He is best known as the boy who rode a bicycle with the alien E.T. across the sky with the moon behind them in the 1982 movie, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

Actor Henry Thomas, who played Elliott in the science-fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg, was arrested earlier this week for driving under the influence in the American state of Oregon.

According to celebrity news website TMZ, Thomas, now 48, was detained by the police after they were alerted to a stationary car at a road junction on Monday night (Oct 21).

The police found Thomas passed out in the car and took him to Washington County Jail after he failed the field sobriety test.

According to CNN, he was released from custody on Tuesday and will return to court on Nov 1 to answer the misdemeanour charge.

Thomas, who recently appeared in Netflix horror series The Haunting Of Hill House (2018), said in previous media interviews that he has struggled with fame after his breakout role in E.T. at the age of nine.

The movie, which also starred then child actress Drew Barrymore, went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of all time. A digitally remastered version of the movie was released in theatres on its 20th anniversary in 2002.