Josh Hartnett

Date of Birth:
21st July, 1978

Show History:

• Rain Man

Current Role

Josh Hartnett will appear in the stage adaptation of the Oscar winning movie Rain Man. Hartnett will take on the role of 'Charlie Babbit', supported by British actor Adam Godley as his autistic brother 'Raymond'.

Early Life

Born Joshua Daniel Hartnett in San Francisco, Hartnett spent the majority of his childhood in Minnesota. Hartnett is of mixed Swedish and Irish background and was raised along with his three step siblings by father Daniel and Stepmother Molly. He first discovered a flair for acting when he played the lead role in a school production of Huckleberry Finn. He enjoyed American Football at school, but this was short lived due to a bad knee injury. Hartnett found a second calling when, on his aunt's advice, he followed his interest in acting. Whilst still at school Josh and some of his friends were thought to have robbed a Dairy Queen Ice Cream Parlor; it turned out that it was just part of an amateur film they were making.

Josh left high school in June 1996 and began attending the Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film. Student life clearly didn't suit Hartnett however as he left the college after just one year, claiming that “irreconcilable differences with the administration” caused him to leave. After departing college, albeit sooner than he’d planned, he got the chance to put pretending to rob Dairy Queens behind him and do some real film work. He appeared on TV and radio adverts including a commercial for Northwestern Air Lines. Josh also acted in several small plays before appearing as Michael Fitzgerald in the US TV series Cracker. Cracker was a remake of a British crime drama that lasted barely a year in the US.

Career Highlights

In 1998 Josh made his first major feature film, Halloween H20. He was then cast in the Hollywood teen drama The Faculty and began to amass quite a following. Despite finding fame as a teen icon however, it quickly became clear that Hartnett wasn't afraid to move away from his comfort zone when he appeared in Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides and Peter Chelsom's Town and Country. In 2001 Hartnett starred in his biggest picture yet Pearl Harbor. He continued to play an action role when he starred as 'Eversman' in the war movie Black Hawk Down.

Interesting Facts

• Whilst studying at the Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film, Josh was employed both at Burger King and Mcdonald's.

Awards

Josh Hartnett's Awards include:

• PFCS Best Actor prize for his work in Lucky Number Slevin
• PFCS Best Acting Ensemble award for his appearance in Black Hawk Down