Haley Joel Osment (born April 10, 1988) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. After a series of roles in television and film during the early 1990s, Osment came to fame with his starring role in the 1999 thriller, The Sixth Sense. He subsequently had leading roles in several high-profile Hollywood films, including Pay It Forward and A.I.. He is also notable for providing the voice of Sora, the protagonist in the Kingdom Hearts series, one of the most high-profile video game series to make heavy use of voice acting.

American child actor who at this writing (2000) has proven himself perhaps the best young actor of his generation. The son of actor Eugene Osment and teacher Theresa Osment, Haley was chosen for a commercial at age 4 after a casting director spotted him in a furniture store with his parents. Within months, he had landed a small but memorable role as Tom Hanks' son in Forrest Gump (1994) and a starring role as Edward Asner's grandson on the TV series "Thunder Alley" (1994). His comedy skills were manifest very young, and he followed "Thunder Alley" (1994) with two more sitcoms. Norman Jewison gave him his first leading role on the big screen in Bogus (1996), and he proved completely at ease in this dramatic role. However, it took the smash hit Sixth Sense, The (1999) to brand the young actor on the public consciousness. His devastating performance as the haunted Cole Sear brought him an Oscar nomination at age 11 and a memorable tribute at the awards from winner Michael Caine (I): "Once I learned of your nomination and saw your performance, I knew for sure you would win". Since then, he has given an equally powerful performance in Pay It Forward (2000). Along with the bravura performances, he has developed an equal reputation in the industry for unspoiled professionalism. His younger sister, Emily Osment, has made several impressive film and television appearances as well.

.::About his Career::. Osment began acting at the age of four, when he tried out for a Pizza Hut commercial in a shopping mall. The commercial launched his career, and he landed his first television role later that year. As a young child his first film role was as Forrest Gump's son, also named Forrest Gump, in the 1994 film of the same name as well as making a small appearance in Mixed Nuts. He had roles in numerous TV series, including Thunder Alley, The Jeff Foxworthy Show and most notably the final season of Murphy Brown, in which he replaced Dylan Christopher as Murphy's son Avery. He also made numerous guest appearances in various TV series including The Larry Sanders Show, Walker, Texas Ranger (as a child dying from AIDS), Touched by an Angel, Chicago Hope, The Pretender, and as a child dying from leukemia in the emotional episode "Angels and Blimps" of the late-1990s show Ally McBeal. Osment starred in Bogus with Whoopi Goldberg and Gérard Depardieu, and appeared in the 1998 made-for-TV movie The Lake with Yasmine Bleeth, as well as I'll Remember April with future The Sixth Sense co-star Trevor Morgan. He first achieved stardom in 1999 when he appeared in the blockbuster The Sixth Sense, co-starring Bruce Willis. For this role, he won the Saturn Award for best young actor. He was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor but lost to Michael Caine (alongside whom he would later star in Secondhand Lions). One of Osment's lines in The Sixth Sense, "I see dead people" is often repeated or parodied on television programs and in other media. He also made three minor guest appearances on Family Guy in 2000. The 2000 Academy Awards ceremony honored another future co-star, Best Actor Kevin Spacey, who, along with Helen Hunt, appeared in Osment's next film, Pay It Forward. The following year, he appeared in Steven Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence: A.I., cementing his stature as one of the leading young actors in Hollywood. This role earned him his second Saturn Award. Also in 2001, Osment starred in the Polish film, Edges of the Lord, as Romek. The movie was never released theatrically in the United States. He has since provided voices for The Country Bears and The Jungle Book 2, and returned to live action with the 2003 film, Secondhand Lions. More recently, Osment was the voice of Sora, the main protagonist of The Walt Disney Company and Square-Enix's Kingdom Hearts video game series, which has been extremely financially successful as well as generally well-received critically. He was also the voice of Takeshi Jinno, the main character of the Immortal Grand Prix anime TV series. Osment has also worked in Home of the Giants, playing a high school journalist opposite Ryan Merriman and Danielle Panabaker. He will also play "Helmuth Hubener" in the 2008 film Truth & Treason. .::2006 Alcohol and drug related car accident::. On July 20, 2006, Osment was injured in a one-car accident. His blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.16%, twice the legal limit in California. On August 18, he was charged with four misdemeanors including driving under the influence of alcohol and possession of marijuana while driving. He pleaded no contest on October 19 and was sentenced to three years probation, 60 hours in an alcohol rehabilitation and education program, a fine of $1,500 and a minimum requirement of 26 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings over a six-month period.