Stephen Eldridge - Logan!. Rising Star Logan Lerman

Logan!

Signed by an agent when he was only four years old, Logans dreams of becoming an actor began at an early age. Whether hes playing the future president of the United States or a demi-god, movies have always been an important part of Logan Lermans life. Read about his early acting roles, his rise to fame, and his plans for the future.

Quotes, personal stories, and accessible features make this a book everyone will want to read.

Logan Lerman is a versatile young actor who has performed in a variety of roles playing a number of different characters. Watch for him in the next Percy Jackson movie.

About the Author

Stephen Eldridge is a writer and editor with a background in educational publishing. He lives in Chicago, Illinois, with his wife and fellow editor, Alison. His most recent title for Enslow Publishers, Inc. is Trace Evidence: Dead People DO Tell Tales.

Logan Lerman starred in Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, an exciting film filled with action and adventure. Here he his at the premiere for the film.

Fire bursts from the jaws of a monster. The creature has five heads, each filled with razor-sharp teeth. It towers over a teenager and spews flame at him. Only a bronze shield on the boys arm protects him. He runs and dives behind a marble statue. The monster chases him, continuing to breathe fire. The shield grows too hot to hold, and the boy drops it. Defenseless, he looks around for something that can save his life. What he sees is a water fountain. For a normal teenager, this would be useless. But this teenager is Percy Jackson, the son of the sea god Poseidon, and for him water is a weapon. He reaches out toward the fountain and it bursts from the wall. Water gushes out and surrounds the monster, saving the young heros life.

This is a scene from the movie Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. But in real life, the monster is a computer-generated image. The shield is a prop. And Percy Jackson isnt the son of a god, but Logan Lerman, an actor with a talent for playing young heroes.

Logan knows how easy it can be for an actor to mistakenly play himself rather than the character. When creating the role of Percy, Lerman worked with his director, Chris Columbus. They wanted to make it clear that the young actor wasnt just playing himself. I wanted to make sure that its a character, he told Jenny Cooney, for girl.com. And I gave him this Brooklyn accent, changing the way he walks or very subtle characteristics so that I could separate myself from the character.

Unlike Percy Jackson, Logan Lerman isnt a New Yorker. He was born and raised thousands of miles away in Beverly Hills, California. His father wasnt Poseidon, of course. In fact, you could say the Lerman family helps with the work of another Greek godApollo, the god associated with healing. Lermans family owns Lerman and Son, a company that sells medical equipment. Logans father, Lawrence, specializes in medical tools that help children.

The Lerman family has run the company for nearly a hundred years. Logans great-grandfather, Jacob Lerman, started the company in Germany. However, the Lerman family was forced to flee the country due to the rise of the Nazis. The Nazis were a political party that hated Jewish families like the Lermans. After spending about a decade in Shanghai, China, the family moved to California, where their business thrived.

Logan made the character of Percy Jackson have a Brooklyn, New York accent. The actor had a chance to visit the Empire State Building, also in New York.

While Percy grows up without knowing most of his family, Logan has a brother, Lucas, and a sister, Lindsey. The family still lives together in their California home. One thing Logan and Percy have in common, though, is an important relationship with their mothers. Lisa Lerman was the first person Logan told he wanted to be an actor. She helped Logan get his first roles and has acted as her sons manager since he was a small child. Since Logan was young, they have traveled the country together for Logans work.

Logan loved watching the movies of Chinese martial artist Jackie Chan.

Movies have been important to Logan for almost his entire life. Logan was born on January 19, 1992. Growing up in Beverly Hills meant Logan was close to Hollywood. He says he was in the right place at the right time to get into acting. The story goes that as a two-year-old toddler, Logan watched a movie starring martial artist Jackie Chan. After the film, he told his mother he wanted to be an actor. Lisa took her young sons desire to act seriously and helped him begin his career. He was signed by a talent agent when he was just four years old.

When he was very young, Logan didnt plan on acting as a career. In an interview with the Irish Web site RT he said, I started when I was really young but that was just to do something to get out of school. Nevertheless, he soon began acting in commercials. This helped him earn membership in the Screen Actors Guild. The Screen Actors Guild is a group that represents actors and helps to set rules for how they work and are paid. When Logan became a member, it gave him many more career opportunities.

Logan grew up as a normal kid in many ways. However, from an early age he had to balance his regular life with show business. Just a few short years after he told his mother he wanted to be an actor, he would be appearing in major motion pictures.

Logans film debut came in director Roland Emmerichs The Patriot, starring Mel Gibson. The Patriot is historical fiction set during the American Revolution. The film tells the story of a man named Benjamin Martin (Gibson). At first, Martin doesnt take sides in the war. However, when British soldiers kill one of his sons, he decides to join the revolution and fight to help free the colonists. Logan plays Martins youngest son, William Martin. The film also stars Heath Ledger as Gabriel Martin, Benjamin Martins eldest son. It also features Jason Isaacs as the brutal British colonel, William Tavington.

Logan got another chance to work with Gibson in his very next film. What Women Want, from director Nancy Meyers, was released in 2000, the same year as The Patriot. Gibson plays Nick Marshall, a self-centered advertising executive. Marshalls life changes when a bizarre accident gives him the power to hear what women are thinking. At first he uses this power for his own benefit. However, a developing relationship with Darcy Maguire, played by Helen Hunt, changes his plans. This time, Logan plays a younger version of Mel Gibsons character. Though reviews for the film were mixed, it was an enormous success at the box office. It made more than $180 million in the United States alone.

Logans next film role came in 2001, in Penny Marshalls