Biography

Was actually only 17 years old when he played 19-year-old Moocher in Breaking Away (1979); he was the only teenager of the group, as co-stars Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern were all in their twenties.

In 1984, his friend Johnny Depp accompanied him to the auditions for A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Instead of being chosen for a role, it was Depp who was spotted by director Wes Craven, who asked him if he would like to read for a role. However, Haley would go on to play Freddy Krueger in the remake 26 years later (A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)).

Has earned rave reviews in 2006 in an unanticipated comeback with his roles in All the King's Men (2006) and Little Children (2006). Having not done a movie since 1993 and moonlighting here and there as a commercial director, limousine driver, furniture refinisher, security officer and pizza deliverer in Texas, Haley happened to be "just remembered" for his earlier films by director Steven Zaillian for his role in All the King's Men and the ball started rolling.

Initially a late 1970s teen character star who played tough, angry, pimply misfit types, notably in The Bad News Bears (1976) and Breaking Away (1979).

Began appearing in television commercials at age 6.

I started acting when I was 5 years old. And I was pretty well known for a while. Your self-esteem and your identity start to become wrapped up in that celebrity, and when that starts to fade away, your self-esteem and your identity start to fade away with it. Those roles that I played and the success that I had, that is not who I am. It's part of who I am, but it's not everything. So when it drifts away and you start to feel increasingly insecure, it's kind of a long battle out of that.

That transition from child to adult actor is so incredibly elusive. The roles that were coming to me as a young adult were not that great, but I was taking them anyway to pay the rent. And the more bad roles in bad movies I took, the less anybody wanted me for a good role in a good movie.

I'm an actor. Not at the exclusion of other things -- I'm also director or a limousine driver, if need be. But nothing is as thrilling to me as doing an actor's work.

I'd always avoided stuff like "Where are they now?" or "Whatever happened to?". Just "No thanks, thanks for calling." You tell me, have you ever seen a "Whatever happened to" where they seemed anything but pathetic? I could do that or just disappear.

After tossing and turning all night my wife came running in... she was just screaming and crying and said, "You got it!". (His reaction to his Oscar-nomination for Little Children (2006))