Look at me now: Hayley Joel Osmunt

Today's look back at one of yesteryear's child stars takes us to a kid who was pretty big in his formative years. Haley Joel Osmunt. Remember the face? Little Haley owned one of those unusual faces that was pretty memorable, even if his name wasn't. This actor came to public attention in the Oscar winning Forrest Gump, in which Haley played Tom Hanks' screen son. Fast forward a few years to the late nineties/early noughties and the little boy with the girlie name had cemented his prodigious status with films such as The Sixth Sense and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Obviously Haley was a talented actor in his own right, but, without being rude it could be suggested that due to having a peculiar face this perhaps lent itself to him being afforded certain roles.

For example, in The Sixth Sense the film was already eerie enough with his face in it - then the kid starts proclaiming to Bruce Willis that he could see dead people! Well that was it - - cue a lot of absurd nonsense and that famous line that went on to become a parody for spoofs and the like.   

Then there was A.I. Which was basically, from

my recollection a sort of modern day Pinocchio futuristic romp. Haley played a stupid robot child that appeared human (ish) but wasn't, however, he subsequently got ahead of himself whining on that he wanted 'to be a real boy,' blah, blah, snore! Oh would you just get over it, mate. Stay in your lane. And as for that that dumb teddy bear... A.I. threatened to be good film but in actuality it really wasn't. 

Since the early forays into Hollywood  Haley has gone on to TV work and other films even finding his way onto Broadway. Since those days I have wondered what Haley looks like in 2013? Like how has that face developed now that he is an adult? I needed to know badly, it played on my mind terribly. Well, as you can see Haley has sure matured. Look at him now! That face has grown, you can see that at the age of 25 he still bares that familiarity that we all once knew and perhaps didn't love.  

So, what is Haley doing right now? That is the scorching question burning our brains out. Well, apart from a bad accident some years ago due to driving under the influence Haley is now about the hit American screens again in a new sitcom, Alpha House in which Hayley plays a young reporter and yeah, yawn, google it. So, that is what he is doing at the moment. He's keeping busy.  We can all rest easy in the knowledge that Hayley has found a role that excites him. Plus, it appears that he has been chosen for the part primarly on his acting ability rather than his ahem, looks. 

Demola, TCC