AllMovie

A California native who spent most of his childhood in Kentucky until the bright lights of Hollywood lured him back to the West Coast, Jeremy Sumpter impressed audiences with a chilling performance in Bill Paxton's 2001 shocker Frailty before hitting a grand slam with his winning turn as a batboy harboring big league aspirations in the acclaimed television series Clubhouse in 2004. It was at age 11 that Sumpter first garnered attention when he became the winner of a Kentucky-based talent contest, and shortly after booking a manager, the talented youngster impressed Paxton so much that the actor-turned-director cast him as Matthew McConaughey's young screen counterpart in Frailty. In 2002, Sumpter took to the waves as a young surfer experiencing a memorable childhood summer with his brother in Local Boys, and he next stepped in front of the camera for none other than Danny Glover in the family-friendly drama Just a Dream. By 2003, it appeared as if Sumpter might be hitting his stride when he earned a Young Artist Award for his turn as the titular character in the 2003 fantasy Peter Pan, and the very next year he was making his maiden voyage into weekly television with his role on Clubhouse.