Jacob Tremblay born October 5, 2006 is a Canadian actor. His breakout performance was his starring role as Jack Newsome in Room (2015), for which he won the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer and the Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor, and was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role. In 2017, he starred as August Pullman, a child with Treacher Collins syndrome, in the drama Wonder, and in 2019 he headlined the R-rated comedy film Good Boys.
Early life
Tremblay was born on October 5, 2006. His father is a police detective, and his mother is a homemaker. Tremblay’s older sister Emma and younger sister Erica are also actors.
Career
Tremblay began acting in television roles. He made his film debut in the live-action/animated feature The Smurfs 2, released in 2013.
Tremblay portrayed Jack Newsome in the critically acclaimed drama film Room, co-starring with Brie Larson. The film, directed by Lenny Abrahamson, premiered on September 4, 2015, at the Telluride Film Festival, and was released in cinemas on October 16, 2015. For his performance, he was nominated for the 2015 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, becoming the youngest actor nominated for that award and the second-youngest in all categories.
In 2016, Tremblay played a supporting role in the comedy film Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie; and guest-starred as the younger version of the main character, Phil Miller, on Fox’s post-apocalyptic comedy series The Last Man on Earth. That same year, he starred in the horror film Before I Wake, with Kate Bosworth and Thomas Jane, and played a supporting role in the psychological thriller Shut In, alongside Naomi Watts, and co-starring Oliver Platt, and directed by Farren Blackburn. He also portrayed Wes Firth in the adventure comedy-drama Burn Your Maps, starring with Vera Farmiga and Marton Csokas.
In 2017, Tremblay played Peter Carpenter in director Colin Trevorrow’s drama film The Book of Henry, co-starring with Naomi Watts and Maddie Ziegler. He also starred as August Pullman, a child with Treacher Collins syndrome, in Wonder, based on R.J. Palacio’s novel of the same name. The latter film proved to be his most successful, earning over $285 million against a $20 million budget. In 2019, Tremblay made his comedy debut by headlining the R-rated comedy Good Boys co-starring with Brady Noon and Keith L. Williams. Good Boys earned $21 million during its opening weekend, becoming the first R-rated comedy since The Boss, which was released in April 2016, to finish first at the box office.
Tremblay brought his fellow actors to tears with his cameo performance in Doctor Sleep, the 2019 sequel to The Shining. Tremblay played a kidnapped boy who is tortured to death in a scene which the director Mike Flanagan initially feared would be too traumatic to include in the final cut. Commenting on the performance, Flanagan said “he’s one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with in my entire life.”
In July 2019, it was announced that he will be voicing Flounder in the live-action adaptation of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, directed by Rob Marshall. Tremblay voices Robin in the DC Universe adult animation series Harley Quinn. On October 16, 2020, he was featured in the video for Justin Bieber’s new track Lonely with record producer Benny Blanco.
Personal life
Tremblay resides in Langley, British Columbia with his family. Tremblay is an avid fan of the Star Wars franchise and named his dog after Daisy Ridley’s character, Rey. His excitement at the characters C-3PO, R2-D2, and BB-8’s appearance at the 88th Academy Awards ceremony was considered a highlight of the evening.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | The Smurfs 2 | Blue Winslow | |
| The Magic Ferret | Sam | Short film | |
| 2014 | Extraterrestrial | Matty | Uncredited |
| My Mother’s Future Husband | Connor | ||
| 2015 | Gord’s Brother | Young Gord | Short film |
| Room | Jack Newsome | ||
| 2016 | Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie | Kid 4 | |
| Before I Wake | Cody Morgan | ||
| Burn Your Maps | Wes Firth | ||
| Shut In | Tom Patterson | ||
| 2017 | The Book of Henry | Peter Carpenter | |
| Wonder | August “Auggie” Pullman | ||
| 2018 | The Predator | Rory McKenna | |
| The Death & Life of John F. Donovan | Young Rupert Turner | ||
| 2019 | Good Boys | Max Newman | |
| Doctor Sleep | Bradley Trevor | ||
| 2022 | The Little Mermaid | Flounder (voice) | Filming |