Corey Haim

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Image:Corey Haim.jpg Corey Ian Haim (born December 23, 1971) is a Canadian actor, best known for a 1980s Hollywood career as a teen idol. Haim reached peak popularity in the late 1980s, appearing in The Lost Boys, License to Drive and Dream a Little Dream. His friendship and on-screen collaboration with actor Corey Feldman was widely publicized during the late 1980s and the pair were dubbed "the two Coreys".

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Early success 2.2 1986-1991 2.3 1992-1997 2.4 2000-present 3 Selected filmography 4 Notes 5 References 6 External links

Early life

Haim was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Bernie Haim, a Francophone Jewish-Canadian sales representative, and Judy, an Israeli-born computer operator. Haim was enlisted in acting lessons by his mother in an attempt to help him overcome his shyness. Template:Ref Haim, not particularly fascinated by acting, practiced other hobbies such as ice hockey, playing music on his keyboard and collecting comic books.

It was actually his older sister, Carol, who got him initially interested in the notion of acting. She brought him along when auditioning for a film role. At a young age, Haim would appear in several television commercials. When Corey was 11, his parents divorced after 18 years of marriage.

Career

Early success

Haim first broke into mainstream acting playing the role of Larry in the Canadian family oriented comedy television series, The Edison Twins, which ran from 1982 through until 1986. Haim made his first cinematic appearance in the 1984 feature film, Firstborn, which also starred now well-known actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Robert Downey Jr.

In 1985, Haim appeared in minor roles in Secret Admirer and Murphy's Romance and starred in the leading role in a feature film version of Stephen King's novella, Silver Bullet, playing a paralytic boy alongside Gary Busey. Haim started to make a name for himself in the industry, notably by earning his first Young Artist Award as an Exceptional Young Actor Starring in a Television Special or Movie of the Week for the television movie A Time to Live.

Haim's major break was in 1986, billed as the main star alongside Kerri Green, Charlie Sheen, and Winona Ryder in the popular movie Lucas. Haim would receive a nomination for an Exceptional Performance by a Young Actor Starring in a Feature Film - Comedy or Drama at the Young Artist Awards for his role as the title character. Film critic Roger Ebert raved about Haim's performance, commenting that he "creates one of the most three-dimensional, complicated, interesting characters of any age in any recent movie. If he can continue to act this well, he will never become a half-forgotten child star, but will continue to grow into an important actor. He is that good."Template:Ref Following the success of Lucas, Haim starred in the 1987 television series, Roomies.

1986-1991

Image:Corey Haim Corey Feldman Dream a Litttle Dream.jpg In 1987, Haim had a large role in Joel Schumacher's vampire film, The Lost Boys, alongside Jason Patric and Kiefer Sutherland. The film was well received, grossing $32,222,567 domestically. Besides gaining Haim more renown, the film began his famous partnership with fellow teenage actor Corey Feldman. The performance also earned him another Young Artist Award nomination as Best Young Male Superstar in a Motion Picture.

In 1988, Haim starred in two more widely released films: License to Drive, a financially successful teen comedy which again co-starred Corey Feldman as well as a young Heather Graham, and the horror film based on the Dean R. Koontz novel Watchers, which was a financial disappointment. Haim won his second Young Artist Award, tying Corey Feldman for the Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Fantasy award for License to Drive.

The two Coreys had become a popular on screen collaboration, following two successful films the pair would meet again in 1989, when Haim appeared in the film Dream a Little Dream. The film received mixed reviews and grossed only $5,552,441, notably less than Haim's previous affairs. Despite it's failure at the box office, the film gained some what of a cult following. That same year, amid much-publicized rumors of a serious drug problem, Haim released a self-promotional video documentary entitled Corey Haim: Me, Myself, and I in an attempt to challenge these rumors which were proving to be detrimental to his image and his creditability as a teenage role model. In the video, he is shown taking part in wholesome family activities and discussing his career and ambitions.

His next film The Dream Machine was the first of many direct-to-video films that Haim would make in the 1990s. His last theatrical release would come in 1991, the film Prayer of the Rollerboys was only released in 60 theatres and had a low box office gross. Haim dated several high-profile actresses during the early part of the 1990s, including Alyssa Milano who was seen with Haim as early as 1987, Nicole Eggert and Victoria Beckham. He was briefly engaged to Eggert. Although he had a steady amount of low-budget work in the early to mid-1990s, these problems was beginning to seriously impede his career.

1992-1997

He continued making direct-to-video films, including Blown Away (also starring Feldman), The Double 0 Kid and Oh, What a Night. His Blown Away co-star and former girlfriend, Nicole Eggert, would later comment that there were substantial delays in filming due to Haim's problems. Template:Ref.

In 1993, Haim was charged for pulling out a fake handgun during a dispute with his business manager, although the charges were later reduced from felony to misdemeanor. Later that year he starred in a full motion video game called Double Switch, which was released for the Sega CD and later for the Sega Saturn, as well as for the home computer. Over the next two years, Haim would release low budget sequels to two of his older films. In 1994, Fast Getaway II was released along with National Lampoon's Last Resort. The following year, Life 101 and another sequel, Dream a Little Dream 2 with Corey Feldman were released. None of these achieved any major success.

In 1996 Haim celebrated his engagement to Holly Fields, which did not last, as well as starring in four more direct-to-video films: Snowboard Academy, Busted with Corey Feldman (their last film collaboration), Demolition High, and Fever Lake, but further problems arose when he was sued by Lloyds of London for $375,000 after pulling out of the film Paradise Bar because of drug problems, which he had failed to mention on the insurance form. After releasing both Never Too Late and the sequel to Demolition High, Demolition University (which he also produced), he filed for bankruptcy in 1997. According to the bankruptcy report, he had $100,000 outstanding to the IRS, $100,000 in debts, and his assets included $100 cash, $750 worth of clothing, a red 1987 BMW and a $31,000 pension fund.

In 1999, Haim was again involved in controversy, as a string of allegations arose with then girlfriend Cindy Guyer, a former Playboy model.Template:Ref Haim's film roles were scarce since 1997, and apart from playing a minor role in a television version of Merlin, Haim would not work as an actor again until 2000.

2000-present

Image:Corey Haim 2005.PNG Haim returned to the industry with a major role in another direct-to-video film, Without Malice, with Jennifer Beals and Craig Sheffer. The next year, Haim appeared in the film The Back Lot Murders alongside Priscilla Barnes. He became the subject of an E! True Hollywood Story in 2001, which detailed the extent of his drug addiction. Corey Feldman, who had overcome his own drug habit, spoke of how he had tried to intervene with the troubled actor. At this stage, Haim was living with his mother in an apartment in Santa Monica. On August 10, 2001, Haim suffered a drug induced stroke. He was found by his mother, who frantically called an ambulance. Haim was rushed to the UCLA Medical Center, where he briefly fell into a coma. Haim recounted his drug use history as follows:

His last major appearance was a cameo role in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, a film about a former child star who did not live a normal childhood; it featured a range of other former child stars, including Feldman.

Haim appeared to have finally gotten rid of his drug habit by 2004, after resettling in Toronto. The Irish band, The Thrills, released a single, "Whatever happened to Corey Haim?", in September 2004. In response to an investigation by The Sun newspaper during the single's release into what exactly had happened to Haim, he responded: "I'm clean, sober, humble and happy". Template:Ref Haim is optimistic of returning to the film industry.Template:Ref In 2006 he was ranked #8 on VH1's Greatest Teen Stars.

Selected filmography

See full Haim filmography at IMDB

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1991	Fast Getaway	Nelson	direct-to-video release
1991	Prayer of the Rollerboys	Griffin
1990	The Dream Machine	Barry Davis	direct-to-video release
1989	Dream a Little Dream	Dinger
1988	Watchers	Travis Cornell
1988	License to Drive	Les Anderson
1987	The Lost Boys	Sam Emerson
1986	Lucas	Lucas
1985	Silver Bullet	Marty Coslaw
1984	Firstborn	Brian Livingston

Notes

References

External links

Template:Wikiquote

• {{{2|{{{name|Corey Haim}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database
• An Unofficial Corey Haim Website

Template:Corey Haim filmssv:Corey Haim