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Cast

From The Official Web Site:

Lately, young Joshua A. Beal (Cross) has been having a hard time just waking up in the morning. Up until now, his life has been all about Batman action figures, Ninja turtle cartoons and Captain Crunch cereal. But not any more. It's the first day of fifth grade, and he's finally decided it's time to wake up and discover life. It's been several months since his beloved grandfather (Loggia) passed away, and while everyone else seems certain his Grandpa is in good hands, Joshua just isn't sure. No one around him, including his parents (Leary, Delany) and his school teacher (O'Donnell), can give him a satisfactory answer.

From Hollywood Online

The lead actor in "Wide Awake," ten-year-old Joseph Cross, makes his film debut as the precocious Joshua Beal. Shyamalan said he and casting director Avy Kaufman conducted a nation-wide search, which ended in Pelham, New York where they found Joseph Cross.

"Joshua's role is really a demanding role for a child," he said. "It has physical comedy and heavy drama, and just a certain innocence about him. It has an innocence as well as a great precociousness, so you have to have those two elements portrayed in this, all these things in this child, so finding him was a scary proposition. Essentially, I waited until we found Joshua, as opposed to a child that could act it. There was a lot of child actors who were very adept at their craft, but there was a certain something, an air about them, that they were acting. Since he carries the film, who that child is decides the flavor of the film, the tone of the film."