Emile Hirsch

Emile Hirsch
Hirsch at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Emile Davenport Hirsch (1985-03-13) March 13, 1985 (age 36) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1996–present
Children	1

Emile Davenport Hirsch (born March 13, 1985)^[1] is an American actor. He played Chris McCandless in Into the Wild (2007). Other film roles including The Girl Next Door (2004), Lords of Dogtown (2005), Alpha Dog (2006), Speed Racer (2008), Milk (2008), Lone Survivor (2013), An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (2018), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019).

Early life[]

Hirsch is of German Jewish, English, and Scots-Irish ancestry; he was born in the Palms section of Los Angeles. His mother, Margaret Esther (née Davenport), is a visual artist, teacher, and pop-up books designer, and his father, David Milton Hirsch, is an entrepreneur, manager, and producer.^[2][3] He has an older sister, Jennifer, and was raised in Los Angeles and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lived with his mother for several years.^[3]

Career[]

Hirsch began acting on television roles in the late 1990s. He starred in the Showtime original film Wild Iris (2001), with Laura Linney and Gena Rowlands. He made his film debut for The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)^[4] and next acted with Kevin Kline in The Emperor's Club (2002).

Hirsch at Hollywood Life Magazine's 7th Annual Breakthrough Awards in 2007

In 2004, Hirsch starred in The Girl Next Door. He starred with Jeff Daniels and Sigourney Weaver in the limited release Imaginary Heroes (2004).^[5][6] In 2005, Hirsch starred in Catherine Hardwicke's film Lords of Dogtown (2005) about a group of skaters in the 1970s and their role in the birth of skateboard culture. Hirsch played Jay Adams. He played a character based on a real-life drug dealer, Jesse James Hollywood, in Alpha Dog (2006).

Hirsch played Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild (2007). He lost 40 pounds for the role, which earned him a Screen Actors Guild nomination for best actor.^[7] Esquire said, "[Hirsch] creates a vivid, unforgettable character you at once admire and pity."^[8]

Hirsch had the title role in the Wachowskis' Speed Racer, which was released on May 9, 2008^[9] and was a box office bomb. Hirsch played gay-rights activist Cleve Jones in Gus Van Sant's biopic Milk (2008). He also appeared in Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock (2009), based on a screenplay of the Elliot Tiber memoir Taking Woodstock. He then starred in the box-office disappointment Killer Joe (2011).

In April 2011, he was cast in Oliver Stone's Savages, which was released in July 2012.^[10]

In 2012, Hirsch starred with Penélope Cruz in Venuto al Mondo, a film by Italian director Sergio Castellitto. In 2013, he was in Prince Avalanche, co-starring Paul Rudd.

Hirsch starred in The Motel Life, co-starring Dakota Fanning and Stephen Dorff, directed by the Polsky brothers. In 2013, he starred with Holliday Grainger, Holly Hunter, and William Hurt in the miniseries Bonnie & Clyde. Hirsch co-starred in the film Lone Survivor, based on the memoir of Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell.

In February 2017, it was announced that Hirsch would star with Aubrey Plaza in the comedy An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn.^[11]

In May 2018, Hirsch became the new voice for character James Lake Jr. in the Netflix original DreamWorks show Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia from Guillermo del Toro, replacing Anton Yelchin in its third season following his death in 2016. Hirsch continues to reprise the role of Jim in 3 Below and Wizards.

In 2019, Hirsch portrayed Hollywood hairdresser and Manson family victim Jay Sebring in the film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Music[]

On October 25, 2019, Hirsch released his first album under Hirsch called Mnemonic. Two of its songs, Tooth Fairy and Angels Will, were selected to be on the New Alt playlist on Spotify. KROQ DJ Megan Holiday also picked Mnemonic as one of her favorite albums of the year. After Mnemonics release, Hirsch released singles "American Dreamin",' and on 2/14 will release new single "Casual Animal."^[12]

Hirsch has recently released five singles, "Remember Days When," (which he co-wrote with Foster The People's Mark Foster)^{[citation needed]} and "Hard Hearts" (both on 03/13/20). He released Prisoners on 03/27/20 & "The Same Different" on 04/03/20, and then "Favors" on 05/08/20. Both "Prisoners" and "Favors" were both put on Spotify's New Noise Playlist. "Favors" was also put on multiple playlists on Deezer, including #3 placement on "Seleccíon Editorial Mexico y Central America," one of Deezer's biggest playlists worldwide, with 6.7 million followers.

After releasing a couple of new singles over a year, Hirsch released his second album called Denihilism last March 12, 2021.^[13][14]

Personal life[]

Hirsch resides in Los Angeles.

In 2008, he travelled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo along with four young activists and kept a journal of his five-day trip. Reflecting on his trip, Hirsch said, "Now I look back at some of the earlier parts of this travelogue and almost chuckle at my naïveté. Maybe we can all come together to change the world."^[15]

On October 27, 2013, Hirsch's first child was born, a boy named Valor. The child's mother is a woman Hirsch dated; however, they are no longer in a relationship.^[16][17]

Assault conviction[]

On February 12, 2015, Hirsch was charged with aggravated assault after attacking and attempting to strangle Paramount Pictures executive Daniele Bernfeld on January 25, 2015, at Tao Nightclub in Park City, Utah.^[18][19] Hirsch claimed he did not remember what had happened as the event happened when he was taking stimulants while inebriated.^[20] On August 17, 2015, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to 15 days in jail. He was also fined $4,750, received 90 days of probation, and was ordered to undergo 50 hours of community service.^[21][22] Hirsch entered a rehab facility following the assault.^[23]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Television[]

Video games[]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Emile Hirsch.

• Emile Hirsch at AllMovie
• Emile Hirsch at IMDb
• New York Observer Profile (2007)
• Actor of the Year
• Men's Journal 2009