Jackie Earle Haley is best known for playing the rambunctious rebel Kelly Leak in the popular “Bad News Bears” film franchise from the late 1970s. As the notorious team’s best player (and also its most troublesome), the teenage Haley crafted an iconic character from the dregs of sports-movie cliché. Recently named on VH1’s list of the 100 Greatest Child Stars, Haley was prolific in his youth, and made his first screen appearance on the TV series “Wait Till Your Father Gets Home” in 1972, when he was 11. Before becoming a household name with the first installment of the “Bears” franchise in 1976, Haley appeared on episodes of “The Partridge Family,” “Marcus Welby, M.D.,” and the short-lived TV spin-off of “Planet of the Apes.”
Like many child stars, Haley struggled to find work in adulthood. He made relatively few appearances in the 80s, and never matched the success he found as a teen. His most high-profile project in that decade was 1983’s “Losin’ It,” a moderately successful Tom Cruise sex comedy. Before 2006, his last appearances were in 1993, in genre offerings “Nemesis” and “Maniac Cop 3.” Since then he has worked various odd jobs while starting up a production company in San Antonio, Texas and occasionally directing commercials. In 2006, Haley made a surprising and acclaimed comeback to film acting, first with a small but vital role in the star-studded remake of “All the King’s Men,” in which he appeared with Kate Winslet, Sean Penn, Jude Law, and Anthony Hopkins. Far more attention has been given to his complex performance as a sex offender in “Little Children,” for which he has received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.