Haley Joel Osment | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

Haley Joel Osment began his career at age five with a featured appearance in a TV commercial for Pizza Hut. With his blond hair, expressive blue eyes and moon face, this juvenile player soon landed his first screen role as Forest Junior in the Oscar-winning "Forrest Gump" (1994). Osment segued to TV series, playing the adorable grandson of a gruff Edward Asner in the short-lived ABC sitcom "Thunder Alley" (1994-95) followed by a two-year stint as Jeff Foxworthy's son in "The Jeff Foxworthy Show" (ABC, 1995-96; NBC, 1996-97). The busy young actor continued to land guest roles including a recurring stint as Candice Bergen's son Avery Brown on the CBS sitcom "Murphy Brown" in it final season and memorable turns as a boy genius on "The Pretender" in 1998 and a cancer-stricken boy determined to sue God on a moving episode of "Ally McBeal" in 1999. Additionally, Osment appeared in TV-movies more than holding his own acting alongside such veterans as Tom Selleck ("Last Stand at Saber River," TNT 1997), Christopher Lloyd ("The Ransom of Red Chief," ABC, 1998) and Maureen O'Hara ("Cab to Canada," CBS 1998). Osment proved he was more than a cute sitcom actor in "Bogus" (1996), playing a newly orphaned boy who communicates with the titular imaginary character (Gerard Depardieu). He kept it real and believable, proving an effective scene partner for both Depardieu and Whoopi Goldberg (as his new guardian). Osment went on to deliver a sterling turn as a troubled youngster who seemingly possesses psychic abilities in the thriller "The Sixth Sense" (1999). Critics and audiences praised the youngster's performance, and he was rewarded with an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor.