Jackie Earle Haley was born on July 14th, 1961 in Northridge, California. Son of Haven Earle “Bud” Haley, a radio show host/disc jockey and actor, Jackie had an early start in TV commercials. In 1972, Jackie made his first TV debut as the voice of Jamie on Wait till Your Father Gets Home, a television series produced by Hanna-Barbera. Two years later, Jackie would lend his voice to another character (Greg Butler) from a Hanana-Barbera cartoon called Valley of the Dinosaurs. His first film appearance would come in 1975 when he played the androgynous Adore in The Day of the Locust – a film that offered a dark, cynical look at Hollywood in the late 1930s. Though some of his earlier work may be well known, he is perhaps best known for his work in the comedy trilogy The Bad News Bears (‘76), a movie about a dysfunctional little league baseball team, where he plays the bad-ass, Kelly Leak.

In 1977, Jackie experienced a growth spurt as he reprised the role of Kelly Leak in The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, where the team heads to the Astrodome in Houston, Texas to play in place of Yankees for a chance to play in Japan. Also in ‘77, he appears as Billy in Damnation Alley, a movie where World War III is raging, radiation has mutated the insect life, and a group of vagabonds are trying to survive as they hope to reach their destination. In 1978 the last movie in the The Bad News Bears trilogy would be released, and fans would wave adieu to Kelly Leak for the last time. 1979 was a big year for Jackie. He married Sherry Vaughan in ‘79, and it was also the year that we were introduced to Moocher in a film about four teenagers in Bloomington, Indiana called Breaking Away. Dealing with the tough decisions of what to do after high school, it involved four friends who recently graduated and were unsure of what to do next.

Four years later, in 1983, Jackie appears in Losin’ It, a film about four teenagers from Los Angeles, California on their way to Tijuana, Mexico, as Dave – a perverted young man who hopes to lose his virginity while South of the border. The Zoo Gang appeared in 1985, as well as the unforgettable blonde mullet sported by Jackie’s character, Little Joe. Little Joe Donnelly and his twin brothers have their eyes set on The Zoo, a nightclub recently reopened by two siblings named Kate and Ricky. A year after the movie’s release, he would see the birth of his first child, and only son, Christopher. Sometime between ‘79 and ‘86 he divorced Sherry Vaughan, though the exact date is not known. Six years later, Jackie resurfaces in a movie called Dollman, based on a a comic book created by Will Eisner, playing the role of Braxton Red.

In 1993, Jackie took his last few roles in the movie business before going on a hiatus as his career hit a stand-still. Appearing as Einstein in Nemesis, and Frank Jessup in Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence, Jackie realized that the pickings were becoming slim and that it would be best to step back. ”When I made the decision to leave show business about fifteen years ago, it was out of necessity. I was no longer able to make a living. I was getting behind on bills. It was time to move on to kind of seek opportunity elsewhere.” The last movie role that Jackie had was in ‘93, until 2006 when he was remembered by director Steven Zaillian for one of his previous roles, and was cast as Sugar-Boy in All the King’s Men. During the break, Jackie moonlighting here and there as a commercial director, limousine driver, furniture refinisher, security officer and pizza deliverer in Texas. Also during this disappearance from acting, he met his second wife, Amelia Cruz, in San Antonio and married her in 2004.

All the King’s Men opened more doors, and Jackie soon found himself playing Ronald “Ronnie” James McGorvey, a man who had just finished serving a prison sentence for indecent exposure to a minor, and who has recently moved back into his old neighbor with his mother. “When Todd hired me to play the role of Ronnie that’s when I really started to dive in and try to discover the character and who he is and what he’s about. He’s such a challenging character, it’s a challenging role. And I really had to dig pretty deep. “ Two years after what Jackie himself called a challenging role, he is seen as an “extremely dirty hippie” named Dukes in Semi-Pro, who is cheated out of $10,000 from Jackie Moon – Will Ferrel’s character. The role is minor, but has proved more than enough to cause fans to watch the entire movie just to catch the small scenes involving that dirty hippie.

Another big year for Jackie was 2009. He appeared in Winged Creatures as Bob Jasperson, but his most noted role of the year so far is Rorschach from Watchmen, a comic based movie about vigilantes directed by none other than Zack Snyder. Watchmen allowed Jackie the chance to work with Patrick Wilson, who he had worked with in Little Children. “And you know, there I am in my sock and there he is in his goggles, and we’re standing there and I go “who would have guessed this shit about two years ago?” And he started laughing ‘cause, think about it, there would have been no way to guess that one. “Hey in two years from now we’re going to be standing in these outfits looking at each other.”

Like Ronnie, Jackie found Rorschach had left an impression on him. “I think Rorschach’s probably affected me more than I’ve affected him. He’s got me kind of looking at the world a bit more cynical. He’s opened up my eyes in a certain way. Not to his crazy point, you know what I mean, but just really looking at this complex world and all of these behaviors in it. It can drive you nuts when you look at it for too long. It really can.”

In April, Jackie was confirmed for the role of Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street remake set to be released in 2010. He is also confirmed for the role of George Noyce in Shutter Island.