Biography, Filmography And Pictures:

Frequently compared to Leonardo DiCaprio for his youthful  appearance and his fondness for powerful, yet unselfish young male roles, Emile Hirsch started his Hollywood career by guest appearing as a young teen in various TV dramas before gaining mainstream attention for his big-screen feature film work.

He was born on March 13, 1985 in Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles California, and after his parents divorced relocated to New Mexico with his mother, where he was hired for his first television spot in a local commercial. By his early teens, he became determined to start a career in acting, and began auditioning and winning television guest roles. He appeared on "3rd Rock from the Sun", "Early Edition", "Players", "Two of a Kind" with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" with Melissa Joan Hart. He then  tried his hand at more dramatic roles by appearing on "Promised Land", "The Pretender", "Profiler", "NYPD Blue" and "ER" with Noah Wyle.

After doing his time on network sitcoms, he was hired and cast in several made for television movies including "Gargantua" (1998) and "Houdini" (1008), portraying the young magician in the life story of escape artist and magician Harry Houdini. He then co-starred alongside Gena Rowlands in the television drama "Wild Iris" (2001), about a woman and her teenage son who move back in with her mother (Rowlands) to work together in the family bridal business. The film won a Prime Time Emmy Award. and was nominated for three others. Hirsch had become a star, and Hollywood wanted more of the cute young actor.

He got his first big-screen Hollywood break in the starring role of Francis Doyle in the award winning "Dangerous Lives Of Altar Boys" (2002), also starring a young Kieran Culkin, about a group of young Catholic school boys, who after being caught drawing an obscene and erotic comic book, plan a stunt that will outdo their previous prank and make them local legends. Both Hirsch and Culkin received rave reviews for their role and their ability to carry a full length feature film as equals. Some critics felt that Culkin would upstage the actor due to Culkin's ties to his famous brother Macauley. He followed with the drama "The Emperor's Club" (2002), where an idealistic prep school teacher attempts to redeem an incorrigible student. 

The following year, Emile took the starring role in the dramatic "The Mudge Boy" (2003), a strange tale about Duncan Mudge, who is a shy and immature 14-year-old small-town mama's boy who spends most of his time on his father's farm with his favorite chicken. When his mother suffers a heart attack and dies, Duncan behaves even more strangely, occasionally adopting her voice and wearing her robe to sleep in. He also begins to take a liking to a fellow 14-year-old boy played by Tom Guiry, in what becomes a bizarre coming of age story for Duncan as he explores his sadness, sexuality, and angst of beginning to grow into a young man. "The Mudge Boy" was nominated for a Sundance Film Festival Grand Prize and a GLADD award (Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation). Critics felt the role for him was a bold move, playing a potentially gay young man at such an early stage in his career.

Another starring role with Elisha Cuthbert followed in the romantic comedy "The Girl Next Door" (2003), where a young teenage boy's dream comes true when a former porn star moves in next door and they fall in love. He wrapped the year starring with Sigourney Weaver in the dramatic "Imaginary Heroes" (2003), about the Travis family, whose cover is destroyed by an event unfathomable to them, an event which will open locked doors and finally reveal the secrets that have haunted them for decades. 

He then was cast in the starring role of Jay in the surfer movie "Lords Of Dogtown" (2005), working with the late Heath Ledger. The film follows the surf and skateboarding trends that originated in Venice, California during the 1970's.

He then tried his luck with an action film, starring with Bruce Willis and Justin Timberlake in the crime drama "Alpha Dog" (2006), a drama based on the life of Jesse James Hollywood, a drug dealer who became one of the youngest men ever to be on the FBI's most wanted list. The crime thriller "The Air I Breath" (2007) followed with Hirsch in a supporting role alongside Kevin Bacon Brendan Fraser, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Forest Whitaker, a drama based on an ancient Chinese proverb that breaks life down into four emotional cornerstones: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love. The star was now a true Hollywood celebrity, and critics and audiences alike still wanted more.

In 2007, he was cast in the starring role of Chris McCandless in the dramatic adventure movie "Into The Wild" (2007), where after graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $25,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. The movie was written and directed by Sean Penn and also starred William Hurt, Catherine Keener and Vince Vaughn. "Into The Wild" was nominated for two Oscar Awards, and he was singled out for a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role. 

Another breakout Hollywood role came in the form of "Speed Racer", in the family action film "Speed Racer" (2008) with Christina Ricci, about the young Speed Racer, who is a young 18-year-old whose life and love has always been racing. Racing is "in his blood", and his parents, Dad (John Goodman) and Mom (Susan Sarandon), run an independent business building racecars, and his brother, record-setting racer Rex Racer (Scott Porter), was killed in Speed's childhood in the running of the Casa Cristo, an incredibly intense cross-country racing rally notorious for rough and foul play.

He followed in 2008 with the dramatic biography "Milk" (2008), starring with Sean Penn and Josh Brolin, in the story of California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), a San Francisco supervisor who was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone by San Francisco Supervisor Dan White. 

He wrapped his year in the Ang Lee musical comedy "Taking Woodstock" (2009), about the man working at his parents' motel in the Catskills who inadvertently sets in motion the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969.

Watch Emile Hirsh And Sean Penn In "Milk" Movie Trailer

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