Eli Marienthal

Marienthal began acting as a young child in the early 1990s, building a handful of film credits before landing the central role of a boy who befriends a fallen giant robot.

He voiced Hogarth Hughes, the curious, kind-hearted boy who befriends a fallen alien war machine and teaches it that it doesn't have to be a weapon. A child voice actor with a handful of other film credits at the time, he carried much of the film's emotional weight.

It remains among the best known of his relatively brief screen career, a performance still fondly remembered by generations of fans who grew up with the film.