Everything about the famous siblings Haley Joel Osment and Emily Osment

Haley Joel Osment and Emily Osment have both made the leap from child stars to full-fledged actors.

Michael and Theresa Osment had their son Haley Joel in April 1988, followed by their daughter Emily in March 1992. The brother-sister duo grew up in Los Angeles with their father, an actor, and their mother, an English teacher. At a young age, Haley Joel and Emily became child actresses and landed roles in commercials, films and television shows.

At the beginning of his career, Haley Joel appeared in 1994 in Forrest Gump and gained fame through his leading role in The sixth sense alongside Bruce Willis, which ultimately earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Around the same time, Emily made her acting debut in the 1999 film The secret life of girls, later published in 2002 Spy Kids 2: The Return of Lost Dreams, although she is best known for her work Hannah Montana in the leading role alongside Miley Cyrus.

While Emily continued to work as an actress after the end of the Disney show, she appeared in Young & Hungry and most recently in Young Sheldon, Haley Joel took a break from the limelight for several years. After a break, he returned to the screen in the psychological thriller Flash twice in August 2024.

Here you can find out everything you need to know about siblings Haley Joel Osment and Emily Osment.

They were both child stars and still play today

Haley Joel and Emily have had similar career paths despite being separated for four years. The siblings started in the entertainment industry in commercials before moving into film and television.

Haley Joel shaped the industry as a child with the leading role in Forrest Gump And The sixth sensefor the latter he received an Oscar nomination. As an actress, Emily has appeared in several popular series, especially in Hannah Montana And Young Sheldon, and will appear in the spinoff called Georgie & Mandy’s first marriage.

Although Haley Joel temporarily stepped away from the industry to pursue other interests, such as college, he thanked his sister and parents for helping him stay grounded.

“We definitely tried to help each other as best we could,” said Haley Joel E! News in August 2024.

He noted that Emily “didn’t need too much advice from me,” adding, “She’s gone her own way and her career as a comedian has been pretty incredible.”

“I’m really happy for her and proud of her,” Haley Joel said. “It’s fun that we both still get to do this after starting out as kids.”

Haley Joel and Emily’s acting was influenced by their father

While child stars in Hollywood have had different experiences, Haley Joel said E! Live from the Red Carpet in February 2022 that he had to thank his father and mother for keeping him and his sister on the right path.

“We were both very fortunate to have wonderful parents who were very skeptical about the industry and didn’t want us to be involved in anything other than the work itself,” he explained. “And for me, it was always about the work.”

In August 2024 The New York Times reported that when Haley Joel was a young boy, his father, Michael, would accompany him when he worked on films and television shows during the summer months. Michael also helped his children behind the scenes, going over every script and audition with them.

“He’s the most patient person I’ve ever met in my life, sometimes infuriatingly so,” Emily told the magazine. “We went through line by line, word by word. What does it mean? How do you show it? How does the body feel? What is the brain doing? It was a kind of education in getting to know yourself. That’s why Haley is so meticulous.”

Speaking to Vulture in June 2017, Haley Joel expressed a similar sentiment about how important her father was in landing roles.

“My dad is a smart guy and we talked about the characters and the script and everything. So it was a big help to be able to talk to them about the motivation behind the character and things like that,” he explained.

They agreed that their education should be a priority

While Haley Joel and Emily aspired to careers in the arts, having a teacher for a mother meant they also focused on education. Emily previously told Civilian Magazine that her parents always encouraged her and her brother to continue learning.

“Even when we were working – I Hannah Montana and Haley Joel on Broadway – I was in high school and he was at NYU,” she explained. “It all tied into our education.”

In June 2017, Haley Joel told Vulture that the decision to go away to study was “not a difficult decision” because he had always wanted to achieve this.

“And since my mom is a sixth-grade teacher, I definitely wanted to go to college,” he added. “Skipping it was out of the question.”

At the age of 18, Haley Joel left California and went to the East Coast to attend New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. The New York Times reported in January 2019. He studied at the Experimental Theater Wing and graduated in 2011.

Haley Joel and Emily supported each other while navigating Hollywood

Going from child star to star isn’t always all glitz and glamour: Despite being successful at a young age, both Haley Joel and Emily struggled in the spotlight.

Haley Joel revealed in a July 2020 article with The Guardian that he grew a beard as a young adult just to “try to hide in public,” noting, “It actually didn’t work at all.”

While acknowledging that people often expect a child actor to have a “spectacular breakthrough,” he explained, “I think the percentage of people who have had positive experiences working as children is much higher than most people realize.”

Haley Joel also shared that his sister Emily had “a much harder road” adjusting to fame because Hannah Montanameteoric success.

“This show was clearly aimed at creating a mania in that age group,” he said. “She had to deal with a lot more weird invasions of her privacy and couldn’t have a normal school life. And what made it worse was that she had to be on social media. I resisted until I was about 27.”

Emily spoke with The New York Times in August 2024 about her experiences with fame at a young age, sharing that the industry was “meaner for women.”

“I was on the biggest kids’ show in the world for five years and tried to go to a normal high school – it was a disaster,” she told the newspaper.

They support each other on the red carpet

Haley Joel and Emily continue to support each other, even on the red carpet.

Over the years, the brother-sister duo have appeared at several events. As children, they attended award ceremonies and premieres together, including the Annual International Film Festival Awards Gala in 2000 and the Britannia Awards in 2000. Haley Joel also supported Emily at the premiere of Spy Kids 2 – Return of the Spy Kids in 2002.

In recent years, they attended the 2015 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the 2016 American Film Institute Life Achievement Award Gala, and the 2022 Screen Actors Guild Awards.

As adults, they have a close relationship

Outside of work and the industry, Haley Joel and Emily are close.

Although they don’t often share photos of each other on social media, they have shared glimpses into their sibling dynamic, including around the holidays.

In November 2021, Haley Joel posted a photo from Thanksgiving in which he posed next to Emily in the group shot. The following month, the actor uploaded a series of snaps from the holiday season, including one of him and Emily at the Dodgers Holiday Festival at Dodger Stadium.

Emily also celebrated her brother’s 34th birthday with a sweet snap on social media in April 2022. At the time, she posted a selfie of the duo wearing birthday hats as they posed silly for the camera.

Haley Joel will be best man at Emily’s upcoming wedding

Emily got engaged to her boyfriend Jack Anthony in June 2023. In May 2024, she told PEOPLE that she “can’t wait to get married” and gave some hints about her wedding, including a hint about the date – fall 2024!

Haley Joel revealed E! News in August 2024 that he would play a special role as best man at his sister’s wedding.

“That’s coming up,” he said of the special occasion. “We just had all of our groomsmen’s suits made a few weeks ago, so it’s going to be a great wedding.”