Eli Marienthal on AllMovie

A precocious youngster who is equally adept in the realms of stage, film, and television, Eli Marienthal has turned in stand-out performances in all arenas since dedicating himself to acting at the age of nine.

A Santa Monica, CA, native, Marienthal received his primary education at the East Bay French-American Ecoile Bilingue school where he sharpened his French skills from the age of four. Refining his acting abilities at the prestigious American Conservatory Theater's Young Conservatory, Marienthal also attended part-time schooling in Paris in the third and fourth grades. His early stage performances in such Bay Area productions as the Berkeley Repertory Theater's Missing Persons and The Life of Galileo, and in San Francisco's Magic Theater production of Cryptogram, earned the young thespian both positive recognition and a Black Box award for the latter. Making his television debut alongside Dolly Parton in Unlikely Angel (1996) and his film debut the following year (First Love, Last Rites), Marienthal continued his rapid rise to recognition with roles in such popular films as Jack Frost (1998), American Pie (1999), and some voice work in the animated The Iron Giant (also 1999). Marienthal's early role as the youngest member of the nomadic Abromowitz clan in The Slums of Beverly Hills (1998) also caught some laughs, giving audiences a hint of things to come from the gifted youngster. Taking the title role on television's Tucker (2000) and providing more voice work for The Zeta Project, the next year saw Marienthal's star beginning to grow legs, and a return to the role of Stifler's younger brother in the sequel American Pie 2 found him humorously following in his cocky older celluloid sibling's footsteps.