Emile Hirsch

Emile Davenport Hirsch was born in Topanga, California, March 13, 1985, the son of Margaret (née Davenport), a visual artist and teacher who designed pop-up books, and David Hirsch, an industrial consultant, manager, and producer. His older sister Jenny introduced him to acting. Hirsch was raised in Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lived with his mother after his parents divorced. He attended Paul Revere Middle School and the Academy of Music at Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles.

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. Hirsch will star in the upcoming films Speed Racer and Milk with Sean Penn, his director from the movie Into the Wild.

Hirsch began acting at the age of eight, appearing in minor roles on television shows or made-for-television films, including Kindred: the Embraced; Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and NYPD Blue. He made his film debut with the 2002 drama, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, where he starred opposite Kieran Culkin in the story of two Catholic school boys. His next role was in the prep school drama, The Emperor's Club, which was released later in 2002. 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 renown 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 in Imaginary Heroes, a drama about a dysfunctional family, which received a limited release in February 2005 but failed to reach a wider audience, despite mostly positive reviews.

In 2005, Hirsch starred in Lords of Dogtown; the film, about a number of well-known skaters of the 1970s, was released on June 3, 2005, but ultimately performed poorly at the box office. He subsequently appeared in Alpha Dog, a dark drama starring Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone in which he 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 recently completed the filming of the lead role in Speed Racer, scheduled for Friday May 9, 2008 release.

It has been announced that Hirsch is to star in Gus Van Sant's upcoming Harvey Milk bio-pic Milk. Hirsch is in talks to play gay rights activist Cleve Jones. Sean Penn is to play Harvey Milk.

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Emile Hirsch