Liam Aiken Biography

Liam Aiken
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Liam Aiken

Aiken at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival
Born Liam Padraic Aiken
January 7, 1990 (1990-01-07) (age 19)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation Actor
Years active 1997 — present

Liam Padraic Aiken (born January 7, 1990) is an American actor who has starred in a number of films, such as Stepmom and Good Boy!. He more recently starred as Klaus Baudelaire in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, based on the series of books.

Contents

Early life

Liam Aiken was born in New York City, the only child of Bill Aiken, an MTV producer, and an Irish immigrant mother, Moya Aiken. He attended Dwight Englewood School. He made his professional acting debut in a Ford Motor Company Windstar commercial. Liam made his stage debut in the Broadway play A Doll's House at the age of seven and his film debut playing Parker Posey's son in Henry Fool in the same year. His mother encouraged him to begin acting, because of his need for a college fund after his father's death in 1992 from cancer. When Aiken found that he enjoyed acting, he decided to continue.

Career

Aiken's first major film role was playing Susan Sarandon's young son in Stepmom in 1998, which also starred Julia Roberts and Jena Malone. He appeared as Tom Hanks' younger son in the 2002 film Road to Perdition. He starred in the family film about dogs from space, Good Boy! playing the lead, Owen Baker, in 2003. He turned down the role of Cole Sear in The Sixth Sense (1999) because his mother felt he was too young for the death-fixated role; the role went instead to Haley Joel Osment. Liam was also considered for the role of Harry Potter, as he had previously worked with director Chris Columbus on Stepmom.1 However, as he is not British,2 Daniel Radcliffe took the part. Liam then went on to play the intelligent, 12-year-old orphan, Klaus Baudelaire in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events in 2004. In March 2009, Liam was cast as Johnnie Pappas, in Michael Winterbottom's remake of The Killer Inside Me, starring Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson.

In the fall of 2008, Aiken entered New York University as an undergraduate studying film and television.3

Filmography

Medium Project Year Released Character Director
Stage/Broadway A Doll's House 1997 Bobby Helmer Anthony Page
Film Henry Fool 1997 Ned Grim Hal Hartley
Film The Object of My Affection 1998 Nathan Nicholas Hytner
Tv Law & Order 1998 Jack Ericson Various
Film Stepmom 1998 Ben Harrison Chris Columbus
Film I Dreamed of Africa 2000 Young Emanuel Hugh Hudson
Film Sweet November 2001 Abner Pat O’Connor
Film The Rising Place 2001 Emmett Wilder Tom Rice
Film Road to Perdition 2002 Peter Sullivan Sam Mendes
Tv Law & Order: Criminal Intent 2002 Robbie Bishop Frank Prinzi
Film Good Boy! 2003 Owen Baker John Hoffman
Film Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events 2004 Klaus Baudelaire Brad Silberling
Film Fay Grim 2006 Ned Grim Hal Hartley
TV Law & Order 2007 Tory Quinlann Michael W. Watkins
TV Law & Order: Criminal Intent 2009 Jason Steve Shill
Film The Killer Inside Me 2010 Johnnie Pappas Michael Winterbottom

References

  1. ^ Guardian UK (accessed June 24, 2007)
  2. ^ Rowling insists actor to play Harry Potter is British
  3. ^ Ja, Irene (2008-09-02). "Famous faces join campus". Washington Square News. http://www.nyunews.com/news/university/1.616460. Retrieved 2008-10-22. 

External links