Star on the Rise: Josh Hutcherson

　
Chances are you've seen his face before but oddly enough- no one seems to know his name. Josh Hutcherson only just celebrated his eighteenth birthday two weeks ago and has already stared amoung some of Hollywood's A-list stars such as Cynthia Nixon, Will Ferrell and Dakota Fanning, just to name a few.

The small-town, home-schooled, Kentucky native has made quite the career for himself. Yet despite winning awards for his acting abilities and staring in some major blockbusters- he has managed to remain under the radar in terms of star-dom.

Hutcherson has claimed that he always dreamed of being an actor. He got his first shot on the small screen in a guest role on the hit television series, E.R. in 2002. Two years later he lent his voice to play the Young Bruce Wayne in the animated series, Justice League. The same year he played the 'hero boy' and hopped onto an imaginary train with Tom Hanks to the North Pole to visit Santa Claus in the critically acclaimed, The Polar Express.

But it was the year 2005 when Hutcherson small roles finally payed off and he began to book some big blockbusters which eventually led the ever-growing resume he currently has now.

Zathura (2005)

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He first showed up Will Ferrell in soccer in the comedy Kicking and Screaming before being cast in the indy film, Little Manhattan. Playing the role of Gabe, an adolescent boy who falls in love for the first time in New York City opposite Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City 2). It was then off into another galaxy for Hutcherson as he starred in the space-adventure sequel to the popular 90s film, Jumanji, in Zathura in which he played a young boy whose board game tranfers him to another world. He co-starred along with then unknowns, Dax Shepherd (When in Rome) and Kristen Stewart (Twilight).

But it wasn't until 2008 when Hutcherson's talent was recognized. He role as Jess, a teenager who befriends a stranger and builds a world of fantasy in his own backyard in Bridge to Teribithia, garnered him the Young Artist award for best perforamcne in a feature film for a leading young actor. He won the same award the following year for his work in Journey to the Center of the Earth alongside Branden Fraser (Inkheart).

Since then the young actor has starred alongside Dakota Fanning (The Runaways) in the drama Fragment in which he plays a boy dealing with the trauma of a fatal hold up at a local dinner who finds solace in his friendship with Dakota's religious character. He also played a supporting role in the 2009 vampire flick, The Vampire's Assistant which is rumored to be the next big vampire series to hit the silver screen in the near future.

This year Hutcherson took on the role of a lifetime staring among some of Hollywood's elite, Julianne Moore and Annette Benning in The Kids Are All Right as one of their children of a lesbian couple who meet their father for the first time. The film which was released mere months ago is already creating Oscar Buzz for it's timley topic and superb actors.

Hutcherson has just wrapped his latest film, Red Dawn, about a group of men who save their town from Russian soldiers which is set to be released late in 2010. His next film Detention which has been described as a slasher-comedy about a group of teenager who are frightened by a killer during their senior year of high school. The film is also set to star comedian, Dane Cook. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (a sequel to the first Journey to the Center of the Earth) has also signed on Hutcherson. Both films are set to be released in 2011.