# Child Actors that didn't crash and burn **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964 "2013-03-15T00:52:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/181 "2013-10-03T16:03:20Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Actually, I didn’t know he was rumored to have been John Holmes. I thought he had done one under his own name. Maybe I combined the Ken Osmond rumor with Jay North’s foray into porn. I knew Jay North went through some hard times for a while but hadn’t heard he’d done any porn. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/182 "2013-10-03T18:52:47Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I knew Jay North went through some hard times for a while but hadn’t heard he’d done any porn. Well, it seems I better do some Googling before I report anything like that. Apparently, in 1974, he did an R-rated movie _The Teacher_ about a high school student who gets involved with a teacher in her late 20’s, but really, nothing more salacious than that. So I was twice caught by the rumor mill! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/183 "2013-10-05T08:00:21Z")
Heather Matarazzo, who was appearing on THE ADVENTURES OF PETE & PETE at ten and eleven, famously starred in WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE at twelve before getting a recurring role on TOWNIES at thirteen and a recurring role on ROSEANNE at fourteen (when she was back on the big screen in THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE) and was back on the big screen again at fifteen (in ALL I WANNA DO and 54). And after a season on NOW AND AGAIN, she was still a teen when everything from SCREAM 3 to THE PRINCESS DIARIES to SORORITY BOYS came out; she then kept acting in her twenties – more than half-a-dozen movies, as well as a recurring role on THE L WORD, plus an episode of LIFE ON MARS here, and an episode of LAW AND ORDER there – and is still at it in her thirties. (She was apparently using drugs for a while, but she’s apparently over it, and I can’t really say she crashed and burned.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/184 "2013-10-07T20:02:40Z")
Since folks are now mentioning her in the _‘witchcraft’_ thread, I’m reminded of Holly Marie Combs: first acting credit at eleven, in WALLS OF GLASS; cast at thirteen for her first big-screen role, in SWEET HEARTS DANCE; she’s fifteen when NEW YORK STORIES comes out, turns sixteen the month BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY hits theaters, is still a teen when she takes home the Young Artist Award for playing Tom Skerritt’s daughter on PICKET FENCES after appearing on the big screen in DR GIGGLES… …and wraps that role up in '96, after which she does a couple of TV movies in '97 and starts her eight-season role on CHARMED in '98, carrying on with it until she’s in her thirties; after another TV movie, she’s of course still in her thirties when she becomes a castmember on PRETTY LITTLE LIARS. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/185 "2013-10-08T14:01:18Z")
Mae Whitman was playing Meg Ryan’s kid at five in _When A Man Loves A Woman_, and Matthew Modine’s kid at six in _Bye Bye Love_; after a TV movie at seven, she was the President’s daughter at eight in _Independence Day_ – same year she was George Clooney’s kid in _One Fine Day_, before playing Sandra Bullock’s kid at nine, in _Hope Floats_. At ten, she kept playing the recurring role on _Chicago Hope_ she’d been plugging away at when she was seven and eight and nine. At eleven and twelve, she kept on with her recurring role on _JAG_. At thirteen and fourteen she was a castmember on _State of Grace_ (as, well, Grace). You maybe remember the teenaged Ann Veal on _Arrested Development_? The teenaged Tammi Deveraux on _Thief_? The teenaged Heather Douglas on _Grey’s Anatomy_? The teenaged Rosie Weston on _In Treatment_? After those recurring roles – and a trip back into theaters, as Diane Lane’s daughter in _Nights in Rodanthe_ – she started playing Lauren Graham’s daughter on _Parenthood_; she’s still a castmember at twenty-five, appearing on the big screen in _Barry Munday_ and _Scott Pilgrim_ and _Perks of Being a Wallflower_ along the way. (She also does tons of voice acting, even leaving aside that was Lois Lane in one series, Batgirl in another, and Wonder Girl in a third: from nine to sixteen she was Li’l Suzy on _Johnny Bravo_; from sixteen to twenty, Katara on _Avatar: The Last Airbender_; since then, everyone from Tinker Bell to April O’Neil…) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/186 "2013-10-08T15:42:33Z")
I had no idea that Melora Hardin – Jan Levenson, from THE OFFICE – was acting in episodes of POLICE STORY at nine before becoming a castmember on THUNDER at ten and reaching the big screen at eleven; after half-a-dozen more television shows, the teen was set to hit it big as Marty McFly’s girlfriend, but Michael J Fox was of course the wrong height; still, she’s been getting steady on-screen acting work every year since, easy as singing on Broadway and directing a film along the way. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/187 "2013-10-08T16:01:59Z")
I know I started the thread but I don’t know if Jonathan Lipnicki was mentioned. I recently heard him on Jay Mohr’s podcast. His adult acting career isn’t really taking off so far (small projects and stage work) but he seems like a very nice grounded person. Never into drugs or alcohol. He is a fitness and martial arts fanatic. His parents kept him in public school. No scandals. From reading all the examples it seems that the stereotype is a bit overblown. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/188 "2013-10-08T16:03:45Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I know I started the thread but I don’t know if Jonathan Lipnicki was mentioned. Post #179. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/189 "2013-10-08T17:25:06Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > You maybe remember the teenaged Ann Veal on _Arrested Development_? Her? Actually, that’s a very impressive resume for someone who’s really not very recognizable. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/190 "2013-10-08T17:58:11Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Post #179. Well sure there it is. But I added the podcast. It was a recent one so it should still be free. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/191 "2013-10-08T19:04:32Z")
Elisabeth Harnois was six when _One Magic Christmas_ hit theaters and seven when _Where are The Children?_ hit the big screen; after racking up television credits on _Highway To Heaven_ and _Beauty And The Beast_ before turning ten, she apparently spent a hundred episodes as little Alice in _Adventures In Wonderland_ before doing a couple of TV movies as a teen and racking up a dozen acting credits in her twenties – even aside from her recurring role on _One Tree Hill_ and her time as a castmember on _Point Pleasant_ – before joining the cast of _Miami Medical_ at thirty. She’s now thirty-four and has been on CSI for years. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/192 "2013-10-08T20:23:18Z")
Sarah Brightman made her West End debut at age 14 in \* I and Albert\*, and is still going strong. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/193 "2013-10-08T21:17:41Z")
I mentioned Seth Green and Brenda Song, both of whom had made it to the big screen by ten and kept working steadily through to currently acting on _Dads_. I failed to mention that they’re doing so alongside Giovanni Ribisi, who was also acting at ten (an episode of _Simon & Simon_ here, an episode of _Twilight Zone_ there, it adds up), and who as a preteen was getting work on _My Two Dads_ and _Married With Children_ before spending his teen years on _NYPD Blue_ and _The Commish_ and _Blossom_ and _Walker, Texas Ranger_ and _The Wonder Years_. He’s since done a ton of work in his twenties and thirties – admittedly often **looking** like he’s coming or going with regard to a crash and burn, but near as I can tell he’s always kept it together; he’s just got one of those faces, is all. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/194 "2013-10-08T21:38:05Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I mentioned Seth Green and Brenda Song, both of whom had made it to the big screen by ten and kept working steadily through to currently acting on _Dads_. I failed to mention that they’re doing so alongside Giovanni Ribisi, who was also acting at ten (an episode of _Simon & Simon_ here, an episode of _Twilight Zone_ there, it adds up), and who as a preteen was getting work on _My Two Dads_ and _Married With Children_ before spending his teen years on _NYPD Blue_ and _The Commish_ and _Blossom_ and _Walker, Texas Ranger_ and _The Wonder Years_. > > He’s since done a ton of work in his twenties and thirties – admittedly often **looking** like he’s coming or going with regard to a crash and burn, but near as I can tell he’s always kept it together; he’s just got one of those faces, is all. I’m sure he’d cite Scientology as the reason why he is so together. Big supporter. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/195 "2013-10-09T05:03:15Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’m sure he’d cite Scientology as the reason why he is so together. Big supporter. I’m sure he’s not alone on that. Be that as it may, how about Kellie Martin? Her first acting work was on _Father Murphy_ at seven; she pops up on everything from _Highway To Heaven_ to _Dallas_ before making it onto the big screen at ten with Whoopi Goldberg in _Jumpin’ Jack Flash_ and eleven with Dirk Benedict in _Body Slam_, is twelve when appearing in episodes of _thirtysomething_ and _Valerie_, and after getting back into theaters with _Troop Beverly Hills_ of course spends ages thirteen through seventeen playing her Emmy-nominated role in _Life Goes On_. She’s still a teen when starring in TV movie after TV movie after TV movie – and when playing Christy on, well, _Christy_. In her twenties, she spent a couple of years as a castmember on _ER_ in her spare time from starring in a dozen more TV movies; half-a-dozen of those were her _Mystery Woman_ outings, which is why she starred in another and another and another and another and another of 'em in her thirties, along with starring in yet other TV movies before landing a recurring role on _Army Wives_ last year, promptly followed by starring in yet another TV movie, with another other TV movie scheduled for later this year. I don’t know what she’ll be doing in her forties, but I’m guessing – TV movies? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2013, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/196 "2013-10-09T13:28:53Z")
By seven, Daryl Sabara had popped up on everything from _Roswell_ to _Will And Grace_; he’s eight when hitting theaters in _SPY KIDS_ alongside twelve-year-old Alexa Vega, who at five was little Emily Newton (opposite Burt Reynolds as Wood Newton) on _Evening Shade_ and by ten had already been on the big screen in _Little Giants_ and _Twister_ and _Nine Months_ and _The Deep End Of The Ocean_. They’ve both worked steadily every year since, with no signs of slowing down now that they’re well into their twenties. (If that’s still too soon to say, how about Jesse Bradford? At five, he’s Robert De Niro’s kid in _Falling In Love_; after some TV work, he’s back on the big screen in _Prancer_ at ten before playing Harrison Ford’s kid in _Presumed Innocent_ at eleven – same year he showed up in _My Blue Heaven_, with Steve Martin. As a teen, Bradford kept getting steady work in _Hackers_ and _Romeo + Juliet_ and _A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries_; in his twenties, he still looked boyish enough for high-schooler leading-man roles in _Swimfan_ and _Clockstoppers_ before playing a Marine in _Flags Of Our Fathers_; he’s done plenty more movies since then, hampered only by the way he kept becoming a castmember on doomed TV shows in his thirties.) (I mean, seriously: _Outlaw_, with Jimmy Smits? _Guys With Kids_? Never stood a chance. But, hey, the guy keeps heading back into theaters.) ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/197 "2013-10-09T16:28:19Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Alfonso Ribeiro got his first television role at eight before performing on Broadway as THE TAP DANCE KID and becoming a castmember on SILVER SPOONS at twelve; after a couple of MAGNUM PI episodes and a few TV movies, the teen famously started playing Carlton Banks on THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR and kept at it until he was twenty-four; he then started his three-year run on IN THE HOUSE before racking up seventy-odd directing credits and working as a game-show host while routinely keeping his hand in as an actor, now in his forties with nary a crash nor a burn. I always remembered him as the kid that moon walked into Michael Jackson in the Pepsi Commercial. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/198 "2013-10-09T17:36:12Z")
I think this thread should be used as proof that MOST child actors come out OK and acting like the Lindsay Lohan route is the default is unfair to the under-18 set. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/199 "2013-10-09T19:01:46Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Martha Plimpton, Sean Astin, Corey Feldman, and Josh Brolin disappeared? They seem to be working pretty steadily. Corey Feldman most assuredly crashed and burned. Not nearly as bad as buddy Corey Haim to be sure. But he had multiple drug arrests, did time in rehab and I believe at one point was dead broke and in debt. He may have partially recovered himself ( and kudos for that ), but he is definitely a poster child for what to avoid. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/200 "2013-10-11T15:01:17Z")
> [@Gordon\_Urquhart](#): > > Her? > > Actually, that’s a very impressive resume for someone who’s really not very recognizable. And how could I have mentioned her without adding that, at eleven, Michael Cera graduated from TV work to the big screen – in _Frequency_ with Dennis Quaid and _Steal This Movie_ with Vincent D’Onofrio? After yet more movies and a lot of TV work, he turned twenty and of course kept showing up in everything from _Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist_ to _Year One_ to the aforementioned _Scott Pilgrim_; after turning twenty-five this year, he was back in theaters with _This Is The End_ a month after yet more _Arrested Development_, with another movie in post-production for next year. (He still **sounds** eleven, but that still counts.) Speaking of eleven, that’s how old Eliza Dushku was when in theaters for her first big movie role – with a thirteen-year-old Katherine Heigl! – before showing up with li’l Leonardo DiCaprio in _This Boy’s Life_ at twelve, and then as Ah-nuld’s daughter in _True Lies_ at thirteen; after yet more movies, she was naturally still a teen when she started playing Faith on _Buffy_ and _Angel_, and cheerleading in _Bring It On_, before headlining one series after another in her twenties (first with _Tru Calling_, then with _Dollhouse_) and making yet other movies to boot; now in her thirties, she’s still getting plenty of TV work and of course has yet another movie in post-production for next year. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964.md?page=11)