Emile Hirsch

Emile Davenport Hirsch (born March 13, 1985) is an American actor. His portrayal of Chris McCandless in Into the Wild earned him acclaim and multiple award nominations.

Other notable roles include The Girl Next Door (2004), Lords of Dogtown (2005), Alpha Dog (2006), Speed Racer (2008), Milk (2008), Lone Survivor (2013), The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016), The Chinese Widow (2017), An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (2018), Freaks (2018), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), and Woozy (2025).

Early life Emile Hirsch was born in the Palms section of Los Angeles. His mother, Margaret Esther (née Davenport), is a visual artist, teacher, and pop-up book designer, and his father, David Milton Hirsch, was an entrepreneur, manager, and film producer. 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.

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 cinematic film debut for The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002) and next starred with Kevin Kline in The Emperor's Club (2002).

In 2004, Hirsch starred in The Girl Next Door. He starred with Jeff Daniels and Sigourney Weaver in the limited release Imaginary Heroes (2004). 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. Esquire said, "[Hirsch] creates a vivid, unforgettable character you at once admire and pity."

Hirsch had the title role in the Wachowskis' Speed Racer, which was released on May 9, 2008 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 William Friedkin's 2011 southern gothic thriller Killer Joe.

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

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.

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. Hirsch continues to reprise the role of Jim in 3 Below, Wizards and Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans.

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 that album's release, Hirsch released the single "American Dreamin'", and on 2/14 released his new single "Casual Animal."

Hirsch has released five singles, starting with "Remember Days When," (which he co-wrote with Foster The People's Mark Foster) and "Hard Hearts". He released "Prisoners" and "The Same Different" and then "Favors". 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 more singles over the course of a year, Hirsch released his second album called Denihilism on March 12, 2021.

Personal life Hirsch is of German Jewish, English, and Scots-Irish ancestry. He resides in Los Angeles. He has a son born in October 2013. His relationship with his son's mother ended before the birth of their child.

Assault charge In 2015 Hirsch was charged with aggravated assault after attacking and attempting to strangle a female Paramount Pictures executive with his bare hands at a nightclub in Park City, Utah. Hirsch claimed he did not remember what had happened as the event happened when he was taking stimulants while inebriated. 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 perform 50 hours of community service. Hirsch entered a rehabilitation facility following the assault.

Filmography Film

Nominated — Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Performer

Nominated — National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance

Nominated — Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Unforgettable Moment

Nominated — Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor

Nominated — Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor

Nominated — Online Film Critics Society for Best Actor

Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Drama

Nominated — Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor

Nominated — Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor2008 Speed Racer Speed RacerNominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Action/Adventure Milk Cleve JonesNominated — Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Acting Ensemble

Television

Year Title Role Notes 1996 Kindred: The Embraced Abel Episode: "Romeo and Juliet" 1997 3rd Rock from the Sun Punk "Bernstein boy" Episode: "Scaredy Dick" 1997 Early Edition Lance Foster Episode: "March in Time" 1998 Players Adam Paprelli Episode: "Con-Vivants" 1998 Gargantua Brandon Elway Television film 1998Houdini Young Harry Houdini Television film 1999 Two of a Kind Jeremy Episode: "Let's Dance" 1999 Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Darryl Episode: "Sabrina, the Matchmaker" 1999 Promised Land Walter Elliott Episode: "A Day in the Life" 1999 The Pretender Bryce Banks Episode: "End Game" 1999 Profiler Bryce Banks Episode: "Grand Master" 1999 NYPD Blue Marcello Parisi Episode: "Voir Dire This" 1999 ER Chad Kottmeier 2 episodes 2001 Wild Iris Lonnie Bravard Television film 2013 Bonnie & Clyde Clyde Barrow 2 episodes 2018 Trollhunters Jim Lake Jr. (voice) 11 episodes 2018–2019 3Below: Tales of Arcadia Jim Lake Jr. (voice) 3 episodes 2020 Robot Chicken Nick Jonas, Ron Weasley (voice) Episode: "Petless M in: Cars Are Couches On The Road"2020 Wizards: Tales of Arcadia Jim Lake Jr. (voice) 9 episodes

Video games

Awards and nominations