LIAM AIKEN

'Liam Padraic Aiken' (born January 7, 1990) is an American actor who has starred in a number of films, most notably as Klaus Baudelaire in ''A Series of Unfortunate Events''.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Filmography

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Aiken was born in Manhattan, New York, the only child of Bill Aiken, an MTV producer, and an Irish immigrant mother, Moya Aiken. He made his professional acting debut in a Ford Motor Company Wind star 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. It was because of his need of a college fund, that his mother encouraged him to become an actor. When Liam 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] Unfortunately, he was unable to take the part as he was not from the British Isles, so a young British actor named Daniel Radcliffe took the part. Liam then went on to play the intelligent 12 year old and orphan, Klaus Baudelaire in ''Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events'' in 2004.
Liam's film roles have earned him critical acclaim^[2] as well as nominations (and at least one award) aimed at recognizing young acting talent. In December 2004, he was seen in one of his more recognized roles as Klaus Baudelaire, the orphaned, avid reader in the film ''Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events'', starring Jim Carrey, based on the popular books of the same name. He has been rumoured to star in the unconfirmed movie, Airborn, based on the novel by Kenneth Oppel, as Matt Cruse.

Personal life

Aiken currently attends Dwight-Englewood School. He will graduate in 2008. A fan of punk music, he plays the electric and acoustic guitar, as well as the drums. He aspires to play the guitar like the guitarist, Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine. He was the lead guitarist and vocalist for the band Saint Levi in Connecticut who broke up in early 2007. His first dog, an Italian Greyhound, was named Kes (after the kestrel in ''Kes'').

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 and 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	''	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
Film (pre-production)	Airborn the Movie (2008) (Four year old rumour)	2008	Matt Cruse	Stephen Sommers

References

1. Guardian UK (accessed June 24, 2007)
2. Movie Awards and Nominations at www.imdb.com (accessed June 24, 2007)

External links

★ First Liam Aiken Site

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