Early life

Hirsch, who is of German-Jewish, English, and Scots-Irish ancestry, was born in Palms, California. His mother, Margaret Esther (née Davenport), is a visual artist and teacher who designed pop-up books, and his father, David M. Hirsch, is an entrepreneur, manager, and producer. He has an older sister, Jenny, and was raised in Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lived with his mother for several years.

Career

Hirsch appeared in many television roles in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including the award-winning Showtime original movie Wild Iris (2001), opposite Laura Linney and Gena Rowlands. He made his film debut in the Jodie Foster-produced The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002) and next acted alongside Kevin Kline in the Michael Hoffman-directed film, The Emperor's Club (2002).

Hirsch appeared in the teen comedy, The Girl Next Door (2004) and in the summer of the same year, The Mudge Boy (2004), a film in which he had started before making The Girl Next Door, was released.

Hirsch next appeared with Jeff Daniels and Sigourney Weaver in Imaginary Heroes (2005), a drama about a dysfunctional family, which was released the following February.

That year, Hirsch also starred with Heath Ledger in Lords of Dogtown (2005), directed by Catherine Hardwicke, about a number of skaters of the 1970s and their role in the birth of skateboard culture; Hirsch played Jay Adams. He subsequently appeared in Alpha Dog (2007), 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 reportedly consulted with Hollywood's real life father before playing the role.

Hirsch next played hiker and itinerant traveller Christopher McCandless in Sean Penn's adventure-drama Into the Wild (2007). He lost 40 pounds for the role, which earned him a Screen Actors Guild nomination for best actor. Esquire said, " creates a vivid, unforgettable character you at once admire and pity."

Hirsch had the title role in Andy & Larry Wachowski's follow-up to The Matrix Trilogy, Speed Racer, which was released on May 9, 2008. Hirsch plays gay rights activist Cleve Jones in Gus Van Sant's Academy Award-winning Harvey Milk bio-pic Milk (2008) that featured Sean Penn in the title role. He also appeared in Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock (2009), based on a screenplay of the Elliot Tiber memoir Taking Woodstock, adapted by James Schamus.

He starred in The Motel Life, based on the novel by Willy Vlautin. The film was lensed in Nevada in 2010, and released in 2013.

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, 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.

Also in 2013, Hirsch co-starred alongside Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch and Ben Foster in the Peter Berg-directed Universal Pictures film Lone Survivor, (based on the true life memoir of Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell). The film grossed over $125 million domestically, as well as earning an A+ grade from CinemaScore. In the film, Hirsch plays fallen Navy SEAL Danny Dietz.

Personal life

Emile Hirsch resides in Venice, California. He has appeared on many magazine covers, including Nylon Guys, Teen Vogue, Movieline, Another Man and L’Uomo Vogue (Italy).

Hirsch appeared in Esquire in November 2007, which named him one of the "Actors of the Year", along with Denzel Washington, Cate Blanchett, Javier Bardem, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Robert Downey, Jr.

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 had 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."

On October 27, 2013, Hirsch's first child was born, a boy named Valor. The child's mother is a woman Hirsch dated; however, they are not in a relationship.

Legal troubles

On February 12, 2015, Hirsch was charged with aggravated assault after getting into an altercation with Paramount executive Daniele Bernfeld on January 25, 2015, at the Tao Nightclub in Park City, Utah. On August 17, 2015, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to spend 15 days in jail, pay a $4,750 fine and perform 50 hours of community service.

Filmography

Film and television

Year	Film	Role	Notes / Awards and Nominations
1997	Early Edition	Lance Foster	Season 2: Episode 8: March in Time
1997	3rd Rock from the Sun	Punk	Season 3: Episode 5: Scaredy Dick
1998	Gargantua	Brandon Ellway
1998	Houdini	Young Houdini	Television movie
2000	Sabrina, the Teenage Witch	Darryl	Season 3: Episode 16: Sabrina, the Matchmaker
1999	The Pretender	Bryce	Season 3: Episode 19: End Game
1999	Two of a Kind	Jeremy	Season 1: Episode 12: Let's Dance
2001	Wild Iris	Lony Brevard
2002	Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, TheThe Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys	Francis Doyle
2002	Emperor's Club, TheThe Emperor's Club	Sedgewick Bell	Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor
2003	Mudge Boy, TheThe Mudge Boy	Duncan Mudge	limited release
2004	Girl Next Door, TheThe Girl Next Door	Matthew Kidman	Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Elisha Cuthbert)
2004	Imaginary Heroes	Tim Travis	limited release
2005	Lords of Dogtown	Jay Adams	Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Breakout Performance - Male
2007	Alpha Dog	Johnny Truelove
2007	Into the Wild	Christopher "Alexander Supertramp" McCandless	National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Male Performance Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated—Gotham Award for Breakthrough Artist Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Drama
2008	Air I Breathe, TheThe Air I Breathe	Tony	limited release
2008	Speed Racer	Speed Racer	Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Action Adventure
2008	Milk	Cleve Jones	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2009	Taking Woodstock	Billy
2011	Killer Joe	Chris Smith
2011	The Darkest Hour	Sean
2012	Savages	Spin
2012	Venuto al mondo - Twice Born	Diego
2012	The Motel Life	Frank Flannigan
2013	Prince Avalanche	Lance
2013	Bonnie & Clyde	Clyde Barrow	TV miniseries
2013	Lone Survivor	Danny Dietz
2015	Ten Thousand Saints	Johnny
2015	Just Jim	Dean
2016	Vincent-N-Roxxy	Vincent	Post-production
2016	The Runaround	Martin	Filming

[ Source: Wikipedia ]