Joshua Daniel Hartnett was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on the 21st July 1978. However, shortly after he was born, his birth mother moved to San Francisco, after divorcing his father. Josh has three younger siblings - Jake, Joe and Jessica. Josh Hartnett was an athletic kid, he liked to jog with his dad. He was also into Football and had typical teenage dreams of playing for the national team. His acting career actually started by accident. In high school, he played for school's football team and the varsity soccer team. However, he tore a ligament and was forced to stop playing. Instead of just idling around, his aunt suggested that he should try out in the school play and landed himself with the leading role of Huck Finn in the Tom Sawyer novel. Josh worked in a video store during his time in high school. He liked acting so much that he decided then that he wanted to be an actor. He told his dad and they watched old movies together. Josh didn't tell his friends his dream then.

After Josh graduated from high school he attended the SUNY acting program in New York. He didn't stay in New York long, he soon moved out to California in search of acting opportunities. He didn't have to look very hard - he quickly landed the role of Michael Fitzgerald in the TV series Cracker. Cracker was a mystery series, that didn't last very long.

Josh finally struck it big in 1998 when he was cast as John Tate in the last movie in the trilogy Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later. The movie got mixed reviews - but Halloween fans and horror film suckers flocked to see the film. Josh got some recognition for his role. He soon followed up his Halloween success with another horror film, The Faculty. The Faculty could be considered Josh's breakthrough role. He was cast along side other up and coming co-stars including: Clea Duvall, Elijah Wood, Usher Shawn Hatosey and Jordana Brewster. The cast was definitely a cool set of young actors and a highlight of the filming. The Faculty cast also teamed up with fashion guru Tommy Hilfiger to promote not only the movie but the clothing line as well. The movie was a hit with teenage fans everywhere. Josh had finally made his mark. Not necessarily on the mainstream of A-list actors but he had created a fan base and websites began popping up on the web devoted to him after his role as badass Zeke. Next came The Virgin Suicides. An indie film that proved Josh's acting ability. Josh was cast alongside Kirsten Dunst (who rocks) James Wood and Kathleen Turner for Sophia Copoola's adaptation of her favorite book. The movie was an indie hit and was a big plus for Josh - who received good reviews for his performance as the cocky- hotshot-weed smoking Trip Fontaine. After The Virgin Suicides, Here on Earth was released. Lelee Sobieski and Chris Klein starred along side Josh in Mark Pizinarski's teen romance. Josh still refers to Lelee as one of his closest co-stars. Chris also, had a positive experience working with Josh: "Josh is such a great guy, he's a true professional, he's a brilliant actor, I really think he's a brilliant actor, and not only that, he's a real cool guy. He's from Minneapolis-St. Paul, where we shot this movie and so I got to be real good friends with him and he'd take me to the ins and outs, all the good spots, and we hung out with his friends from college and stuff and it was great." The movie got bland reviews and did ok at the box office. Josh also starred alongside high schoolmate Rachel Leigh Cook in the comedy Blow Dry.

Josh's career only went uphill from this point on - despite some minor glitches. His film O had been delayed nearly 2 years by Miramax Films because of the violence the movie depicts. Miramax didn't want to release the movie because of the school shootings - the film also contained a brutal rape scene. The film was eventually picked up by Lion Gate Films when Miramax dropped it. His movie Town and Country has also been delayed for almost a year - despite having Warren Beatty as the director and an all-star cast - the film bombed at box offices.

It didn't really matter though because soon, all eyes, magazine covers and fansites were focused on Josh who played Danny Walker in Pearl Harbor. Without a doubt - Josh's most popular role. Cold Feet: "I went and washed the car with my dad and talked to him about, you know, if I really wanted to be in a big, blockbuster-type movie-if I wanted that kind of change in my life. My dad had really great advice. He said, 'Fame can be temporary-you can always quit. Regret can be permanent". Despite bad reviews the film made over $70 million on its opening weekend alone and earned Josh a 'Best Actor' nomination at the MTV movie awards. Pearl Harbor skyrocketed Josh into the mainstream. Cast along side Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale Josh hit the spot with audiences everywhere and managed to not only appear on the big screen but on the cover of Vanity Fair, Movieline and landed slots on Conan O' Brien and Jay Leno. Josh has made his mark on Hollywood which will remain for years to come.

After Pearl Harbor Josh quickly landed a role in Ridley Scott's epic war drama Black Hawk Down. The talented ensemble cast (Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana, Ewan Mcgregor) helped inspire Hartnett to summon his most convincing screen portrayal yet and the film went on to not only garner praise from moviegoers, but critics as well. Filming didn't start until February 2002 which gave him plenty of time to film a more light hearted movie 40 Days and 40 Nights.

Because of the pressure of fame, Josh decided to take a long break from acting and returned to his hometown to spend time with his family, friend and his girlfriend, Ellen Fenster (now no longer together). He returned to acting when he filmed Hollywood Homicide with Harrison Ford. Then he landed the lead role of the romantic thriller Wicker Park when Paul Walker went to film 2 Fast 2 Furious. In 2005, Josh portrayed an essential character on Frank Miller's graphic novel Sin City. The opening scene on the rooftop was the first footage shot and this was the footage which convinced Frank Miller that his graphic novel could be turned into a film. Next up, Josh played a autistic man in romantic film based on a true story of - Mozart and the Whale. Although this film was not successful in distribution, reviews applauded Josh's fantastic acting chops.

Year 2006 was a comeback year for Josh. Having shot Wicker Park with director Paul Mcguigan, Josh was such great to work with that Paul asked Josh to act in his next crime thriller, Lucky Number Slevin - a Weinstein Production. The film had a great cast: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Sir Ben Kingsley and Lucy Liu. It received fantastic reviews and Josh won the best actor award for the Milan International Film Festival. This film landed Josh on many talk shows including The David Letterman's Show and The Daily Show with Regis and Kelly. Josh was then seen more commonly in magazines like Hommes Vogue, Glamour, Famous. GQ magazine wrote an article, "Arrested Development"  on him. Also in the same year, Josh was seen on screen playing an ex-lightweight boxer turned cop in James Ellroy's adaptation of The Black Dahlia with Scarlett Johansson (They met on set and started to date). This highly anticipated film turned out to be a somewhat let-down. The film was criticized for its lack of continuity, but it was nominated for Best Cinematography in the 79th Academy Award.

In 2007, Josh continued to soar higher and landed in great acting opportunities. Resurrecting the Champ allowed Josh to develop as an actor, working along side with Oscar winner Samuel L Jackson and Oscar nominee Alan Alda. In this movie, Josh plays a father who is desperate to impress his son and trying to earn a name in the world of journalism. This is the first time Josh plays as a father. Resurrecting the Champ was screened in the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, where it received many positive feedback, both about the film itself and about Josh's acting. Around august till october, Josh traveled east to the Philippines and Hong Kong to film his upcoming crime thriller, I Come with the Rain. Next up for Hartnett was vampire horror film, 30 Days of Night based on the graphic novel by Steve Niles. Josh plays the sheriff. The film was pretty well received, one critic even stated that 30 Days of Night was "the Bourne Ultimatum of horror movies". Josh went on multiple talk shows like Conan O' Brien, the Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, TRL etc. to promote his movie.

Josh started the year of 2008 fantastically by awing viewers with his portrayal of a new kind of anti-hero as the aggressive, slick CEO in a NY wall street dot-com movie. Although August was criticized in regards to directing, editing and the plot, "The film’s only major strength is the performance of Hartnett who has become increasingly compelling as an actor of late and plays Tom with superb confidence." August premiered in the annual Sundance Film Festival, making this the third year Josh has attended the festival in a row. August is one Josh's pride work. Being a producer of the film, he was able to attach British musician, David Bowie in the movie. The film has brought him the opportunity to ring the closing bell for NYSE on the 11th of July. The year of 2008 is looking good for Mr. Hartnett. He has been chosen to become the face of Emporio Armani's new fragrance, Diamonds for Men. Josh has also finished filming Bunraku in Romania- a "trippy film with a puppetry-meets-origami" look. Much like when Josh was approached in Sin City, Josh will be breaking new visual territory in Hollywood in this new film. However, Josh also said that his passion project ( The Prince of Cool) about legendary trumpeter, Chet Baker is no longer at works due to artistic differences with the producers. It was also around this time when Josh announced that he would be producing a Minnesota based film, Nobody, which is directed by Rob Perez and stars Josh's childhood friend, Sam Rosen. Josh stays true to his Minnesota roots and plans to open a restaurant there soon.

This fall, Josh will be heading to London to star in the stage adaptation of Oscar-winning film, Rain Man, where he will be playing the role of Charlie Babbit. The play has been booked from late August through to Decemeber. The filming of End Zone starts in 2009.

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