Natalie Portman in Léon.
Honorable mention to that little has-been Pearl McKay
To pick one from this year, Carey Mulligan in An Education.
Kate Winslett in Titanic, Heavenly Creatures, and Sense and Sensibility.
Dakota Fanning in “Man on fire”… Keke Palmer in “Akeelah and the bee”…
Lucas Black in American Gothic.
I though Amber Tamblyn was terrific in" Joan of Arcadia". She was in with some very good talent and she stood out.
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)
Great in “Blink”, the Doctor Who episode, too. Second best TV episode ever.
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.
Keisha Castle-Hughes in Whale Rider.
No question: Christian Bale (13 at the time) in Empire of the Sun
Dennis Christopher in Breaking Away. (Just under the wire at 24.)
Lucas Black in Sling Blade.
Noah Taylor in The Year My Voice Broke.
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.
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
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.
Seconded.
The Basketball Diaries. Excellent depiction of A) a junkie, B) great heroin withdrawal scene, totally believable.
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.
Gotta give a nod to Anna Pacquin in “The Piano.” Also Jurnee Smollett, recently namechecked elsewhere on these boards, in “Eve’s Bayou.”