One I feel strongly about is the little girl who plays Bridgette Dubois on Medium. She’s the middle child and one of the most naturally gifted child performers I can think of. I think her name is Maria Lark. There’s a picture of Sofia Vassilieva who plays the oldest daughter, and she’s not the one I mean. Not bad, just not as convincing as the middle kid.
I’m already having my doubts about Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning surviving their teen years as actors, in spite of their amazing talents as children.
I’ll “third” Michael Cera. And although it’s really too early to tell, my gut feeling is that Dakota Fanning will survive the transition if she chooses to. Like Freddie Highmore and Jodie Foster, she seems to have an appreciation of the discipline of acting that could carry her through.
Freddie Highmore’s performance was indeed breathtaking, so much so that Finding Neverland is one of the few movies that I’ve seen more than once at the theater.
Haven’t seen that one. Not usually interested in flicks that feature kids prominently, which is why I notice when a child actor turns in a notable performance. But I’d recommend Finding Neverland, and I’m at a loss to think of a more convincing and powerful performance than Freddie’s, especially in the scene where he portrays a very angry boy reacting to how adults are less than honest when handling very difficult issues, and (later) a very vulnerable child who cannot find the words to express his own reaction to those same issues.
Any thoughts on the ‘Potters’? I haven’t seen the fourth installment, but I think the kid with blonde hair (Malfoy?) has got legs, typecast in bad boy roles for a while at least. The other cast members I’m not so sure about.
I’d love to see Emily Browning, who played Violet Beaudelaire in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, in more projects, both now and as she… blossoms.
There’s an ickle-bitty picture of Maria Lark at the bottom of this page, Zeldar.
I wanted to say Clémence Poésy, but I see she’s actually older than I am, so that’s a no go, as she’s definitely not a child actor. So I second Emily Browning, despite Lou’s horrible pun. I’d second Dakota Fanning, but I’m going to wait and see if she grows gracefully out of adolescence. I don’t know if she has the acting chops to survive being average-looking in Hollywood. (And now I feel like a mean, horrible person.)
Draco Malfoy is played by Tom Felton, who, by the age of 12 had already been in two well-received films, “The Borrowers” and “Anna and the King” where he got a fair bit of screen time with Jodie Foster(as her son) and Chow Yun-Fat.
He was already a star by the time he got the nod for the Potter films and I expect really great things from him as he matures.
Emily Browning is actually from Australia, indeed right here in Melbourne, where the movie industry is… shit. So unless she gets more opportunities like Lemony Snicket (and it’s difficult for a teenager to get away from local school time for that long, even if she wants to) she may stagnate somewhat, which is a shame.
I think Tom Melton will be his generations James Spader. He has that smug waspyness about him down well.
I hope, not in a bad way, but I hope Dakota Fanning just disappears. She creeps me out more than the Welch’s Cherub of Pure Evil.
I guess I’m in the minority, but I find him overly precious. I’ve seen him in Finding Neverland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and he annoyed me in both.
I think Haley Joel Osment will actually be okay, I saw him in Secondhand Lions and I think he is going to grow up just fine, not like Jonathan Lipnicki or someone like that.
that would be anna popplewell. i haven’t seen narnia as yet - not out here - but she looks the spitting image in the trailer i’ve seen.
also just had to check on who william zabka is (was!). ah, the memories came flooding back… from two movies! and whilst i was there, noted that anna has already starred along side scarlett in girl with a pearl earing . sisters??
