Jaeden Martell

The Boy Who Didn't Need to Shout

Jaeden Martell was born in Philadelphia in 2003, and his entry into film was not the result of years of training at elite drama schools. In 2014, he made his debut in St. Vincent with a naturalness that surprised critics. He was not the typical child actor who overacts to grab the camera's attention.

And Bill Murray took him under his wing.

That first role alongside a comedy legend defined his way of working in the years that followed. Martell doesn't rely on big gestures or affected diction. In 2016, he appeared in Midnight Special, where he played a boy with supernatural powers and showed he could carry a science fiction plot with barely any dialogue.

Because Martell prefers characters who keep secrets rather than those who openly display their emotions.

The Name Change and the 2017 Phenomenon

In 2017, the project came along that dramatically changed his international visibility. He played Bill Denbrough in the film adaptation of It. The movie grossed more than $700 million worldwide and made him the leader of a generation of young actors who dominated the box office that summer.

But massive success didn't distract him from his personal interests. In 2019, he decided to stop using his father's last name and take his mother's instead. From then on, Jaeden Lieberher officially became Jaeden Martell in the credits of his later work.

That same year, he appeared in Knives Out under the direction of Rian Johnson. In the film, he played a far-right teenager who spent much of his time glued to his cell phone. It was a supporting role, but an important one that showed his ability to fit into ensemble casts full of established stars.

Horror suited him well.

Maturity in the fantasy genre

In 2020, he made the leap to television with Defending Jacob for Apple TV+. In this series, he shared the spotlight with Chris Evans and played a teenager accused of murder. Critics noted that his performance kept viewers guessing about his guilt right up to the final episode.

In 2022, he starred in Metal Lords for Netflix. For this role, he had to learn to play the guitar and immerse himself in heavy metal culture. It was a different kind of performance from his earlier work in the thriller genre. Also in 2022, he led Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, based on a short story by Stephen King.

But his interest in apocalyptic settings didn't end there. In 2024, he premiered Arcadian, where he shared the screen with Nicolas Cage in an extreme survival setting. The shoot took place on rural locations in Ireland under difficult weather conditions that demanded considerable physical effort.

In 2024, the production budget for his next project, titled Y2K, was set at around $÷20 million.