Death isn't nearly as romantic as Hollywood makes it sound and young actor Haley Joel Osment came dangerously close to seeing what really happens to dead people on July 20th, 2006. The star was seriously injured while driving his vehicle, a 1995 Saturn, which overturned after he lost control and hit a mailbox on a brick pillar. He escaped alive, with a broken rib, hurt shoulder and some lacerations on his arm to show for the major wreck. Osment is currently resting and on his way to making a full recovery.

Haley Joel Osment made his big screen debut at the age of 6, not on the movie about dead people, but way back in 1994 in Forrest Gump (as the smart Forrest Gump Jr.). Before working with Tom Hanks he had bit roles in television on Lies Of The Heart and an episode of Sesame Street. While he continued to enjoy a few bit roles on television, appearing in Walker, Texas Ranger, Chicago Hope and The Larry Sanders Show, it wasn't until 1999 when he would make a name for himself--at the virtually nameless age of 11.

In M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense Osment wowed critics with his emotionally charged performance as a disturbed child who sees dead people. While the writing and directing of Shyamalan brought the The Sixth Sense to major success, the performance of Osment was enough to win an Oscar nomination. In fact, Osment was the favorite--Michael Caine's victory for The Cider House Rules was considered an upset.

He continued his Oscar-caliber childish behavior and put in another great performance in Steven Spielberg's A.I. While the movie was unjustly criticized for being a compromised Kubrick project, everybody conceded Osment's understated acting was brilliant. Critic Roger Ebert declared Haley Joel Osment--not as one of the best child actors--but one of the best actors working in Hollywood, period.

The talented young actor is now 18 years old and surely going through the awkward phase of breaking out of child-stereotypes and assuming his role as an adult actor--one of the better actors in Hollywood, as his previous performances and much critical praise has suggested. Look for him later this year in Home Of The Giants, a basketball flick that guarantees to showcase a new side to his talent--especially considering that we haven't even seen him in a few years. His next few performances will be crucial into establishing him as a real actor, something more than a one-shot wonder and not simply a new age Macaulay Culkin.

It is to note that the actor was traveling alone and was wearing a seatbelt when the accident happened, which undoubtedly saved his life. To lose such a talented young actor would have been a tragedy. To lose anybody in such a senseless way would be tragic. So always wear your seatbelt, folks. Nobody really wants to see dead people.