Josh Hartnett Biography

news-details Drawing attention with a charmingly self-effacing demeanor in his quietly imposing presence plus decent performances he is frequently capable to display of in his growing career, Josh Hartnett has wonderfully soared to be one of the brightest stars of his generation. Born Joshua Daniel Hartnett on July 21, 1978 in San Francisco, California, he was raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota by his father and stepmother since the departure of his mother who left the family not long after her divorce. His involvement in acting began at an early age when a relative encouraged him to attend an audition for a role in the stage production of �Tom Sawyer.� Surprisingly won the part, the boy afterwards became heavily attracted to the art of performing and thus enthusiastically plunged himself into a series of plays during his teens while also took time to undertake some commercial stints.

Continued his study to State University of New York in Purchase following his graduation from Minneapolis' South High School in 1996, things apparently did not run well for Josh and he soon decided to head for L.A. to start an acting career there. Within a short time, this brown-haired guy successfully nabbed a regular part in TV series of �Cracker� which sadly was cancelled in 1998 after being aired for a year. Even so, the feature seemed to have provided him enough experience to land another role quickly as he managed to join the cast of �Halloween H2O: 20 Years Later� (1998) alongside Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Williams, plus LL Cool J. The film turned out to score quite well in box-office with domestic gross of over $55 million, catapulting him to national recognition together with wide exposure subsequently.

Next appeared in another horror flick, �The Faculty� (1998), which also did good in garnering profit, Josh eagerly shifted to drama genre to star opposite Kirsten Dunst in �The Virgin Suicides�, a fine directorial debut from Sophia Coppola aimed for a 1999 release but was delayed until the year 2000. Though the movie was not a commercial success, it delightfully received rave reviews from critics with him sharing the praise as well and therefore slammed people's doubt about his acting knack. 2001 even saw him satisfyingly elevated his status to be a promising young commodity in Hollywood when he was involved in two blockbuster pictures of �Pearl Harbor� and �Black Hawk Down�, the latter being such an effective vehicle for him to show his capability in delivering convincing screen portrayal of an American soldier trapped into a pitched battle between his country's forces and Somali militia.

Walked his path steadily in the industry, Josh wisely chose to explore the diversity of human characters, playing a brokenhearted young man in �40 Days and 40 Nights� (2002), a reluctant LAPD detective in �Hollywood Homicide� (2003), and a romantic, chameleon-like assassin in �Sin City� (2005). Afterwards teamed up with Ben Kingsley, Bruce Willis, also Lucy Liu to film �Lucky Number Slevin� (2006), the brown-eyed actor apparently did not have much difficulty to move on for he has already been slated to be the lead in both �The Black Dahlia� (2006) and �The Prince of Cool� (2007) besides to star in �30 Days of Night�, �Resurrecting the Champ�, and �August�, which all have been slated to hit theaters in 2007.

Taking a look into his private life, this heartthrob previously had a long relationship with his high-school sweetheart, Ellen Fenster, before they concluded to separate by February 2004. Also reportedly dated Izabella Miko, Gisele Bundchen, and Monet Mazur among others, he then sincerely gave his heart to fellow thespian Scarlett Johansson in 2005 after meeting her on the set of �The Black Dahlia.� Sadly the pair decided to go separate ways by the end of 2006 after nearly two years together.