A little off topic but the best child actors I can think of who were/are very talented are:

Male:

River Phoenix (He was a talented young kid)
Corey Feldman (he was a better actor when he was a little kid)
Haley Joe Osment (laugh if you want but I think he's an amazing talent)

Female:

Shirley Temple (I enjoy Shirley Temple films)
Drew Barrymore (her work in "E.T.", "Firestarter" and "Cats Eye" were great, that was the only time I found Barrymore a talented actress was when she was young)

HANDS DOWN.

How about Sylvester Stallone when he was young?

Seriously, though, just about every child in any Francois Truffaut film was good. Jean-Pierre Leaud's performance in "The 400 Blows" is probably the best child performance ever put on screen.

I don't care what people say - Short Round ruled in Temple of Doom. "You call him Dr. Jones, doll!"

I will admit after seeing A.I., I would be happy to never see Haley Joel Osment on the big screen for the remainder of my days.

I'm with you there.

*sigh*

More idiotic Stallone bashing continues after everytime I post something, I swear to god it's when people see my Rocky_Stallone screen name that people want to start unecessary Stallone bashing.

Sly didn't start acting in the 70's, his first filming debut was a porn so how can you say something like that?

No, I believe that honor would have to go to the "script."

Lloyd certainly didn't help matters, however, but his performance was no worse than half the players in that film.

The first cine-imp that popped into my head reading the title of the thread was David Mendenhall in the dreadful Over the Top.

Oh really?!

Sorry man, I meant no offence. I certainly wasn't bashing Stallone (this time), and I admire you for sticking to an unpopular opinion. I know Stallone made his debut in a porn film.

ADRIAN!!!

That's very sweet of you, Pollyanna. Hey, that reminds me, Hayley Mills could be extremely annoying too.

I can't believe no one has said Daryl Sabara, the brother from Spy Kids. The sister was pretty cool, but that nerdlet boy should have been sacrificed up at the first opportunity.

I agree the sister is cool the brother is obnoxious, unfunny, anoying, and FAT!!! Holy crap, his mom needs to stop feeding him!

Best child actor: The little kid in Close Encounters
Worst child actor: THE PEPSI GIRL!!!!!111!

I just can't understand how no one has mentionned Hayden Christiansen yet! Attack of the clones proved without the shadow of a doubt that he could play the most annoying whinny brat ever.

The kid in walkabout (the brother) was incredibly annoying. Possibly the most annoying kid I've ever seen, anywhere.

Do you know the little girl who played as J-Lo's daughter in Enough? She is so cute, but for sure she got me to my nerve hearing her screaming "Mommy! Mommy!" from her backseat of the car during the car chase. I wish I were there so I could slap her face to eternal silence.

And Damien The Omen .. No, wait. He's not annoying, he's terrifying.

Although I'll have to admit, there is two child actors I do find annoying though, I'm surprised no one listed these two:

Jonathan Lipnicki without question. He has been playing the same character ever since he was that little s**t from Jerry Maguire(Little Vampire, anyone?)

The Olson's used to anoy me, now they just give me wood.

1 year, 3 weeks, 1 day, 14 hours, 32 minutes, and 2 more seconds...

...until Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are eighteen.

http://jdigital.pyoko.org/olsen.php

Billy "Froggy" Laughlin
Mickey Gubitosi (Robert Blake)

This is an easy one





BTW: I find his sleeping friend annoying too -



He's my vote for the most annoying "person" to sleep with annoying child actors

*DING DING DING DING DING DING DING*

No more calls please, we have a winner!

What he said.

I agree! This is the first child character that popped into my mind when I read the thread title......and I even like this movie.