Haley Joel Osment Looks Transformed Today At 35

Aug 08, 2022

In Hollywood, it can be challenging for child stars to adapt to the more mature side of acting as they grow older. These young and ambitious kids may do well in their early years but unfortunately fall off as they grow older. However, some kid stars make it early on and still find a way to stay successful as the years progress.

Haley Joel Osment is undoubtedly most remembered for his breakthrough performance in the 1999 psychological thriller “The Sixth Sense,” playing opposite Bruce Willis. Most people would be able to recall his famous line: “I see dead people.” Osment’s turn in the film won him a Saturn Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Prior to acting in “The Sixth Sense,” Osment began his career as a child star in the 1994 film “Forrest Gump,” alongside Tom Hanks. As the decade turned, Osment continued to act and appeared in a multitude of films in various genres, proving to be a great talent at such a young age. While it’s common for child actors to take breaks from Hollywood to pursue school or other dreams, or their careers just don’t pan out the way they had planned, Osment has continued to work hard in La La Land and stay relevant in an ever-changing industry.

Nowadays, Osment is 35 years old and has grown up to be quite the handsome actor while still showcasing his plethora of talents. Read on to learn more about Osment’s ambitious career and what he is up to today.

Osment was born on Apr. 10, 1988, in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of Theresa, a teacher, and Michael Eugene Osment, a theater and film actor. He also has one sister, actress Emily Osment, best known for her role as Lilly in the Disney series “Hannah Montana.”

During his younger years, Osment was very active in sports such as wrestling, basketball, football and golf, along with being a child actor. According to The Guardian, Osment became an actor by chance, despite the fact that his father was an actor and ran a theater on Santa Monica Boulevard. At age 4, Osment was spotted in an Ikea and went on to appear in an ad for a pizza company in 1993. Afterward, he landed the role of Forrest Jr. in “Forrest Gump” when he was just 5 years old.

It wasn’t long before Osment landed the role that many people today still recognize: Cole Sear in “The Sixth Sense.” According to The Guardian, director M. Night Shyamalan was worried that the young star was too much of a “cherub” to play such a dark role, but Osment’s sheer “vulnerability and depth” ultimately won him over.

Osment was grateful to Shyamalan and leading man Willis for believing in him and his knowledgeable father's help. “I don’t think I could have done it, had there not been that sense that they believed in me,” he said.

“I realize that I’m very lucky,” Osment said, as per Far Out. “Because there were other kids who maybe didn’t have parents that looked out for them, or worked on film sets that were not wholesome, or where they were not protected. But that was not my experience.”

While many people may think child stardom would come with plenty of popularity at school, that isn’t always the case. On top of that, some children have to switch from physically going to school with other kids their age to being homeschooled to adjust to their new busy lives as working stars.

However, unlike other child stars, Osment found himself working mostly in more mature films – films that many of his classmates and fellow peers probably wouldn’t have even been allowed to watch at the time due to their age. Instead of starring alongside Disney or Nickelodeon stars, Osment found himself working with some of the greats like Willis, Hanks and Michael Caine. 

Because of this, Osment wasn’t really hounded by his peers about being in films since many of them hadn’t seen his work. He explained:

“It intruded less on my personal life that I wasn’t in things that were being watched by my age rank. So going back to school, it wasn’t like I was on a show that everybody at school was watching at the same time, and I think it made the growing-up process a little bit easier. Even going back to sixth grade after ‘The Sixth Sense,’ that was a movie that my classmates were too young to see.”

Instead, Osment noted that child stars who are in children’s programs tend to have more pressure on them, such as his younger sister Emily. She was a huge star on the Disney channel, appearing in “Hannah Montana,” “Jonas,” “The Suite Life on Deck” and more.

On the topic of other notable stars who found fame at an early age, Osment also spoke about Zac Efron. Efron first skyrocketed to fame with the leading role of Troy Bolton in the “High School Musical” franchise. Following the first film’s release in 2006, Efron instantly became a teen idol and a major heartthrob.

Speaking about Emily and Efron’s experience as famous Disney stars, Osment said, “Being on those shows that were hugely popular with their own age groups, I think there’s a lot more pressure and a lot more scrutiny, so I admire them both for coming through it.”

Later in his career, Osment actually had the opportunity to work alongside Efron in the film “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.” It was definitely a more mature step for Efron and was right on track with the type of film that many people would associate with Osment.

But before Osment was able to really appreciate his work as a child star, he still had some growing up to do. According to The Guardian, Osment moved to New York at 18 to study experimental theater at New York University. “I did work that practically nobody saw for a long time, which was not a great career move – but, ultimately, was important for me to figure out whether this was what I truly wanted to do for the rest of my life,” he explained. Just two years later, Osment made his Broadway debut in “American Buffalo.” The actor graduated from college and continued finding work in the industry. 

While he was once a young child star who had a gift for seeing those who had passed on, Osment switched it up a bit and instead played a long string of “bad guy” characters.” He explained, “That was definitely a very fun period of playing a lot of bad guys.” Part of this also included Osment straying away from his baby-face image, and he even grew a beard “to try to hide in public.” However, he admitted that it “didn’t really work at all.”

Despite the creepy and villainous roles Osment takes on, there is an undeniable charm about the star. However, Osment’s career hasn’t completely been without controversy. In 2006, he overturned his car while driving while intoxicated and was fined and sentenced to rehabilitation before being put on probation for three years. The actor described it as a “terrible mistake” that “could not have had less to do with Hollywood.”

Unfortunately, seeing child stars turn down a dark path is something that Hollywood knows all too well. Many young actors, actresses and pop stars have the whole world in their hands and sadly throw it away after one mistake. But this was not the case for Osment.

“...”I think the percentage of people having a positive experience working as children is much higher than most people imagine,” Osment said. He also explained that it seems like the media attention is never really on the child stars who grow up and “move on to something else that works for them,” or just leave their career behind in general.

While he had spoken about the idea of child stars growing up and finding new passions within the industry or even new passions altogether, Osment thrived in the acting scene and worked hard to stay relevant in the entertainment industry.

Some of the movies and TV shows he has starred in include “Entourage,” “The Kominsky Method” and “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.” Osment has also done voice work for the “Kingdom Hearts” video game franchise since 2002.

Speaking with Desde Hollywood in 2015, Osment explained how he found himself working on the “Entourage” film. “I auditioned for it at the end of 2013, I read the script, gathered how much fun the character was and I was really excited to do it,” he said. “After auditioning a couple months went by before I heard anything. It came out of nowhere and I was on set the following week.”

The movie featured original cast members from the TV show – Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara and Jeremy Piven – as well as new faces, like Osment and Billy Bob Thornton. The film also had plenty of star-studded cameos from people like Jessica Alba, Tom Brady and Liam Neeson.

Prior to being in the movie, Osment had been a fan of the TV show. “It came out when I was in high school and I remember watching it with my friends,” he said. “I definitely rewatched it quite a bit when I got the role in the movie. It was really surreal to be on set with these guys after being so familiar with the show for so long.”

For Osment, trying his hand at a different type of character was one of his favorite parts of filming “Entourage.” “I had a lot of fun doing this character, playing this guy with this accent and with a very specific way of presenting himself,” he said. “When I auditioned I didn’t know that Billy Bob Thornton was going to be playing my dad in the movie. It was a lot of fun to work with him and Jeremy Piven.”

The set, in general, seemed to be a great working environment for the old cast as well as the new members and all of the featured cameo stars. “With all the cameos and everything, it was just a really fun environment to be around,” Osment explained. 

He added that some of the cameos were pre-planned while others happened very sporadically as more and more people found out about the movie. “There was this constant possibility that somebody could show up out of the blue to do a cameo,” Osment recalled.

In an interview with Looper, Osment also recalled how fun it was to make “Death of a Telemarketer,” a 2020 thriller comedy-drama film. The actor described the script written by Khaled Ridgeway as “really crazy surreal,” and added that it was great to film alongside such a “fun cast.” 

One cast member included Lamorne Morris – a long-time friend of Osment. The pair had worked together on past projects such as “Sex Ed” in 2013 and “Nightmare Time” in 2016. And while working with an old friend was fun, Osment also enjoyed “doing some wild and crazy stuff late at night” while filming.

Osment has been a pivotal figure in the entertainment world since he was very young and has already accomplished quite a lot. He achieved great success as a child actor, receiving praise from fans and critics alike. As he grew older, although he encountered some hardships and controversies, Osment continued to succeed and show his true passion for acting.

Speaking with Desde Hollywood in 2015, Osment talked about the next steps in his career. “Acting is my first love and I’ll always be involved in that, but I did something writing and directing in college,” he said. “Hopefully in the next phase of my career that’s something I can add to what I’m doing because I really enjoy it.”

It seems like this Hollywood star won’t be going away any time soon, as he has plenty of IMDB credits in the works. He was recently in the 2022 film “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie,” lending his voice to play the characters of Casey Jones and Foot Soldier 3. “Somebody I Used to Know,” a project directed by Dave Franco and starring Osment alongside Alison Brie, is currently in the completed stages of production and is set to be released sometime in 2022. Osment also has some more projects in a variety of production stages.

The 35-year-old actor has certainly come a long way since his “The Sixth Sense Days.” “I just feel lucky that I’m able to do something that I’ve done since I was a very young age and continue to have that be my job today,” Osment said.

Did you know about Haley Joel Osment’s career trajectory? What is your favorite project of his? Let us know, and be sure to send this to your friends and family.