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Haley Joel Osment: Forrest Gump
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Haley Joel Osment made his big screen debut at the age of 6, not on the movie about dead people, but way back in 1994 in Forrest Gump (as the smart Forrest Gump Jr.). Before working with Tom Hanks he had bit roles in television on Lies Of The Heart and an episode of Sesame Street. While he continued to enjoy a few bit roles on television, appearing in Walker, Texas Ranger, Chicago Hope and The Larry Sanders Show, it wasn't until 1999 when he would make a name for himself--at the virtually nameless age of 11.
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Haley Joel Osment was presented with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award Sunday at the 74th Academy Awards. Osment debuted on the silver screen in “Forrest Gump” way back in 1994, when gas prices were still under a dollar-thirty and the Kodak Theater, home of the Oscars, was only in its architectural phase.
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Osment began acting at the age of four, when he tried out for a Pizza Hut commercial in a shopping mall. The commercial launched his career, and he landed his first television role later that year. As a young child his first film role was as Forrest Gump's son... named Forrest Gump, in the 1994 film of the same name as well as making a small appearance in Mixed Nuts. He had roles in numerous TV series, including Thunder Alley, The Jeff Foxworthy Show and most notably the final season of Murphy Brown, in which he replaced Dylan Christopher as Murphy's son Avery. He also made numerous guest appearances in various TV series including The Larry Sanders Show, Walker, Texas Ranger (as a child dying from AIDS), Touched by an Angel, Chicago Hope, The Pretender, and as a child dying from leukemia in the emotional episode "Angels and Blimps" of the late-1990s show Ally McBeal.
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Osment got his start in acting at four when he caught the eye of a casting director. He made his film debut in 1994's Forest Gump playing the son of Tom Hanks' character. Other early roles include For Better or Worse, a regular role on the series Thunder Alley as Harry Turner and recurring roles on The Jeff Foxworthy Show Murphy Brown and and Walker, Texas Ranger.
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Always precocious, Haley was fascinated by the imaginary world of film, and using words like “paleontologist” when he was only three. At five, he was spotted by a casting agent in the playroom of a Southern California furniture store and offered a Pizza Hut commercial that lead to his appearance as Forrest Jr. in the Academy Award winning film Forrest Gump. Haley was six when he first appeared on the big screen.
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Eugene was a budding stage actor, so it wasn't really his connections that gave Haley his start in film. What happened was infinitely more fortunate. Spotted by casting directors in the play-area of a furniture store, Haley was asked to audition for a Pizza Hut ad. He got the part, the ad was screened and - much to the chagrin of any actor who's had to pay their dues - it was noticed by director Robert Zemeckis. Zemeckis was still riding high on the success of the Back To The Future series, and looking to cast his next movie, a high-budget feast of Americana called Forrest Gump. Again, Haley walked into the part of Tom Hanks' son and, though onscreen for a very short period, was spellbindingly memorable.
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Forrest Gump