Spotted at his school by two casting directors and asked to audition, the nine-year-old, who had no prior professional acting experience, won praise for his natural performance as a lonely child prodigy caught in an emotional tug of war between his working class mother (played by Jodie Foster) and a psychologist (Dianne Wiest) who wants to put him in a special school in Foster's directorial debut, "Little Man Tate" (1991). He went on to portray the title character in "Digger" (1994), about a youth sent to live with relatives during his parents' divorce. Hann-Byrd appeared as the youthful version of Robin Williams's character in "Jumanji" (1995) and in a supporting role in the remake of "Diabolique" (1996) with Sharon Stone and Isabelle Adjani. He also delivered a convincing portrait of a troubled youth in Ang Lee's mood piece "The Ice Storm" (1997).