Jason Presson | |
---|---|
Born | Encino, California, USA | August 31, 1971
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1983–1991 |
Jason Presson (born August 31, 1971) is a former American child actor, best known for his role of Darren in the 1985 movie Explorers , [1] alongside Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix.
His debut came in 1984 with the film The Stone Boy performing with Robert Duvall and Glenn Close. The following year, he was selected to play Darren Woods in Joe Dante's big budget movie, Explorers , with Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix. This movie was not a blockbuster, but earned nominations to the three protagonists at the Young Artist Award in the category for 'Best Young Actor'. The winner was his co-star and friend River Phoenix.[ citation needed ] Dante liked Presson's performance and subsequently cast him in a similar role in "The Shadow Man", a Twilight Zone segment which Dante directed. [2]
In 1990, he had a minor role in the movie Gremlins 2: The New Batch , returning to work with the director Joe Dante after five years. His last role was on the TV series In the Heat of the Night as Jimmy Miller.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1983 | Wishman | Bruce Kaleb | TV movie |
1984 | The Stone Boy | Arnold Hillerman | |
1984 | Invitation to Hell | Billy | main character |
1984 | Trapper John, M.D. | Jamie Bruce | Episode: "A Change of Heart" |
1984 | Finder of Lost Loves | Jonathan Hodges | Episode: "White Lies" |
1985 | Explorers | Darren Woods | |
1985 | Webster | Frank | Episode: "Who's to Blame?" |
1985 | The Twilight Zone | Eric | Segment: "The Shadow Man" |
1986 | The Wonderful World of Disney: The Leftovers | Charlie | 1 episode |
1986 | The Wonderful World of Disney: The B.R.A.T. Patrol | Raymond McGeorge | 1 episode |
1988 | Lady in White | Geno Scarlatti | |
1988 | Saturday the 14th Strikes Back | Eddie Baxter | |
1989 | I Know My First Name Is Steven | Deke | |
1990 | Gremlins 2: The New Batch | Alex the Yogurt Jerk | |
1990 | Room for Romance | 1 episode | |
1991 | Never Forget | Bernie Mermelstein | TV movie |
1991 | Rugrats | Ramone "Rocko" | 1 episode |
1991 | In the Heat of the Night | Jimmy Miller | 1 episode |
Peter Lindsay Weir is an Australian retired film director. He is known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Gallipoli (1981), The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), Witness (1985), Dead Poets Society (1989), Fearless (1993), The Truman Show (1998), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), and The Way Back (2010). He has received six Academy Award nominations. In 2022 he was awarded the Academy Honorary Award for his lifetime achievement career. In 2024, he received an honorary life-time achievement award at the Venice Film Festival.
River Jude Phoenix was an American actor. Phoenix was known as a teen actor before taking on leading roles in critically acclaimed films. He received numerous accolades including the Volpi Cup and the Independent Spirit Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, and Golden Globe Award.
Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, author and film director. He made his film debut in Explorers (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in Dead Poets Society (1989). Hawke starred alongside Julie Delpy in Richard Linklater's Before trilogy from 1995 to 2013. Hawke received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Training Day (2001) and Boyhood (2014) and two for Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013). Other notable roles include in Reality Bites (1994), Gattaca (1997), Great Expectations (1998), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), Maggie's Plan (2015), First Reformed (2017), The Black Phone (2021) and The Northman (2022).
Vincent Philip D'Onofrio is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.
Robert Alphonse Picardo is an American actor. He is best known for playing the Cowboy in Innerspace, Coach Cutlip on The Wonder Years, Captain Dick Richard on the ABC series China Beach, the Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager and Richard Woolsey in the Stargate franchise. He is a frequent collaborator of Joe Dante and is a member of The Planetary Society's Board of Directors.
Victor Morrow was an American actor. He came to prominence as one of the leads of the ABC drama series Combat! (1962–1967), which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Series. Active on screen for over three decades, his film roles include Blackboard Jungle (1955), King Creole (1958), God's Little Acre (1958), Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974), and The Bad News Bears (1976). Morrow continued acting up to his death during filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) when he and two child actors were killed in a helicopter crash on set.
Joseph Schildkraut was an Austrian-American actor. He won an Oscar for his performance as Captain Alfred Dreyfus in the film The Life of Emile Zola (1937). He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance as Otto Frank in the film The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and a Primetime Emmy for his performance as Rabbi Gottlieb in a 1962 episode of the television series Sam Benedict.
Twilight Zone: The Movie is a 1983 American science fiction anthology film produced by Steven Spielberg and John Landis. Based on Rod Serling's 1959–1964 television series of the same name, the film features four stories directed by Landis, Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller. Landis' segment is an original story created for the film, while the segments by Spielberg, Dante, and Miller are remakes of episodes from the original series. The film's cast includes Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Scatman Crothers, John Lithgow, Vic Morrow, and Kathleen Quinlan. Original series cast members Burgess Meredith, Patricia Barry, Peter Brocco, Murray Matheson, Kevin McCarthy, Bill Mumy, and William Schallert also appear in the film, with Meredith assuming Serling's role as narrator.
Kevin McCarthy was an American stage, film and television actor, remembered as the male lead in the horror science fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).
Joseph James Dante Jr. is an American film director, producer, editor and actor. His films—notably Gremlins (1984) alongside its sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)—often mix the 1950s-style B movie genre with 1960s radicalism and cartoon comedy.
Richard Miller was an American character actor who appeared in more than 180 films, including many produced by Roger Corman. He later appeared in the films of directors who began their careers with Corman, including Joe Dante, James Cameron, and Martin Scorsese, with the distinction of appearing in every film directed by Dante. He was known for playing the beleaguered everyman, often in one-scene appearances.
Henry Burk Jones was an American actor of stage, film, and television.
Explorers is a 1985 American science fantasy film written by Eric Luke and directed by Joe Dante. The film stars Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix, both in their film debuts, and Jason Presson as young teenage boys who build a spacecraft to explore outer space. The special effects were produced by Industrial Light & Magic, with make-up effects by Rob Bottin.
Charles John Hallahan was an American film, television, and stage actor. His films include Going in Style, and Nightwing (1979), The Thing (1982), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Vision Quest and Pale Rider (1985), Cast a Deadly Spell (1991), and Dante's Peak (1997). On television he appeared in The Rockford Files, Happy Days and Hawaii Five-O, played Chet Wilke in Lou Grant (1979–1982), M* A* S* H and Hill Street Blues (1981), The Equalizer (1985), and as Capt. Charlie Devane in Hunter from 1986 to 1991.
Paul Franklin Dano is an American actor. He won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance for his role in L.I.E. (2001) and gained wider recognition for playing a troubled teenager in Little Miss Sunshine (2006). For playing identical twins in Paul Thomas Anderson's period drama There Will Be Blood (2007), he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Timon C. West is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, and actor, best known for his work in horror films. He directed the horror films The Roost (2005), Trigger Man (2007), The House of the Devil (2009), The Innkeepers (2011), the Western In a Valley of Violence (2016) as well as the X film series. He has also acted in a number of films, mostly in those directed by either himself or Joe Swanberg.
Robert Nelson Fite is an American former film and television actor. Beginning his professional career as a child actor and model at the age of six, Fite is perhaps best known for his recurring role as J.T. Martin on the NBC comedy series Silver Spoons, as well as for his feature film roles in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The Legend of Billie Jean, and Explorers.
Georg Olden is a retired American actor, model and musical theatre performer. Beginning his career as a professional child actor and model at the age of ten, Olden is best known for his television roles; as "Drag" in the ABC Weekend Special: The Joke's On Mr. Little and as "Robbie Stuart" on the 1980s TBS sitcom Rocky Road. Rising to prominence as a teen idol in the mid-1980s, Olden is also known for his feature film roles; as "Piper" in the teen comedy Bad Manners and as one of the teenage bullies in the science fiction adventure Explorers.
Wright Thornburgh King was an American stage, film and television actor whose career lasted for over forty years. He is best known for playing Jason Nichols in the television series Wanted Dead or Alive (1958–1961).
First Reformed is a 2017 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Paul Schrader. It stars Ethan Hawke as a minister of a small congregation in upstate New York who grapples with mounting despair brought on by tragedy, worldly concerns, and a tormented past. Amanda Seyfried, Cedric Kyles, Victoria Hill, and Philip Ettinger appear in supporting roles.