Liam Aiken
Encyclopedia
Liam Padraic Aiken is an American actor who has starred in a number of films, such as Stepmom and Good Boy!
. He starred as Klaus Baudelaire
in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
, based on the series of books.
producer, and an Irish-born mother, Moya Aiken. He attended Dwight Englewood School. He made his professional acting debut in a Ford Motor Company
Windstar commercial. Aiken 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.
'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
. Aiken was also considered for the role of Harry Potter
, as he had previously worked with director Chris Columbus
on Stepmom. However, as he was not British
, Daniel Radcliffe
took the part. Aiken 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, Aiken 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.
, he is starring in the American TV show A Gifted Man
on CBS.
Good Boy!
Good Boy! is a 2003 film produced by Jim Henson Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring talking alien dogs. The film stars Liam Aiken as Owen Baker, as well as Matthew Broderick, Delta Burke, Donald Faison, Cheech Marin, Brittany Murphy, Vanessa Redgrave, and Carl Reiner were the voice cast for...
. He starred as Klaus Baudelaire
Klaus Baudelaire
Klaus Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket who appears in all thirteen novels. Klaus is the middle child of the Baudelaire orphans; he has an older sister named Violet and a younger sister named Sunny...
in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a 2004 black comedy film directed by Brad Silberling. It is an adaptation of the The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window, being the first three books in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket...
, based on the series of books.
Early life
Liam Aiken was born in New York City, the only child of Bill Aiken, an MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
producer, and an Irish-born mother, Moya Aiken. He attended Dwight Englewood School. He made his professional acting debut in a Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
Windstar commercial. Aiken made his stage debut in the Broadway play A Doll's House
A Doll's House
A Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month....
at the age of seven and his film debut playing Parker Posey
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
'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 SarandonSusan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
's young son in Stepmom in 1998, which also starred Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...
and Jena Malone
Jena Malone
Jena Malone is an American actress and musician who has appeared on television, in films, and on Broadway. She made her movie debut with the film Bastard Out of Carolina , and has appeared in films including Contact , Stepmom , Donnie Darko , Saved! , Into the Wild , and Sucker Punch .Malone is...
. He appeared as Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
' younger son in the 2002 film Road to Perdition
Road to Perdition
Road to Perdition is a 2002 American crime film directed by Sam Mendes. The screenplay was adapted by David Self, from the graphic novel of the same name by Max Allan Collins. The film stars Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, and Daniel Craig...
. He starred in the family film about dogs from space, Good Boy!
Good Boy!
Good Boy! is a 2003 film produced by Jim Henson Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring talking alien dogs. The film stars Liam Aiken as Owen Baker, as well as Matthew Broderick, Delta Burke, Donald Faison, Cheech Marin, Brittany Murphy, Vanessa Redgrave, and Carl Reiner were the voice cast for...
playing the lead, Owen Baker, in 2003. He turned down the role of Cole Sear in The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
(1999) because his mother felt he was too young for the death-fixated role; the role went instead to Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment is an American actor. After a series of roles in television and film during the 1990s, including a small part in Forrest Gump playing Tom Hanks' title character’s son, Osment rose to fame with his performance as Cole Sear in M...
. Aiken was also considered for the role of Harry Potter
Harry Potter (character)
Harry James Potter is the title character and main protagonist of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. The majority of the books' plot covers seven years in the life of the orphan Potter who, on his eleventh birthday, learns he is a wizard...
, as he had previously worked with director Chris Columbus
Chris Columbus (filmmaker)
Christopher Joseph "Chris" Columbus is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Columbus had his largest success with the first two films in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, along with Home Alone, the last...
on Stepmom. However, as he was not British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Jacob Radcliffe is an English actor who rose to prominence playing the titular character in the Harry Potter film series....
took the part. Aiken then went on to play the intelligent, 12-year-old orphan, Klaus Baudelaire
Klaus Baudelaire
Klaus Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket who appears in all thirteen novels. Klaus is the middle child of the Baudelaire orphans; he has an older sister named Violet and a younger sister named Sunny...
in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events in 2004. In March 2009, Aiken was cast as Johnnie Pappas, in Michael Winterbottom's remake of The Killer Inside Me, starring Casey Affleck
Casey Affleck
Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt , better known as Casey Affleck, is an American actor and film director. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, he played supporting roles in mainstream hits like Good Will Hunting and Ocean's Eleven as well as in critically acclaimed independent films such as...
, Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba
Jessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
and Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson
Kate Garry Hudson is an American actress. She came to prominence in 2001 after winning a Golden Globe and receiving several nominations, including a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in Almost Famous. She then starred in the hit film How to Lose a Guy in 10...
.
In the fall of 2008, Aiken entered New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
as an undergraduate studying film and television.
, he is starring in the American TV show A Gifted Man
A Gifted Man
A Gifted Man is an American television series, which premiered on CBS on September 23, 2011. The series is about a talented but self-absorbed surgeon who starts questioning his purpose in life when he is visited by the spirit of his deceased ex-wife...
on CBS.
Filmography
| Film | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Director | |
| Henry Fool Henry Fool Henry Fool is a 1997 American seriocomic film written, produced and directed by Hal Hartley, featuring Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniak, and Parker Posey. As in The Unbelievable Truth, an earlier Hartley film, expectation and reality again conflict.... |
Ned Grim | Hal Hartley Hal Hartley Hal Hartley is an American film director, screenwriter, producer composer, who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and 1990s... |
||
| Montana Montana (film) Montana is an American crime film released in 1998, directed by Jennifer Leitzes, written by Erich Hoeber and Jon Hoeber, and produced by Sean Cooley, Zane W. Levitt, and Mark Yellen.... |
Kid | Jennifer Leitzes | ||
| The Object of My Affection The Object of My Affection The Object of My Affection is a 1998 romantic comedy film, adapted from the book of the same title by Stephen McCauley, and starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd. The story concerns a pregnant New York social worker who develops romantic feelings for her gay best friend, and the complications... |
Nathan | Nicholas Hytner | ||
| Stepmom Stepmom (film) Stepmom is a 1998 comedy-drama film directed by Chris Columbus and starring Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, and Ed Harris.The film was a commercial success, but a moderate critical success.-Plot:... |
Ben Harrison | Chris Columbus | ||
| I Dreamed of Africa I Dreamed of Africa I Dreamed of Africa is a 2000 film starring Kim Basinger, Vincent Perez, Eve Marie Saint, Garrett Strommen, Liam Aiken and Daniel Craig. It is based on the autobiographical novel I Dreamed of Africa by Kuki Gallmann, an Italian writer who moved to Kenya and became involved in conservation work... |
7-Year-Old Emanuel | Hugh Hudson | ||
| Sweet November Sweet November (2001 film) -Box office:The film opened at #4 at the North American Box office making $11,015,226 USD in its opening weekend, behind Recess: School's Out, Down To Earth and Hannibal. It would ultimately gross only $25.2 million domestically with an additional $40.4 million overseas to a total of $65.7 million... |
Abner | Pat O’Connor | ||
| The Rising Place | Emmett Wilder | Tom Rice | ||
| Road to Perdition Road to Perdition Road to Perdition is a 2002 American crime film directed by Sam Mendes. The screenplay was adapted by David Self, from the graphic novel of the same name by Max Allan Collins. The film stars Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, and Daniel Craig... |
Peter Sullivan | Sam Mendes Sam Mendes Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE is an English stage and film director. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning work on his debut film American Beauty and his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret , Oliver! , Company and Gypsy . He's currently working on the 23rd James Bond... |
||
| Good Boy! Good Boy! Good Boy! is a 2003 film produced by Jim Henson Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring talking alien dogs. The film stars Liam Aiken as Owen Baker, as well as Matthew Broderick, Delta Burke, Donald Faison, Cheech Marin, Brittany Murphy, Vanessa Redgrave, and Carl Reiner were the voice cast for... |
Owen Baker | John Hoffman | ||
| Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a 2004 black comedy film directed by Brad Silberling. It is an adaptation of the The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window, being the first three books in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket... |
Klaus Baudelaire Klaus Baudelaire Klaus Baudelaire is one of the main characters in the children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket who appears in all thirteen novels. Klaus is the middle child of the Baudelaire orphans; he has an older sister named Violet and a younger sister named Sunny... |
Brad Silberling Brad Silberling Bradley Mitchell Silberling is an American television and film director. He is married to the actress Amy Brenneman, who he met on the set of NYPD Blue and with whom he has two children, Charlotte Tucker and Bodhi Russell... |
||
| Fay Grim Fay Grim Fay Grim is a 2006 film written and directed by Hal Hartley. The film is a sequel to Hartley's 1997 film Henry Fool, and revolves around the title character, played by Parker Posey, the sister of Simon Grim . The plot revolves around Fay's attempt to unravel an increasingly violent mystery in Europe... |
Ned Grim | Hal Hartley | ||
| The Killer Inside Me The Killer Inside Me (2010 film) The Killer Inside Me is a 2010 American film adaptation of the 1952 novel of the same name by Jim Thompson. The film is directed by Michael Winterbottom and stars Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, and Jessica Alba. At its release, it was criticised for its graphic depiction of violence directed toward... |
Johnnie Pappas | Michael Winterbottom | ||
| Guest Appearances | ||||
| Year | Title | Role | Episode | |
| Law & Order Law & Order Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,... |
Jack Ericson | Disappeared | ||
| Law & Order: Criminal Intent Law & Order: Criminal Intent Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama... |
Robbie Bishop | Bright Boy | ||
| Law & Order Law & Order Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,... |
Tory Quinlann | Captive | ||
| Law & Order: Criminal Intent Law & Order: Criminal Intent Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama... |
Jason | Salome in Manhattan | ||
| Theatre | ||||
| Year | Title | Role | Theatre | |
| A Doll's House A Doll's House A Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month.... |
Bobby Helmer | Belasco Theatre Belasco Theatre The Belasco Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 111 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architect George Keister for impresario David Belasco, the interior featured Tiffany lighting and ceiling panels, rich woodwork and expansive murals by American artist... |
||
Awards and nominations
| Award | Year | Category | Result | Work |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Young Artist Award Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist... |
1999 | Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actor Age Ten or Younger | Stepmom Stepmom (film) Stepmom is a 1998 comedy-drama film directed by Chris Columbus and starring Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, and Ed Harris.The film was a commercial success, but a moderate critical success.-Plot:... |
|
| 2003 | Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor | Road to Perdition Road to Perdition Road to Perdition is a 2002 American crime film directed by Sam Mendes. The screenplay was adapted by David Self, from the graphic novel of the same name by Max Allan Collins. The film stars Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, and Daniel Craig... |
||
| 2004 | Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor | Good Boy! Good Boy! Good Boy! is a 2003 film produced by Jim Henson Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring talking alien dogs. The film stars Liam Aiken as Owen Baker, as well as Matthew Broderick, Delta Burke, Donald Faison, Cheech Marin, Brittany Murphy, Vanessa Redgrave, and Carl Reiner were the voice cast for... |
||
| 2005 | Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a 2004 black comedy film directed by Brad Silberling. It is an adaptation of the The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window, being the first three books in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket... |
|||
| Critics Choice Award | 2005 | Best Young Actor | ||