All About Famous Siblings Haley Joel Osment and Emily Osment

Brother-sister duo Haley Joel and Emily Osment figured out Hollywood together

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

Michael and Theresa Osment welcomed their son Haley Joel in April 1988, followed by their daughter Emily in March 1992. The brother-sister duo were raised by their father, an actor, and their mother, an English teacher, in Los Angeles. At a young age, Haley Joel and Emily became child actors, landing parts in commercials, movies and TV shows.

At the onset of his career, Haley Joel appeared in 1994’s Forrest Gump and gained notoriety for his starring role in 1999’s The Sixth Sense opposite 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 movie The Secret Life of Girls, later appearing in 2002’s Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, though she is best known for her work on Hannah Montana starring opposite Miley Cyrus.

While Emily continued to act after the end of the Disney show, appearing in Young & Hungry and, most recently, in Young Sheldon, Haley Joel took a break from the spotlight for several years. After a hiatus, he returned to the big screen in the psychological thriller Blink Twice in August 2024.

Here’s everything to know about siblings Haley Joel Osment and Emily Osment.

They were both child stars and continue to act today

Haley Joel and Emily have had similar career paths despite being four years apart. The sibling duo started in the entertainment industry doing commercials before transitioning into film and television roles.

Haley Joel made his mark on the industry as a child, starring in Forrest Gump and The Sixth Sense, the latter of which earned him an Academy Award nod. As an actress, Emily has been on the cast of several beloved series, most notably Hannah Montana and Young Sheldon, and will appear in the spinoff called Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage.

While Haley Joel temporarily stepped back from the industry to pursue other interests, including college, he credited his sister and parents with helping to keep him grounded.

"We definitely have tried to help each other as much as we can," Haley Joel told E! News in August 2024.

He noted that Emily “didn't need too much advice from me,” adding, “She forged her own path, and her comedy career has been pretty incredible."

"I'm really happy for her and proud of her,” Haley Joel said. “It's fun that we both get to still be doing this after starting as children."

Haley Joel and Emily's acting was shaped by their dad

While child stars have had different experiences working in Hollywood, Haley Joel told E! Live From the Red Carpet in February 2022 that his dad and mom were to thank for keeping him and his sister on the right path.

“We both were very fortunate to have wonderful parents who were very skeptical of the industry and did not want us getting involved in anything outside of the work itself,” he explained. “And for me, it always has been about the work.”

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

“He is the most, sometimes infuriatingly, patient person I’ve ever met in my life,” Emily told the publication. “We would go line by line, word by word. What does this mean? How do you show this? How does your body feel? What is your brain doing? It was such an education on knowing yourself. That’s why Haley’s so specific.”

Speaking to Vulture in June 2017, Haley Joel echoed a similar sentiment about how their father was instrumental in landing roles.

"My dad’s a smart guy and we’d talk about the characters and the script and everything, so being able to talk to them about the motivation behind the character and stuff like that was a big help," he explained.

They were on the same page about prioritizing their education

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

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

In June 2017, Haley Joel told Vulture that going away to college “was not a tough decision” because it was something he had always wanted to accomplish.

“And with my mom being a sixth-grade teacher, I was definitely going to college,” he added. “Skipping it was out of the question.”

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

Haley Joel and Emily leaned on each other while navigating Hollywood

Being a child star turned full-blown celebrity is not all glitz and glam: Despite finding success at a young age, Haley Joel and Emily both had their fair share of struggles in the limelight.

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

While he acknowledged that it’s common for people to expect a “spectacular blowup” from a child actor, he explained, "I think the percentage of people having a positive experience working as children is much higher than most people imagine.”

Haley Joel also shared that his sister Emily had “a way tougher path” adjusting to fame because of Hannah Montana's meteoric success.

“That show was squarely aimed towards creating a mania in that age group,” he said. “She had to deal with a lot more strange invasions of privacy, not being able to have a normal school life. And what exacerbated all of that was she had to be on social media. I resisted until I was, like, 27.”

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

“I was on the biggest children’s show in the world for five years and trying 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 remain supportive of each other, including on the red carpet.

Over the years, the brother-sister duo have made several appearances at events. As kids, they attended award shows 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: The Island of Lost Dreams in 2002.

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

They have a tight-knit relationship as adults

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

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

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

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

Haley Joel will be a groomsman in Emily’s upcoming wedding

Emily got engaged to her boyfriend, Jack Anthony, in June 2023. She told PEOPLE in May 2024 that she “cannot wait to be married” and gave some hints about her wedding, including a clue on the date — fall 2024!

Haley Joel revealed to E! News in August 2024 that he would have a special role as a groomsman at his sister’s wedding.

"That's coming up," he said of the special occasion. "We were just all getting our groomsmen suits tailored a couple weeks ago, so it's going to be a great wedding."

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