# Best performances by actors under 25 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844 "2010-02-05T20:42:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/21 "2010-02-06T13:30:33Z")
Natalie Portman in _Léon_. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/22 "2010-02-06T15:25:38Z")
Honorable mention to that little has-been [Pearl McKay](http://phaithful.com/blog/funny-or-die-landlord-video.html) ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/23 "2010-02-06T15:38:49Z")
To pick one from this year, Carey Mulligan in An Education. Kate Winslett in Titanic, Heavenly Creatures, and Sense and Sensibility. ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/24 "2010-02-06T16:38:21Z")
Dakota Fanning in “Man on fire”… Keke Palmer in “Akeelah and the bee”… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/25 "2010-02-06T16:59:26Z")
Lucas Black in American Gothic. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/26 "2010-02-06T19:10:15Z")
I though Amber Tamblyn was terrific in" Joan of Arcadia". She was in with some very good talent and she stood out. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/27 "2010-02-06T23:29:00Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > - River Phoenix in _Stand by Me_. > [@Rilchiam](#): > > Nuh-uh: River Phoenix in **Dogfight**. Lili Taylor in the same film as well. He was also really great in **The Mosquito Coast** (age 16) and **My Own Private Idaho** (age 21) and a few other movies not yet mentioned. Of all the famous people from my generation who have died young, Phoenix is the greatest loss, IMO. (artistically speaking) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/28 "2010-02-07T19:05:03Z")
> [@drm](#): > > To pick one from this year, Carey Mulligan in An Education. Great in “Blink”, the Doctor Who episode, too. Second best TV episode ever. > [@](#): > > Kate Winslett in[…] Heavenly Creatures Actually, I thought Melanie Lynskey had it all over Winslett in that movie. So she’s my nomination. That and Jodie Foster in _Bugsie Malone_. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/29 "2010-02-07T19:31:09Z")
Keisha Castle-Hughes in Whale Rider. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/30 "2010-02-07T19:50:09Z")
No question: Christian Bale (13 at the time) in Empire of the Sun ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/31 "2010-02-07T20:08:16Z")
Dennis Christopher in _Breaking Away_. (Just under the wire at 24.) Lucas Black in _Sling Blade_. Noah Taylor in _The Year My Voice Broke_. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/32 "2010-02-07T20:10:43Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > No question: Christian Bale (13 at the time) in Empire of the Sun Gah. I hated that performance. He spent the whole movie screaming. (I blame Spielberg. It was typical Spielberg direction. Nearly all of his movies feature screaming kids.) ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/33 "2010-02-07T20:15:19Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Gah. I hated that performance. He spent the whole movie screaming. (I blame Spielberg. It was typical Spielberg direction. Nearly all of his movies feature screaming kids.) He won two awards for the performance and I only remember two scenes where he was screaming: when he was separated from his parents and during the liberation of the POW camp. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/34 "2010-02-07T20:31:14Z")
Jeez, people. Tatum O’neal in _ **Paper Moon** _. Honorable Mentions have already been named. Leonardo in _ **What’s Eating Gilbert Grape** _ HJO in _ **The Sixth Sense** _ ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/35 "2010-02-07T21:22:33Z")
Ralph Macchio in _The Karate Kid_. oh, not the thread for “actors that pretended to be under 25 but were actually 40”? oops… ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/36 "2010-02-07T23:03:53Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Ralph Macchio in _The Karate Kid_. > > oh, not the thread for “actors that pretended to be under 25 but were actually 40”? > oops… Wikipedia says he was 23 when the first Karate Kid movie came out, older then the teenager he was supposed to be playing, but not by too much. Also he apparently named his kid “Daniel” which is a little creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/37 "2010-02-08T15:31:07Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Daniel Day-Lewis was brilliant in “My Left Foot,” and I have no objection to him winning an Oscar. But you know, I thought Hugh O’Connor, who played the young Christie Brown, was at LEAST as good. Seconded. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/38 "2010-02-08T16:06:22Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > I was even more impressed with DiCaprio in _What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?_ **The Basketball Diaries**. Excellent depiction of A) a junkie, B) great heroin withdrawal scene, totally believable. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/39 "2010-02-08T16:11:39Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > He was also really great in **The Mosquito Coast** (age 16) and **My Own Private Idaho** (age 21) and a few other movies not yet mentioned. Of all the famous people from my generation who have died young, Phoenix is the greatest loss, IMO. (artistically speaking) I was going to nominate Keanu Reeves’ performance in **My Own Private Idaho** as well, but he’s a tad too old in that film. (I believe in credit where it’s due, as normally I’m not that impressed by his acting.) I’d come in here to nominate Portman in **Léon** and am glad that she’s been mentioned already. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844/40 "2010-02-08T20:42:01Z")
Gotta give a nod to Anna Pacquin in “The Piano.” Also Jurnee Smollett, recently namechecked elsewhere on these boards, in “Eve’s Bayou.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-by-actors-under-25/527844.md?page=3)