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Corey Haim

Corey Haim (born December 23, 1971 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to a Canadian father and an Israeli mother) became famous as an actor in Hollywood during the 1980s. Haim reacheed peak popularity in the late 1980s, releasing The Lost Boys, License to Drive and Dream a Little Dream.

Haim's career took a different direction in the 1990s, he only released films straight-to-video and had a on going battle with drugs as well as numerous problems in his personal and professional life.

His friendship and on-screen collaboration with Corey Feldman was widely publicized during the late 1980s, and they were dubbed the two Coreys. His fall from stardom is considered a textbook case of a child star losing his way when entering adulthood.

Early life

Corey Haim was born on December 23, 1971 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to French-Canadian father Bernie and Israeli mother Judy Haim. Haim was enlisted in acting lessons by his mother Judy in an attempt to help him overcome his emmense shyness. Haim, not particulary facinated by acting, practiced other hobbies such as ice hockey, playing music on his keyboard and collecting comics.

It was actually his sister, Carol Haim who got him initally interested in the notion of acting, when Carol, two years older, brought him along when she was auditioning for a film role. At a young age Haim would appear in several television commercials. At age 11, he would endure the divorce of his parents, Bernie, a sales representative and Judy, a computer operator had been married for 18 years.

Early success

Corey Haim first broke into mainstream acting, playing the role of Larry, in the family orientated comedy television series, The Edison Twins, which ran from 1982 through until 1986. Haim was recognized for his ability, and made his first theatrical appearence in the 1984 film, Firstborn, which also starred future hollywood stars, Sarah Jessica Parker and Robert Downey Jr.. The following year, Haim played a minor role in Secret Admirer, that same year, Haim would star in Stephen King's Silver Bullet, playing a a paralytic boy alongside Gary Busey. Also that year, he would star in television movie A Time to Live as well as Murphy's Romance with Sally Field.

Haim's major break happened in 1986, billed as the main star alongside Kerri Green, Charlie Sheen and Winona Ryder in the highly popular Lucas. Haim would receive a nomination for an Exceptional Performance by a Young Actor Starring in a Feature Film - Comedy or Drama at the Young Artist Awards. Riding off the success of Lucas, Haim starred in the television series, Roomies in 1987. 1987 would prove to be a huge year for Haim, as he was cast in Joel Schumacher's new horror film.

Teenage idol

Big stars were signed on to the new horror film, notably Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Patric. Schumacher would release the vampire film The Lost Boys that year, recieving a huge response. Haim became an instant star, and from the film, formed a famous partnership with fellow actor Corey Feldman. The film would make $32,222,567 domestic total, accumulating a further $14,100,000 through rentals in the United States alone. Lost Boys would go on to win the Saturn Award as the best horror film of 1987 and earn Haim another Young Artist Award nomination as Best Young Male Superstar in Motion Pictures.

Haim reached the height of his success in 1988, releasing a horror film The Watchers with Michael Ironside, however his huge success came from leading the teen-comedy License to Drive alongside Corey Feldman and Heather Graham. Haim finally won his first Young Artist Award, tying Corey Feldman for the Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Fantasy award. The film would gross $22,433,275. Haim, along with Feldman became teen idols, appearing on every popular magazine. Girls wanted him, guys wanted to be him.

More success came for Haim in 1989, starring with Corey Feldman, the pair had become a teen success, though this time, Haim was playing second to Feldman in Dream a Little Dream. The film would gross $5,552,441, proving to be very popular with teenagers. With The Lost Boys, License to Drive and Dream a Little Dream, Haim seemed unstopable, seemingly one of the most popular stars of the 1980s. But, Dream a Little Dream would be his last theatrically released film.

In 1989, amid much-publicized rumours of a serious drug problem, Haim released a self-promotional video documentary entitled Corey Haim: Me, Myself, and I. In the video he is shown taking part in wholesome family activities and discussing his career and ambitions. However, his incoherent ramblings on the video suggested that he was heavily drugged during filming.

Haim's next film would be The Dream Machine, the first of many straight-to-video films that Haim would make in the 1990s. Despite not being released in cinemas, Dream Machine was very popular and reached a fairly large audience. In 1991, Haim released both Fast Getaway and Prayer of the Rollerboys, both straight to video, but still very popular.

Haim dated several high-profile actresses during the 1990s including Alyssa Milano, Nicole Eggert, Holly Fields, Victoria Beckham, and Cindy Guyer. He was briefly engaged to Eggert, Fields, and Guyer. Although he got a steady amount of low-budget work in the early to mid-1990s, drug addiction was beginning to seriously impede his career.

Career decline

Haim's problems started to catch up with him and it was evident that he was a shadow of his former self, his career began a downward trajectory. He continued making straight-to-video films, including Blown Away where he reunited with Corey Feldman, The Double 0 Kid and Oh, What a Night, all achieving relative success. In 1993 Haim was charged for pulling a fake handgun during a dispute with his business manager. The charges were later reduced from felony to misdemeanor, later that year he released Anything for Love and also stared in a full motion video game called Double Switch that was produced by Digitial Pictures. The game was released for the Sega CD and later for the Sega Saturn, and for the home computer.

1994 would see Haim release Fast Getaway II and National Lampoon's Last Resort, the following year, releasing Life 101 and Dream a Little Dream 2, none achieving any huge success.

In 1996 Haim clebrated his engagement to Holly Fields, which did not last, as well as releasing four low budget films; Snowboard Academy, Busted with Corey Feldman, Demolition High and Fever Lake but further problems arose when he was sued by Lloyds of London for $375,000 after pulling out of the film Paradise Bar because of drug problems, which he had failed to mention on the insurance form. He filed for bankruptcy in 1997. According to the bankruptcy report, he had $100,000 outstanding to the IRS, $100,000 in debts, and his assets included $100 dollars cash, $750 dollars worth of clothing, a red 1987 BMW (as seen in Corey Haim: Me, Myself, and I), and a $31,000 pension fund. The film roles dried up at this stage.

Current status

He was the subject of E! True Hollywood Story in 2001, which detailed the extent of his drug addiction. Feldman, who had kicked his own drug habit, spoke of how he had tried to intervene with the troubled actor. At this stage, Haim was living with his mother in a sparsely furnished one-bedroom apartment over someone's garage in Santa Monica. In August 2001, Haim suffered a drug induced stroke, and was rushed to the UCLA medical center, where he briefly fell into a coma. He had to leave the hospital early because he had no health insurance.

Having been in and out of rehab over fifteen times, he appeared to have finally kicked his drug habit by 2004, after resettling in Toronto. Haim was the subject of the single Whatever Happened to Corey Haim by The Thrills, released in September 2004. In response to an investigation by The Sun newspaper during the single's release, into what exactly had happened to Corey Haim, he responded: I'm clean, sober, humble and happy. Presently, he is renting an apartment in Toronto, and works part-time at a record store. He did not appear to have any more films in the pipeline in January 2005.

Films

One of his first appearances was in Lucas, alongside Charlie Sheen. His breakthrough role came in Joel Schumacher's 1987 hit film, The Lost Boys, where he and the other Corey battled teenage vampires. Then, in 1988, he made the film License to Drive, where he undertook the main character and Feldman had a secondary role. For their next film, 1989's Dream a Little Dream, Feldman had the lead and Haim played a secondary character. He and Feldman quickly became teen idols, and both got heavily involved in the late 1980s Hollywood party scene.

After the 1980s, his career began a downward trajectory. Dream a Little Dream was his last film with a major theatrical release, after which it was strictly low-budget straight-to-video fare, which included Dream Machine, Fast Getaway, Fast Getaway II, The Double O Kid, Blown Away, One of the Girls, Snowboard Academy, Demolition High, Demolition University, and Busted. Many of these co-starred Corey Feldman, and often featured then girlfriend Nicole Eggert as the love interest.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2005.

Corey Haim Facts

Birth NameCorey Ian Haim
OccupationActor, Musician, Writer
BirthdayDecember 23, 1971
SignCapricorn
BirthplaceToronto, Ontario, Canada
Date of deathMarch 10, 2010 (Burbank, California, USA, age 38)
Height5' 6" (1m68)  How tall is Corey Haim compared to you?

Selected Filmography

Universal Groove (2007) as Jim (breakthrough)
Blown Away (1992)
Dream a Little Dream (1989)
License to Drive (1988)
Watchers (1988)
The Lost Boys (1987)
Lucas (1986)
Murphy's Romance (1986)
Secret Admirer (1985)
Silver Bullet (1985)
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