Jackie Earle Haley Biography

Jackie Earle Haley is an Academy Award-nominated American actor.

Career
Haley has appeared in numerous films, including Damnation Alley, John Schlesinger\'s The Day of the Locust, and Losin\' It, as well as guest roles on TV. A well known child actor, he starred as Kelly Leak in the comedy The Bad News Bears. He also starred in The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training and The Bad News Bears Go to Japan.

He played "Moocher" in Peter Yates\' acclaimed 1979 film Breaking Away and later in the short lived TV series of the same name. Throughout the 1970s, he often played a tough, angry, pimply, long-haired misfit. He has made guest appearances on such TV shows as Marcus Welby, M.D., The Waltons, Planet of the Apes, The Love Boat, Renegade, and Get a Life.

Haley\'s acting career went dormant during most of the 1990s and early 2000s before turning to directing. He eventually turned to a career as a successful producer and director of television commercials. He returned to acting in 2006, first appearing in Steven Zaillian\'s All the King\'s Men alongside Sean Penn, before giving a critically acclaimed performance as a recently paroled sex offender in Todd Field\'s Little Children. He stated that his preparation for the role was greatly influenced by the relationship shared between his brother True, who battled a heroin addiction before he died of an overdose, and their mother. Haley was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this portrayal and in 2007 was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Currently, Haley owns a production company, JEH Productions, in San Antonio, Texas. In 2008, he appeared in Semi-Pro and will star in Winged Creatures. He also appears in Zack Snyder\'s 2009 adaptation of the Alan Moore graphic novel, Watchmen as Rorschach, a sociopathic masked vigilante working to find the identity of a superhero killer. The film also reunites him with Little Children co-star Patrick Wilson who played Nite Owl II, former partner of Rorschach. Also in 2009, Haley will appear in Ashecliffe directed by Martin Scorsese. He will play a patient of a hospital for the criminally insane.

Personal life
Haley was born and raised in Northridge, California, the son of Haven Earle "Bud" Haley, a radio show host/disc jockey and actor. His first marriage was to Sherry Vaughan in 1979. He has two children: Christopher (born 1986) with his second wife and Olivia (born 1998) from a previous relationship. He married his third wife, Amelia Cruz, in 2004.