Buttmunker

Oi, to think of all the child actors who have come and gone, and those who have stayed in film and are still active and successful today.

Kurt Russell was a child star (he played the monkey boy in an episode of Gilligan's Island and was in quite a few Disney films as a kid) who managed to make it as an adult in the industry.

Jodie Foster was also a child star (Taxi Driver), and she also beat the curse and made it as a successful adult star.

The list is bigger for the ones who didn't make it. Poor, poor, poor Alfalfa

Big Boy Laroux

ron howard's not a bust, albeit as a director

aside from drew barrymore's troubled period early on, she's formed a nice career

Groucho

Haley Joel Osment was hot stuff a couple years ago, but he's disappeared as of late.

devilshalo

Don't forget the lovely Diane Lane

Ergyu

Speaking of this kid, I saw him on some entertainment show the other night and his frickin voice has dropped! He sounds totally different. I think he's like 14 now too!

Bacon

Elijah Wood- maybe you've heard of him obviously one of the thrivers

Down & out-
Macauly Culkin-Home Alone and The Good Son, since....


nothing!!!!!!!

inVectiVe

Hey Buttmunker, didn't you start a Corey Haim thread a couple days ago?

Samuel

Seth Green, he wasn't exactly a star but he was a child actor. (It, Can't Buy Me Love)


Drew Barrymore had some troubles but she's. . .

And Alyssa Milano is hanging in there.

I'm glad glad Sage Stallone didn't persue an "acting" career.

Peter Billingsly quit acting but I read that he plays golf and sings or something.

Canadian Bacon mentioned Elijah Wood let's not forget Sean Astin.

Whatever happened to this guy?

UAIOE

No huge loss, however his brother is doing the acting stuff nowadays.


Yeah, Elijah Wood and his small role in BTTF2 which lead to bigger things and eventually to a Hobbit.

Buttmunker

Seth Green is still a revelant figure - all the Austin Powers movies, plus cameos in Enemy of the State with Will Smith and Josie and the Pussycats.

If you can play cameos in movies and not get a credit for it, then you're pretty hot stuff.

Jeraden

I don't see how you can just generalize any child actor that is not still acting as a down-and-outer. I'd classify down-and-outers as child actors in fairly important roles who are now doing crappy B-movies. Thats different than child actors who 'disappear' because they have no interest in acting anymore after they grew up.

chriscruz2

But didn't Macauley Culkin just do a movie with Seth Green, another child actor that's still cranking them out?

Hiro11

Henry Thomas from ET has gone on to become an excellent adult actor.

So has (obviously) Sean Astin.

Rypro 525

Uh, what's he done recently? I thought it was Barrymore that went on.

resinrats

Shannon Dorety(sp?) was a little kid in Litttle House on the Prarie.

Rypro 525

Yeah, but she went to 90210 before the movies, right?

Buttmunker

Henry Thomas is a mediocre actor who was featured alongside Matt Damon in Billy Bob Thornton's All The Pretty Horses, which was a mediocre/poor film.

Hiro11

That's pretty rough. He's certainly not A list, but he's done a lot more than that recently:

11:14 (2003) (filming)
Honey Baby (2003) (filming) .... Tom
I Capture the Castle (2003) .... Simon Cotton
Gangs of New York (2002) .... Johnny Sirocco
I'm with Lucy (2002) .... Barry
... aka Autour de Lucy (2002) (France)
Dead in the Water (2002/I) .... Jeff
Quickie, The (2001) .... Alex
... aka Quickie, The (2001) (France)
Briar Patch (2001) .... Edgar MacBeth
All the Pretty Horses (2000) .... Lacey Rawlins
Good Baby, A (2000) .... Raymond Toker
Happy Face Murders (1999) (TV) .... Dylan McCarthy
Fever (1999) .... Nick Parker
Moby Dick (1998) (TV) .... Ishmael
Hijacking Hollywood (1997) .... Kevin
Suicide Kings (1997) .... Avery Chasten
Niagara, Niagara (1997) .... Seth
... aka Niagra Niagra (1998) (USA)
Bombshell (1996) .... Buck Hogan
Riders of the Purple Sage (1996) (TV) .... Bern Venters
Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995) (TV) .... Ray Buckey
Legends of the Fall (1994) .... Samuel Ludlow
Curse of the Starving Class (1994) .... Wesley Tate
Beyond Obsession (1994) (TV) .... John Thompson
... aka Daughter's Secret: The Traci di Carlo Story, A (1994) (TV)
Fire in the Sky (1993) .... Gregory Thomas Hayes
Taste for Killing, A (1992) (TV) .... Cary Sloan
Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) (TV) .... Young Norman Bates
Valmont (1989) .... Danceny
Murder One (1988) (TV) .... Billy Isaacs
Quest, The (1986) .... Cody
... aka Frog Dreaming (1986)
... aka Go-Kids, The (1986)
Cloak & Dagger (1984) .... Davey Osborne
Misunderstood (1984) .... Andrew
... aka Ultimo sole d'estate, L' (1984) (Italy)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) .... Elliott
... aka E.T. (1982) (USA: short title)
... aka E.T. the Extra- Terrestrial: The 20th Anniversary (2002) (USA: longer version)
Steeler and the Pittsburgh Kid, The (1981) (TV) .... The Kid
Raggedy Man (1981) .... Harry

Not exactly Corey Feldman.

Buttmunker

Well, I say if Henry Thomas can have a career with that ugly face of his, then Corey Feldman should be the next Tom Cruise!

Face/Off

Whatever happened to Jason James Richter?

Ronnie Dobbs

Peter Billingsley popped up in Four Christmases. Then I saw he's directing a movie on IMDB.

Sean O'Hara

Dean Stockwell, Elizabeth Taylor, and Mickey Rooney all started their careers before they were 10, and two of them have major film credits in the last five years.

Kinda scary to think that Mickey Rooney made his first film in 1926, yet was just in Tropic Thunder this year.

nightwing82

Jennifer Love Hewitt has stuck around pretty consistently for the most part.

Jason Bateman got a rejump on his career thanks to Arrested Development.

Hilary Duff just inked a television deal with NBC.

Shia LaBeouf is all over the place now.

Cellar Door

Billingsley is part of the Jon Favreau/Vince Vaughn crowd. He has been a producer on Zathura and Iron Man (with a bit part in Iron Man) and he can be seen (acting like a real dick) in Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show.


A child actor who has become even more successful as an adult is Joaquin Phoenix. He was in one of my favorite movies when I was a kid--Space Camp.

Xbox69

Correct. Billingsley is even part of the audio commentary for the SE "Swingers" (1996) DVD released in 2002. Almost a year before this thread appeared.