AS a fresh-faced seven-year-old Jake Lloyd famously played a little boy desperate for his father to get him an action figure for Christmas.
That father just so happened to be Arnold Schwarzenegger in classic 90s flick Jingle All The Way – a fun family caper that sees Arnie get in all manner of scrapes to bag a sold out Turbo Man doll.
SkyJake Lloyd in Jingle All The Way with Arnold Schwarzenegger[/caption]
Jake starred as Anakin Skywalker in the Phantom MenaceKobal Collection – Rex Features
Twenty-six years on from its release, Jingle All The Way will be screened once again on Channel 4 on Saturday afternoon.
While Jake’s character Jamie Langston is immortalised on film, the man himself has long since left Hollywood behind.
Now 33, the former actor has a love/hate relationship with the industry, claiming his fame made his life a “living hell” at school.
He found even greater stardom in 1999 when he played Anakin Skywalker in the critically panned Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
The hotly-anticipated reboot of the sci-fi franchise was branded sloppy despite its all-star cast and the pedigree of the team behind it.
In 2001, after starring in his last role Madison, Jake told The Daily Beast: “I’ve learned to hate it when the cameras are pointed at me. When you have something like that there’s a lot of expectations for it to meet the standards of the public and I don’t think George [Lucas] did that.”
Jake’s life went off the rails in 2015, when as a 26-year-old he was involved in a 25 mile long high-speed police chase.
His mum said at the time that Jake suffered from schizophrenia and had not taken his medication.
After spending nearly 10 months in jail for the incident in South Carolina he was moved to a mental health facility.
Jake’s sister Madison tragically died in her sleep in 2018, aged 26.
His mum previously said in a statement: “He has moved closer to his family and we are all working hard to help him with this. He is still a kind and caring person and we hope to have him back to his fun and entertaining self as soon as possible. Jake will continue to make progress with the love and support you continue to show.”
GettyJake is now 33 and has turned his back on acting[/caption] Read More