Julian Sands: Human remains found in Californian mountains where actor disappeared

The British star of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo disappeared while hiking in the state in January

Julian Sands was reported missing on January 13. AP

Hikers have found human remains in a Southern California mountain area where actor Julian Sands disappeared five months ago, authorities have said.

The body, discovered on Saturday at about 10am in wilderness near Mount Baldy, was transported to the coroner's office for identification next week, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said.

Additional details were not immediately available.

Sands, an avid hiker and mountaineer, was reported missing on January 13 after setting out on the peak that rises more than 3,048 metres east of Los Angeles. The region was pounded by severe storms during winter.

On Friday, his family released its first statement since Sands' disappearance.

“We continue to hold Julian in our hearts with bright memories of him as a wonderful father, husband, explorer, lover of the natural world and the arts, and as an original and collaborative performer,” it said.

Born in England, Sands, 65, moved to California in the 1980s to pursue a Hollywood career after the success of the 1985 film A Room with a View, a Merchant-Ivory period romance in which he was cast as the leading man opposite Helena Bonham Carter.

He played the title role in the 1998 film version of The Phantom of the Opera.

Other motion picture credits include The Killing Fields, Boxing Helena, Leaving Las Vegas and the English-language remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

He is married to journalist Evgenia Citkowitz and has three adult children.

A June 17 search for Sands, the eighth organised since his disappearance, was unsuccessful, authorities said.