| Early life Emile Hirsch was born in Topanga, California, the son of Margaret (née Davenport), a visual artist and teacher who designed pop-up books, and David Hirsch, an industrial consultant, manager, and producer. His older sister Jenny introduced him to acting.Hirsch was raised in Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lived with his mother after his parents divorced. He attended Paul Revere Middle School and the Academy of Music at Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. Emile left early and did not attain a high school diploma.
Career
Hirsch began acting at the age of eight, appearing in minor roles on television shows and made-for-television films, including Kindred: the Embraced; Sabrina,
the Teenage Witch and NYPD Blue. He made his film debut with the 2002 drama,
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, where he starred opposite Kieran Culkin in the story of two Catholic school boys. His next role was in the prep school drama, The Emperor's Club, which was released later in 2002. Both films received generally positive reviews, but performed only moderately at the box office.
Hirsch was subsequently cast opposite Elisha Cuthbert in the 2004 teen comedy,
The Girl Next Door, and as a result gained recognition amongst teenage audiences. The Mudge Boy, an independent film that he had starred in before making Girl Next Door, was given a limited release in the summer of 2004. Hirsch next appeared in Imaginary Heroes, a drama about a dysfunctional family, which received a limited release in February 2005 but failed to reach a wider audience, despite mostly
positive reviews.
In 2005, Hirsch starred in Lords of Dogtown; the film, about a number of well-known skaters of the 1970s, was released on June 3, 2005, but ultimately performed
poorly at the box office. He subsequently appeared in Alpha Dog, a dark drama starring Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone in which he 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, and has said that he felt "pretty afraid in my bones most of
the time" while filming because of the film's raw characters and dialogue.
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 lead role in Speed Racer, which was released on Friday, May 9,2008.
Hirsch plays gay rights activist Cleve Jones in Gus Van Sant's 2008 Harvey Milk
bio-pic Milk starring Sean Penn in the title role as slain San Francisco politician, Harvey Milk. The film is set in the 1970's. The film will be released in the Fall of 2008.
He is presently co-starring in Taking Woodstock, based on a screenplay of Elliot Tiber's memoir "Taking Woodstock", adapted by James Schamus. The film is being directed by Academy Award Winning Director Ang Lee. His co-stars are Demetri Martin, Liev Schreiber, Imelda Staunton, Eugene Levy and Henry Goodman. The film is being shot in upstate New York and it is reported that it will be released sometime next year.
"James Dean taught me not to speed, River Phoenix taught me not to DO speed, and Marlon Brando taught me to slow down on the cheeseburgers.""I started acting when I was 10, but I never had a total fascination with it. It was just kind of a fun thing I did. Then I saw A Streetcar Named Desire with Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh when I was 14, and it was like a slap in the face. It was a wake-up call.""The willingness to keep learning is, I think, the most important thing about trying to be good at anything. You never want to stop learning."
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| Eye color: Green | | Height: 5' 7" (1.70 m) | | Nickname(s): Hirschy | | Notable feature(s): his hair , humour , laugh , eyes .. | Education: He attended Paul Revere Middle School and the Academy of Music
at Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. Emile left early and did not attain a
high school diploma. | Family: the son of Margaret (née Davenport), a visual artist and teacher who
designed pop-up books, and David Hirsch, an industrial consultant, manager,
and producer. His older sister Jenny introduced him to acting.Hirsch was raised in
Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lived with his mother
after his parents divorced. | | Resides in: venice, california [ was born in Topanga , California ] | | Religious affiliations: Christian | | Political affiliations: i really don't know. | Personal interests/hobbies: skateboarding , likes to write poetry ,
he also enjoys writing screenplays and acting , of course . | Charities/Causes: Rocker Joel Madden has appealed to his actor pal
Emile Hirsch to help him raise awareness about the plight of child soldiers
in war-torn African nations.Hirsch has yet to respond to the message,
but both stars have previously visited the continent to carry out humanitarian
work for charity | 
- Emile was named among Entertainment Weekly's "30 Under 30: The Actors" List of 2008.
- Before he appeared in films, Emile auditioned for commercials but never got hired because he "couldn't summon the inner performer to smile on cue."
- He's a hardcore fan of The Matrix and its sequels. He saw the first installment when he was 13 and considers it as one of the most memorable experiences he has had in the theater.
- Emile's first ever car was a blue Ford Festiva. During the time his movie Speed Racer finished filming, he was driving a black Toyota Prius.
- Emile has a collection of 20 to 30 skateboards since he was a kid. He got his first pro new-school skateboard when he was 19 years old.
- If there is one fantasy person Emile could meet and talk to, it would be Marlon Brando.
- Emile is a huge Batman fan. He also liked frog toys.
- Emile's experience with working on the skateboarding movie Lords of Dogtown helped him with his sense of balance in doing the mountain climbing scenes for the movie Into the Wild.
- Emile considers his director in Lords of Dogtown, Catherine Hardwicke, as his ideal director.
- Emile had to go on a diet and do a lot of exercises to lose weight dramatically for the last quarter of the movie Into the Wild. From the time when he got the part to the time when they shot the final scenes of the film, he lost a total of 41 pounds.
- Emile's favorite book is "Wit's End" by Oscar Wilde.
- During the making of The Girl Next Door, Emile turned 18. Before he did, he had to use a body double.
- Emile has competed in free-style rap battles.
- In 2002, Emile made his feature film debut starring with Kieran Culkin and Vincent D'Onofrio in The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys. His television debut was on Kindred: The Embraced in 1996.
- Even before being cast as Jay Adams, one of the best skateboarders ever, in Lords of Dogtown, Emile has been skating since he was seven years old and knew how to do tricks on the skateboard such as grinds, ollies, and boardslides.
- Emile went to school with Lizzy Caplan.
- Emile is good friends with actor Andrew Keegan.
- Favorite movies include, Roger Dodger (2002), On the Waterfront (1954), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), The Usual Suspects (1995) and T he Mosquito Coast (1986).
- Had the same Home Room teacher at Hamilton Academy of Music and The Performing Arts in Los Angeles as skateboarder - Actor Frank Miranda .
- Was often seen singing karaoke alongside Lindsay Lohan, Bo Barrett, Michelle Rodriguez, Kellan Rhude and Nicole Richie at Beverly Hills hot spot "Guys" .
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Personal Quotes
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 Emile: (on how doing "Into the Wild" changed his life) It lit the spirit of adventure inside me, and I hope it never goes away. All the physical aspects stuck with me – I still run a lot, and I never ran before the film. - "I'm not a ball in a pinball machine. I know what I want."(on the most important thing to succeed as a young actor in Hollywood) I really think it's probably just the courage to take risks. Maybe you will be afraid and maybe you will fail, but the courage to take risks in any part of your life is, I feel, a very worthwhile way to live.
- "The willingness to keep learning is, I think, the most important thing about trying to be good at anything. You never want to stop learning."
- (on choosing roles) I'm pretty selective. I'm not like a prima donna or anything like that, but if I don't like something I'm not going to do it.
- "I've got really cool parents. Certainly, I would think some of the movies I've chosen to do, people would consider as rebellious for a young actor to do."
- "I think I've always been half out of my shell and half in. Sometimes I can be extremely wild and sometimes I can be extremely shy. It just depends on the day."
- (on his most embarrassing moment) I was at the movie theater with my girlfriend, and she got tired and rested her head on my lap. I farted, and she shrieked! I was just like, 'Oh, no!'.
- (about his lap dance in "The Girl Next Door" at the age of 17) They had to put a massive pillow between me and the girl when she was grinding me. It was weird, yet pleasurable.
- "I started acting when I was 10, but I never had a total fascination with it. It was just kind of a fun thing I did. Then I saw A Streetcar Named Desire with Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh when I was 14, and it was like a slap in the face. It was a wake-up call."
- "I don't really want to do a teen comedy, you know? I mean, I just didn't want to be in a bad movie, that's all." In reference to his hesitance in deciding whether or not to play his character Matthew Kidman in The Girl Next Door (2004).
- "I learned how to skate vert in pools and stuff. Now I can get on a board and skate a pool. We did three months of skating and surfing. It was surfing in the morning and skating in the afternoon. Tony Alva was our coach. He's not the easiest coach to work with. He's not like a coach. He tells you how to do it, and is like, 'Just do it. Just f-ing do it, dude!'" In reference to his skateboard training for Lords of Dogtown (2005).
- "People would be so intimidated especially when I left the tattoo on and went out to a party. You'd get weird looks from everyone. Big, big macho dudes would be like, 'Oh, excuse me. Excuse me.' I was like, 'Yeah!' I mean, it was very strange for me to have people react to me like that. It's unheard of for me and to have girls going, 'You're crazy.' And looking at you from across the party like, 'You're a crazy one.'" In reference to his shaved head for Lords of Dogtown (2005).
- "James Dean taught me not to speed, River Phoenix taught me not to DO speed, and Marlon Brando taught me to slow down on the cheeseburgers."
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