Joseph Mazzello

Joseph Mazzello was born in Rhinebeck, New York, and started acting when he was 5 years old and went on to share the screen with some of the best in the business.

Joe began with the film “Presumed Innocent” as Wendell McGaffney but came to the public’s attention when he appeared two years later as ‘Bobby’ in Richard Donner’s poignant “Radio Flyer” along with another talented child star in Elijah Wood. The two young actors carry the film rather brilliantly, I recalled when seeing the red wagon on the film poster it would be a fun children’s film but is far from that as it touched on a tough subject.

That same year he also appeared in “Jersey Girl” but hit pay dirt in 1993 as ‘Tim Murphy’ in the Steven Spielberg hit “Jurassic Park,” the same year he appeared in Richard Attenborough’s “Shadowlands” and Mazzello was on a roll. He followed those up in 1994 with one of my most loved films “The River Wild” with Meryl Streep as they take a wild ride down a violent river the film is filled with spectacular scenery and terrific acting from the leads.

The following year saw him playing ‘Dexter” in “The Cure” with the late Brad Renfro and “Three Wishes.” Two years later with the sequel “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” and the sci-fi/adventure “Star Kid “ things started to slow down for Mazzello, 1998 after playing ‘Joe Wentworth’ in “Simon Birch” he was seen sparingly over the next few years after being a very prolific and bankable child and teen star through the 1990s.

At that time he attended film school at USC and walked away with a degree in cinema and television production and aspired to be a director. In 2010 with a role in “The Social Network” and in 2013 he had roles in “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “Dear Sidewalk” three years later in “Undrafted” he also appeared in 2018s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Joseph was originally set to play the role of Jack in 1991’s “Hook” but was deemed too small and the role went to Charlie Korsmo, Spielberg then adjusted the ages of the kids in Jurassic Park so Mazzello could play Tim. When work began on the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) he was cast as David but the role later went to Haley Joel Osment.