Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1631
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Haley Joel Osment represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 31 years in, and Haley is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Haley Joel Osment appears in 22 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Haley. Forrest Gump is the clearest case: a film rated 8.7 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for comedy, mystery, horror. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Kyle Newacheck, Zoë Kravitz, Dave Franco and others, Haley Joel Osment helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Forrest Gump (1994) as Forrest Junior · The Sixth Sense (1999) as Cole Sear · Walrus Yes: The Making of Tusk (2019) as Self
Career snapshot
Ranked #1631 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
22
1994–2025
Career length
31 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.7
Forrest Gump
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.5
Forrest Gump
Most frequent director
Kevin Smith
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Kevin Smith
Most common genre
Comedy
16 titles
Average runtime
1h 39m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.8
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.6
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1990s
7.4 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. The Sixth Sense, Forrest Gump, Mixed Nuts — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.4
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.3
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Sixth Sense, Forrest Gump, Mixed Nuts.
Most productive era
2020s
9 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.43 films | 7.22 films | 6.23 films | 5.23 films |
| Action | — | — | 4.71 film | 6.92 films |
| Thriller | 8.11 film | — | 5.31 film | 6.71 film |
| Comedy | 7.02 films | 6.32 films | 5.45 films | 5.97 films |
| Crime | — | — | 7.01 film | 5.71 film |
| Romance | 7.02 films | 5.41 film | 5.31 film | 5.81 film |
| Horror | — | — | 6.03 films | 6.71 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio · Highest rated performance · Career peak
1994Forrest Gump
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Forrest Junior. 8.7 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2025Happy Gilmore 2
The current state of the argument, as Billy Jenkins.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
22 of 22 films
as Forrest Junior
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
as Cole Sear
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
as David
Directed by Steven Spielberg
as Walter
Directed by Tim McCanlies
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Forrest Junior
Forrest Gump (1994)
Performance score8.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Forrest Junior gives Haley Joel Osment a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Cole Sear
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Performance score8.3
The Sixth Sense asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Cole Sear is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
David
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Performance score7.7
A.I. Artificial Intelligence asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. David is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Self
Walrus Yes: The Making of Tusk (2019)
Performance score7.6
Walrus Yes: The Making of Tusk asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Forrest Junior
Start here. Forrest Gump is the clearest statement of what Haley Joel Osment does — accessible, 142 minutes, and rated 8.7 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Haley at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Keeps the drama register of Forrest Gump but asks for a colder reading of it.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Keeps the drama register of The Sixth Sense but asks for a colder reading of it.
Secondhand Lions (2003)
Keeps the drama register of A.I. Artificial Intelligence but asks for a colder reading of it.
Walrus Yes: The Making of Tusk (2019)
A deliberate change of key after Secondhand Lions — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Kevin Smith
Director
2 films together
Notably Tusk
Nora Ephron
Director
1 film together
Notably Mixed Nuts
Robert Zemeckis
Director
1 film together
Notably Forrest Gump
M. Night Shyamalan
Director
1 film together
Notably The Sixth Sense
Steven Spielberg
Director
1 film together
Notably A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Bradley Raymond
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hunchback of Notre Dame II
Tim McCanlies
Director
1 film together
Notably Secondhand Lions
Doug Ellin
Director
1 film together
Notably Entourage
Jason Mewes
Director
1 film together
Notably Walrus Yes: The Making of Tusk
Edward James Olmos
Director
1 film together
Notably The Devil Has a Name
Joe Berlinger
Director
1 film together
Notably Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
William Teitler
Director
1 film together
Notably Bad Therapy
Donick Cary
Director
1 film together
Notably Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics
Andy Suriano
Director
1 film together
Notably Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie
Ken Cunningham
Director
1 film together
Notably LEGO Marvel Avengers: Code Red
Dave Franco
Director
1 film together
Notably Somebody I Used to Know
Zoë Kravitz
Director
1 film together
Notably Blink Twice
Kyle Newacheck
Director
1 film together
Notably Happy Gilmore 2
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Kevin Smith
Director
2 films together · 5.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
TuskRobert Zemeckis
Director
1 film together · 8.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Forrest GumpM. Night Shyamalan
Director
1 film together · 8.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Sixth SenseJason Mewes
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Walrus Yes: The Making of TuskAndy Suriano
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The MovieTim McCanlies
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Secondhand LionsSteven Spielberg
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A.I. Artificial IntelligenceJoe Berlinger
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and VileZoë Kravitz
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Blink TwiceDonick Cary
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Have a Good Trip: Adventures in PsychedelicsKyle Newacheck
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Happy Gilmore 2Ken Cunningham
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
LEGO Marvel Avengers: Code RedDoug Ellin
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
EntourageDave Franco
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Somebody I Used to KnowBradley Raymond
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Hunchback of Notre Dame IINora Ephron
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mixed NutsEdward James Olmos
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Devil Has a NameWilliam Teitler
Director
1 film together · 4.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bad TherapySix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Forrest Gump
as Forrest Junior
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Forrest Gump
as Forrest Junior
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Forrest Gump
as Forrest Junior
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Mixed Nuts
as Little Boy
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Forrest Gump
as Forrest Junior
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Haley Joel Osment has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
31 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
16 catalogue titles in comedy, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
The Sixth Sense
as Cole Sear
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Sixth Sense
as Cole Sear
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Hunchback of Notre Dame II
as Zephyr (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Sixth Sense
as Cole Sear
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Forrest Gump
as Forrest Junior
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie
as Casey Jones / Foot Soldier 3 (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Hunchback of Notre Dame II
as Zephyr (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Forrest Gump
as Forrest Junior
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Morgan Freeman
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Have your say
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Reference
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