Hirsch starred with Heath Ledger in "Lords of Dogtown", a cult favorite by director Catherine Hardwicke; the film, about a number of well-known skaters of the 1970s and their role in the birth of a more high-profile skateboard culture, was released on June 3, 2005. Hirsch played Jay Adams (who some say was the original 'Z-Boy'), and was praised by critics for his performance. He subsequently appeared in "Alpha Dog", a dark drama starring Justin Timberlake, Anton Yelchin, Bruce Willis, and Sharon Stone in which Hirsch played a character based on real-life drug dealer Jesse James Hollywood; the film was shot in 2004 and released on January 12, 2007. Hirsch consulted with Hollywood's real life father before playing the role, and has said that he felt 'pretty afraid in my bones most of the time' while filming because of the film's raw characters and dialogue.
Hirsch next played adventurer Christopher McCandless in Sean Penn's critically acclaimed adventure-drama "Into the Wild", released on September 21, 2007. He lost 40 pounds for the role and was noted in reviews as a potential Academy Award nominee for the film, also receiving a Screen Actors Guild nomination for best actor. Hirsch had the lead role in "Speed Racer", which was released on May 9, 2008. Hirsch plays gay rights activist Cleve Jones in Gus Van Sant's 2008 Harvey Milk bio-pic "Milk" starring Sean Penn in the title role as slain San Francisco politician, Harvey Milk.
He is presently co-starring in "Taking Woodstock", based on a screenplay of Elliot Tiber's memoir "Taking Woodstock", adapted by James Schamus. The film is being directed by Academy Award Winning Director Ang Lee. His co-stars are Demetri Martin, Liev Schreiber, Imelda Staunton, Eugene Levy and Henry Goodman. "Taking Woodstock" is being shot in upstate New York and it is reported that it will be released in 2009.
External links
(New York Observer Profile (2007))
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Emile Hirsch.
