Corey Haim

COREY HAIM

Date of Birth: December 23, 1971

Date of Death: March 10, 2010

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Corey Haim was considering becoming a professional hockey player when he attended an audition with his older sister, Cari, and was bitten by the acting bug. His first role was at the age of 11 in the Toronto-filmed family series The Edison Twins. By 1984, he made his feature film debut in Paramount Pictures' Firstborn, starring Teri Garr, Sarah Jessica Parker and Robert Downey Jr. Haim then landed a starring role in Stephen King's Silver Bullet (1985). His big break came when he played the title role in Lucas (1986), opposite Winona Ryder. Roger Ebert gave him a rave review, writing: "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's career peaked in his mid-teens when he starred in the teen comedies The Lost Boys (1987) and License to Drive (1988). His co-star in both movies was Corey Feldman, and they wound up sharing the screen in a total of seven movies together. They became friends, going clubbing together and doing drugs. Both of their careers fizzled in the early '90s.

Haim's career consisted mainly of roles in straight-to-video movies over the next 20 years. In 2004, he moved back to Toronto to spend time with his father, who'd divorced his mother in 1982, and to get clean, away from Hollywood temptations.

It didn't last, however. Haim moved back to Hollywood and co-starred with Corey Feldman in the reality series The Two Coreys. It became clear to audiences that Haim was obviously deeply troubled. Though he played a role in his first major motion picture in years with Crank: High Voltage (2009) and had a number of projects lined up, including his directorial debut, Haim, who never married, died of a drug overdose at age 38 in his home in Los Angeles on March 10, 2010.