Corey Haim, Canadian actor, Died at 38

  Dead Famous

Dead, Corey Ian Haim on March 10, 2010 at 38, he was a Canadian actor, known for a 1980s Hollywood career as a teen idol.

Born in December 23, 1971, in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Judy, an Israeli-born data processor, and Bernie Haim, who worked in sales, when Haim was eleven, his parents divorced after eighteen years of marriage.

He had an older sister, Carol, and a younger half-brother, Daniel Lee, from his father’s second marriage.

Growing up in Willowdale, Toronto, he was enrolled in drama lessons in improv and mime by his mother to help him overcome his shyness, and accidentally fell into the film industry after accompanying Carol to her auditions.

Not particularly interested in acting, Haim participated in other activities, such as ice hockey, playing music on his keyboard and collecting comic books.

His skills on the ice led to his being scouted for the AA Thunderbirds hockey team.

Haim began to gain industry recognition, earning his first Young Artist Award as an Exceptional Young Actor starring in a Television Special or Movie of the Week for the NBC movie A Time to Live, in which he played Liza Minnelli’s dying son.

While rehearsing on a Montreal street, Minnelli taught Haim how to walk like someone with muscular dystrophy, despite stares from passersby.

Following the shoot, Haim decided he would prefer to play boyfriends rather than sons.

At the time, Haim’s father was acting as his manager, and turned down River Phoenix’s role in The Mosquito Coast on his behalf. Producer Stanley Jaffe approached him to remark on Haim’s gifts, and recommended that he get an agent in Los Angeles.

Haim was nominated for an Exceptional Performance by a Young Actor in a Feature Film – Comedy or Drama at the Young Artist Awards for his performance as Lucas, and film critic Roger Ebert gave him a glowing review: “He creates one of the most three-dimensional, complicated, interesting characters of any age in any recent movie.

If he can continue to act this well, he will never become a half-forgotten child star, but will continue to grow into an important actor.

He is that good.” Haim later remembered, “It was a trip, getting all that attention”.

Following Lucas, Haim moved to Los Angeles, and starred in the short-lived 1987 television series Roomies alongside Burt Young.

In November 1989, fresh out of the first of fifteen stints in rehab, Haim released a self-promotional video documentary entitled Corey Haim: Me, Myself, and I, which followed a day in his life.

Heavily scripted, Haim’s monologues to camera were nevertheless unfocused and suggested that he was under the influence during filming.

It has been considered the “worst movie ever” by X-Entertainment.

Reportedly Corey’s responded by saying: “Well, as far as my fans out there, being, and like ‘help Corey,’ you know, ‘where’s our Corey,’ you know and the whole misconception of things, from people out there.

Continued with: Um, you know, they have every right to feel the way they do and things are great with me, as you see, I’m very, good shape now and on the ball. Things are happening.”