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Tyler Hoechlin is the adolescent star of Road To Perdition, a newcomer who makes his debut in a cast that includes Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. Hoechlin won the role over 2,000 other hopefuls -- one of whom was his own younger brother.
"Originally my little brother had the audition call," Hoechlin says, explaining that someone suggested he be seen as well. When the young actor went in, he was handed lines to read that didn't sit well with him.
"I had to say "Gee-oh-dee -- damn, about three times," he spells out, "and I'm a Christian, and I'm going, 'Nooo' -- but then my little brother went in, and I thought, 'If he's going in, I'm going in'. I got a call the next morning saying (director) Sam Mendes wanted to see me in Chicago. My little brother wasn't too happy, but he didn't say anything," says Hoechlin, grinning. "He was too busy punching the couch."
Now 14, the slender Hoechlin plays the son of Tom Hanks in Road To Perdition. Hanks' character is a hit man for the mob; father and son go on a road trip together after tragedy destroys their family. The depression- era tale of vengeance also stars Jude Law and Stanley Tucci.
Hoechlin is the third child in a family of four kids; he and his younger brother have been home-schooled by their parents. Mom is a former accountant. Dad is an emergency room physician. The family lives in Corona, California, where Hoechlin also happens to be a baseball star.
He plays shortstop for the No. 1 Corona Wolverines, and he was a member of the U.S. team in the Pan American games when he was nine years old.
Articulate, energetic and polite, Hoechlin says he will be going into a regular high school this fall for Grade 9. Girlfriends will probably have to wait until then, he notes.
He has been studying acting for about five years, appearing in a film shown at Cannes a few years back called Family Tree and in an indie picture called Train Quest.
About the craft of acting, he says, "I think when you're younger, you just kind of go with the flow of things. I didn't study stuff. I just act out the part Sam tells me to play." Hoechlin is most definitely not star-struck. He says, "When I met Tom Hanks, it was really easy to be around him, and really easy to pretend he was actually your father, because he was such a nice guy. I never really got rattled. To be with those guys, they're so nice to be around, you don't get intimidated about acting with them. You don't get nervous with them."
But there were pressures. "The only kind of feeling I got was, 'Oh, my gosh, they're spending a lot of money on this shot, I'd better do it right.' "