Where is The Sixth Sense’s Haley Joel Osment now? The former child star is in Zoe Kravitz’s new film with Channing Tatum and recently opened up about his co-star Bruce Willis’ dementia diagnosis

Apr 2 , 2024

Then and now: Haley Joel Osment, the child star of The Sixth Sense and Forrest Gump, steered clear of the child-star tropes that afflicted everyone from Britney Spears to Justin Bieber and Lindsay Lohan. Photo: @moviepilot_de/Instagram

Unlike Lindsay Lohan or Justin Bieber, being a child star never really caught up with The Sixth Sense’s Haley Joel Osment – in fact he’s happily continued acting ever since he got his big break, and is now into golf

From comedic roles in The Kominsky Method, Silicon Valley and What We Do in the Shadows to a role in Zoe Kravitz’s new thriller Blink Twice alongside Channing Tatum, he’s still going strong

From Britney to Bieber, Amanda Bynes to Lindsay Lohan, the child star-turned-troubled-adult is a narrative we know all too well. But for Haley Joel Osment, things have turned out much better.

“I’m lucky to have a positive relationship with those periods that can sometimes be difficult for other people,” he told The Guardian in 2020. And sure enough, Osment has slowly but surely appeared in film after film, show after show in recent years – and enjoyed making every single one of them if his socials are anything to go by.

Haley Joel Osment played Forrest Gump – aka Tom Hanks’ – son. Photo: @theegreatmovies/Instagram

These days, now aged 35, his kind face is hidden behind a beard and a mop of brown hair, meaning most who see his new work don’t realise they’re looking at the same child who could “see dead people” in The Sixth Sense.

So what has Haley Joel Osment been up to since filming hits Forrest Gump, The Sixth Sense and A.I. as a child?

He finished his education

Haley Joel Osment is all grown up. Photo: @zambia_carridice/Instagram

Osment’s performance in The Sixth Sense opposite Bruce Willis was so good that he was nominated for an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a SAG award in 2000. But despite the accolades, his parents Eugene and Theresa made sure he didn’t miss out on an education, and when he was 18 he decided to go to New York University to study experimental theatre.

And while he disappeared from mainstream filmmaking, the actor says it was worth it, telling Vulture it had given him the chance to “make sure this is what I wanted to do and focus in purely on the craft and not the business side of it”.

He was convicted of a DUI

An 18 year old Haley Joel Osment poses for a police mugshot after being arrested for a DUI. Photo: @GoldbergBonding/X

When news came in 2006 that Osment had crashed his car in LA whilst under the influence and in possession of marijuana, it seemed he’d succumbed to the same issues many child actors face as they get older. He was sentenced to three years probation and 60 hours of alcohol rehab, per Today. Luckily it was a one-off, and Osment put it down to just being a “foolish high-schooler”.