- Born
- Birth nameLukas Daniel Haas
- Nickname
- Freddy
- Height5′ 10½″ (1.79 m)
- Lukas was born on April 16, 1976 in West Hollywood, California. His Texas-born mother, Emily Tracy, is a writer, and his German-born father, Berthold Haas, is an artist. He has twin brothers, Simon and Nikolai. It's widely noted that Lukas was discovered at the age of five by casting director Margery Simkin while he was in kindergarten.
While his first screen role was as the youngest of the doomed children in the 1983 nuclear Holocaust film Testament (1983), it was his second appearance, in Witness (1985) opposite Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis, that earned attention and acclaim. In Peter Weir's 1985 film, Lukas portrayed Samuel, an Amish child who was the sole witness to an undercover cop's murder, and his work earned him starring roles in such films as Lady in White (1988), The Wizard of Loneliness (1988), and Alan & Naomi (1992) - the latter film co-written by his mother.
He continued to distinguish himself in film in starring roles including: Music Box (1989) with Jessica Lange and director Costa-Gavras; Convicts (1991) and Rambling Rose (1991) (both with Robert Duvall); and Boys (1996) with John C. Reilly and Winona Ryder.
On stage, in 1988, Lukas performed alongside Steve Martin and Robin Williams in Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" at Lincoln Center in New York City for director Mike Nichols. He also starred with Martin in the film Leap of Faith (1992).
Lukas went on to work with directors Woody Allen in Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Tim Burton in Mars Attacks! (1996), and Alan Rudolph in Breakfast of Champions (1999). He had a pivotal role in Brick (2005), Rian Johnson's directorial debut with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He next appeared in the Kurt Cobain-inspired Last Days (2005), directed by Gus Van Sant, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Roles in Material Girls (2006), slasher movie send-up The Tripper (2006), Who Loves the Sun (2006), Gardener of Eden (2007), While She Was Out (2008), and Death in Love (2008) followed.
Recently, Lukas had a supporting role in Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010) opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Elliot Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine and Marion Cotillard. He then appeared in Red Riding Hood (2011) for director Catherine Hardwicke, and Contraband (2012), director Baltasar Kormákur's English-language remake of the movie he starred in, Reykjavik-Rotterdam (2008).
Lukas was most recently seen in Crazy Eyes (2012). He has several projects in production, including Meth Head (2013) written and directed by Jane Clark.
Also a talented musician, Lukas plays drums and piano in the band The Rogues.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous and Emily Tracy-Haas
- ChildrenSteven Haas
- ParentsEmily TracyBerthold Haas
- Was considered for the role of Dr. Spencer Reid on Criminal Minds (2005), but did not want to commit to a television series at the time. The role went to Matthew Gray Gubler instead, and Haas later guest starred in the series as a store clerk who ends up being the elusive "Footpath Killer".
- Good friends with Leonardo DiCaprio.
- Brothers are fraternal twins named Simon and Nikolai Haas. Like Lukas, they are also musicians.
- He made guest appearances on both The Twilight Zone (1985) and The Twilight Zone (2002).
- As of 2016, has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Witness (1985), Inception (2010), Lincoln (2012) and The Revenant (2015).
- In choosing any role, I ask the same questions: what kind of part is it? is the role challenging? does the director have a vision? is the story moving? etc.
- I like both music and acting, and they both have a lot in common - timing, immediacy, stuff like that. But acting is more regimented. You wait around for hours, you don't get to write the script, you get hired. Music represents me better. I'm not acting; I'm just expressing myself.
- I was in Kansas for about a month, and we worked most of the time in a very small town, so it felt like the production basically took the whole town over. In a way, we were the Martians in Kansas.
- On a low-budget film, you don't have all the luxuries.
- It's cool to play a sinister bad guy who also has a human side.
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