Emile Davenport Hirsch is a SAG Best Actor Nominated American film actor, whose works
include Into the Wild, Lone Survivor, Milk, Prince Avalanche, The Motel Life, and the
A&E networks simulcast miniseries Bonnie & Clyde.
He began performing in the late 1990s, appearing in several television films and series, and
became known as a film actor after roles in Lords of Dogtown, The Emperor's Club, The
Girl Next Door, Alpha Dog, and the Sean Penn-directed film Into the Wild.
Next up, Hirsch will portray John Belushi in the long awaited untitled Belushi biopic.
Early life Emile Hirsch was born in Palms, California.
His mother, Margaret Esther, is a visual artist and teacher who designed pop-up books, and
Hirsch's father, David M. Hirsch, is an entrepreneur, manager, and producer.
He has an older sister, Jenny.
He was raised in Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lived with
his mother for several years.
Career Hirsch's early work includes the Jodie Foster
produced film The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, for which he won great critical acclaim.
Great reviews also followed when he starred alongside Kevin Kline in the Michael Hoffman
picture The Emperor's Club.
He was then seen opposite Laura Linney and Gena Rowlands in the award-winning Showtime
original movie Wild Iris.
Hirsch was then in the 2004 teen comedy, The Girl Next Door, and as a result gained excellent
mainstream reviews and wider recognition among teenage audiences.
The Mudge Boy, a film in which he had starred before making The Girl Next Door, was released
in the summer of 2004.
Hirsch next appeared with Jeff Daniels and Sigourney Weaver in Imaginary Heroes, a drama
about a dysfunctional family, which was released in February 2005.
Later, in 2005, Hirsch starred with Heath Ledger in Lords of Dogtown, a cult favorite
by director Catherine Hardwicke; the film, about a number of well-known skaters of the
1970s and their role in the birth of a higher-profile skateboard culture, was released on June 3,
2005.
Hirsch played Jay Adams, and was praised by critics for his performance.
It was this performance that caught Sean Penn's attention; he would later cast Hirsch in the
feature film Into The Wild.
He subsequently appeared in Alpha Dog, a dark drama starring Justin Timberlake, Anton Yelchin,
Bruce Willis, and Sharon Stone in which Hirsch played a character based on real-life drug
dealer Jesse James Hollywood; the film was shot in 2004 and released on January 12, 2007.
Hirsch consulted with Hollywood's real life father before playing the role.
Hirsch next played adventurer Christopher McCandless in Sean Penn's critically acclaimed
adventure-drama Into the Wild, released on September 21, 2007.
He lost 40 pounds for the role and was noted in reviews as a potential Academy Award nominee
for the film, also receiving a Screen Actors Guild nomination for best actor.
Hirsch had the title role in the Andy & Larry Wachowski's follow up to The Matrix Trilogy
in Speed Racer, which was released on May 9, 2008.
Hirsch plays gay rights activist Cleve Jones in Gus Van Sant's 2008 Academy Award-winning
Harvey Milk bio-pic Milk starring Sean Penn in the title role.
He starred in the Academy Award-winning Director Ang Lee's film Taking Woodstock, based on
a screenplay of Elliot Tiber's memoir Taking Woodstock, adapted by James Schamus.
In April 2011, he was cast in Oliver Stone's Savages, which was released in July 2012.
In 2012, he starred with Penélope Cruz in Venuto al mondo, a film by Italian director
Sergio Castellitto.
In 2013 he starred in Prince Avalanche, co-starring Paul Rudd, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance
Film Festival where it was acquired by Magnolia Pictures.
Director David Gordon Green would go on to win Best Director for the film at the Berlin
Film Festival.
Additionally, Hirsch starred alongside Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey in the William
Friedkin directed Killer Joe.
The controversial, NC-17 film, was written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tracy
Letts.
Hirsch also starred in the Rome Film Festival Award-winning film The Motel Life, co-starring
Dakota Fanning and Stephen Dorff, directed by the Polsky brothers.
In Fall 2013, he starred alongside Holliday Grainger, and Oscar winners Holly Hunter and
William Hurt, in the two-part Bruce Beresford directed miniseries, Bonnie & Clyde, which
was simultaneously broadcast on A&E, History, and Lifetime, which drew in over ten million
viewers and to date is one of the biggest miniseries of all time.
In October 2013, it was reported that Hirsch is set to play Blues Brothers' star John Belushi
in a biopic about the actor’s life.
The yet-to-be-titled film will be written and directed by Steve Conrad.
He will star alongside actress Ellen Page in the film.
In 2013, Hirsch co-starred alongside Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, and Ben Foster in
the Peter Berg directed Universal Pictures film Lone Survivor,.
The film grossed over 125 million dollars domestically, as well as earning a rare and
coveted A+ grade from CinemaScore.
In the film, Hirsch plays fallen Navy SEAL Danny Dietz.
Personal life and press Hirsch resides in Venice, California, and
enjoys writing poetry, screenplays, and visual arts.
He has won five awards, including the Critics’ Choice Award for breakthrough performance
and best actor for his role in Into the Wild, as well as 11 other nominations.
He has appeared on many magazine covers, including Nylon Guys, Teen Vogue, Movieline, Another
Man, and L’Uomo Vogue.
Hirsch appeared in Esquire in November 2007, being called one of the "Actors of the Year",
along with Denzel Washington, Cate Blanchett, Javier Bardem, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Robert
Downey, Jr., for his role in Sean Penn's Into the Wild.
Esquire said, "[Hirsch] creates a vivid, unforgettable character you at once admire and pity."
Hirsch appeared on the cover of Men’s Journal in January 2009.
He wrote a "Congo Diary" in December 2008 that was published in the following issue
along with a photo spread.
He ventured into Africa 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.”
Filmography References
External links Emile Hirsch at the Internet Movie Database
New York Observer Profile Actor of the Year
Men's Journal 2009