Home   >   Movie Stars   >   H   >   Emile Hirsch

Emile Hirsch

Combining leading-man good looks and innate acting talent, Emile Hirsch is a young star on the rise. Since his arrival in Hollywood, he has starred in numerous major motion pictures, for which his performances have received acclaim from both critics and industry peers alike.

Most recently, Hirsch was seen in Sony's highly anticipated drama Lords of Dogtown, for Thirteen director Catherine Hardwicke. Based on the critically acclaimed documentary Dogtown and Z Boys, it follows a group of California surfers who take their style to the streets, thereby launching the skateboarding phenomenon. Emile stars as the legendary, real-life character Jay Adams, opposite Heath Ledger.

The young actor was also seen in Imaginary Heroes, starring opposite Sigourney Weaver and Jeff Daniels. This touching dramatic role about a family dealing with the death of its oldest son lets you experience the reality of human behavior within a grieving family. The film made its debut at the acclaimed Toronto Film Festival and was followed with a wide, national release.

Hirsch also recently starred in Fox's feature film The Girl Next Door, a romantic comedy that co-stars Elisha Cuthbert. In it, he plays a high-school senior who is a type-A overachiever (head of the business society, involved in student government, etc.) and is applying for admission to Ivy League universities when he falls for the beautiful new girl in school (Cuthbert), who happens to live next door. Craziness ensues when Hirsch's character realizes that she is an ex-porn star, and it becomes his mission to rescue her from her old life. Hirsch took home a Movieline Magazine Young Hollywood Award for his performance.

Prior to that, Hirsch received rave reviews for his performance in the Stanley Tucci production The Mudge Boy, in which he plays the title role. His character is an emotionally disturbed farm boy who is forced to deal with the death of his mother and its ramifications on his personal life, as well as his troubled relationship with his father. The film was in competition at 2003's Sundance Film Festival.

Hirsch also starred opposite Kevin Kline in Universal's release The Emperor's Club. In the role of Sedgewick Bell, he played a wealthy and well-connected prep-school student who manipulates his professor (Kline) into compromising the code of ethics that the professor holds so dear.

Prior to the Emperor's Club, Hirsch received critical acclaim for his starring role in the Jodie Foster-produced The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2001), opposite Vincent D'Onofrio and Kieran Culkin. The film tells the story of a group of Catholic school friends, who, after being punished for drawing an obscene comic book, plan a heist that will outdo their previous pranks and make them local legends. Jodie Foster starred in as well as produced the drama. Altar Boys marked the U.S. feature-film debut for Hirsch.

Hirsch's past credits include the Showtime movie Wild Iris, directed by Dan Petrie Sr., opposite Gena Rowlands and Laura Linney.

Hirsch has a number of projects in various stages of production. Upcoming are the ensemble crime drama The Air I Breathe, also starring Kevin Bacon, Julie Delpy, Brendan Fraser and Sarah Michelle Gellar; the big-screen version of the harrowing factual story of Christopher McCandless, entitled Into the Wild, from writer/director Sean Penn and based on the best-selling book; and writer/director David Gordon Green's college-set drama Goat, based on the memoir of Brad Land.

Born in Los Angeles and raised there and in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Hirsch was drawn to acting at a young age. He currently lives in Venice.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2007.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Emile Hirsch Facts

OccupationActor
BirthdayMarch 13, 1985 (39)
SignPisces
BirthplaceTopanga Canyon, California, USA
Height5' 7" (1m70)  How tall is Emile Hirsch compared to you?

Selected Filmography

Into the Wild
Lone Survivor
Speed Racer
Alpha Dog
All Nighter
Savages
The Girl Next Door
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Lords Of Dogtown
Continue » Find more details on the Emile Hirsch Movies page