Born May 12, 1992, Malcolm spent the first 11 months of his life as a foster child before he was adopted by Gary and Patricia Kelley (sister Sydney was thankfully adopted by the family two months later). The Kelley family resided in Bellflower, CA.
Kelley first appeared on television at age five in an episode of “For Your Love,” (NBC/WB, 1998-2002). Subsequent commercials and small roles on a number of highly-rated shows followed, and shortly thereafter, feature films. In 2002, Kelley played the titular character (at age seven) in “Antwone Fisher.” He returned to the big screen two years later with “You Got Served.”
In late 2004, Kelley took on his biggest role to date, as Walt Lloyd on the shipwrecked hit drama, “Lost.” Kelley’s character became a key element in the show’s twisting, often bizarre plotlines – and like the show itself, he seemed to alternate between the mystical – even magical – and more mundane. At the end of the first season, Walt was kidnapped, causing a string of events to unfold that impacted virtually every story element on the show and ultimately introducing new cast members, while killing off others. Because of the kidnapping, however, Kelley was largely absent for the majority of the show’s second season, appearing only sporadically and in the season finale.
Although the season finale seemed to suggest that he would return to the fold as a full-time on-screen presence in the series’ third season, Kelley used his time off to make guest appearances on another network’s hit shows – “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” (NBC, 1999- ) and “My Name Is Earl” (2005- ).