| Noah Hathaway | |
|---|---|
 Noah Hathaway as Atreyu |
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| Birth name | Noah Leslie Hathaway |
| Born | November 13 1971  Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Years active | 1978 - 1994 |
Noah L. Hathaway (born November 13, 1971) is an American film actor, whose roles included "Boxey" in the original Battlestar Galactica, and "Atreyu" in The Neverending Story.
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Early career
He was born in Los Angeles, California, to Robert Hathaway, who was of part Native American descent, and Judy Ringler. He began his show business career at age two, and appeared in fifty commercials. He was cast as Boxey in Battlestar Galactica when he was only six, and admits he does not remember much of that time.
The Neverending Story
At the age of ten, Hathaway was selected for his most memorable role: Atreyu in The Neverending Story. "For Atreyu," said German director Wolfgang Petersen, "I sought a good-looking boy of athletic build with the quality of fierce determination. The role requires the character to ride a horse expertly, fly on the back of a dragon, struggle through a swamp, clamber over rocks and fight a ferocious wolf-vampire." Filming took place at the Bavaria Film Studios in Munich, Germany, starting in March 1983. Preparation for the role included learning how to ride a horse bareback. Hathaway said he never read the book by Michael Ende because at the time it wasn't available in English. Already fluent in French, the language-savvy actor picked up enough German to where the English-limited Petersen could direct him in German. The shoot lasted nine months.
Subsequent Projects
The Neverending Story made Hathaway popular with younger viewers. He went on to star in Troll (1986) and a mystery film Casebusters (1986). His final major film project was To Die, to Sleep (also titled Mortal Danger) (1994).
Present Life
Noah Hathaway has been active in sports all his life. An excellent swimmer, he was a Junior Lifeguard. He also played basketball, lifted weights, and raced motorcycles. Hathaway retired from acting in the mid-1980s and moved into dance instruction, teaching advanced jazz and street dance until an injury forced him to quit in 1989 at eighteen. Noah returned briefly to the limelight in 1994 for Mortal Danger, which was his last acting role. He moved to New York for a few years and didn't return to the West Coast until 1998. He spent some of his time there at the Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California, competing in supersport motorcycle racing; he also tended bar at several Los Angeles clubs. He trained in martial arts for several years, and had already earned his brown belt by the time of The Neverending Story. Hathaway would later earn black belts in Tang Soo Do and Shotokan, and compete as a Muay Thai boxer. He learned American Kenpo from Dr. Jerry Erickson, and worked as an assistant instructor with Erickson on a close-quarter combat training course for flight attendants and airline pilots. Noah is currently married and has two stepchildren.
References
- Starlog #22 May 1979 by Barbara Lewis pp.24
- Starlog #86 September 1984 by Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier pp.59-60
- Space Voyager #14 pp.56-59
- Daredevils #10 August 1984 by Cynthia Broadwater pp. 7-11.
- Underground Online
