# 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:** 7
**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:** [March 22, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/121 "2013-03-22T19:50:53Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > MIla Kunis is doing pretty well for herself. She first started on _That 70s Show_ when she was 14. Well she was with Macaulay Culkin for 8 years so I wouldn’t be surprised if she went through some rough spots. But nothing that I remember spilling into the tabloids. > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > You maybe remember the little lovestruck drummer kid from LOVE ACTUALLY who gets fatherly advice from Liam Neeson before gymnasting across an airport? He was the baby-sat boy in NANNY MCPHEE, with Emma Thompson? The ten-year-old Hitler in that RISE OF EVIL movie, with Peter O’Toole? The eleven-year-old chess master in ENTRUSTED, with Klaus Maria Brandauer? The young Tristan in TRISTAN + ISOLDE, before James Franco steps in to play the all-grown-up version? The teenaged Paul McCartney in NOWHERE BOY, even? > > Now in his twenties, [he’s](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1032473/) apparently just joined the GAME OF THRONES cast, having recently finished shooting a movie with Billy Bob Thornton and Andre Braugher. It’s too soon to say for sure – but by this point, Lindsay Lohan had already crashed her car three times, been in rehab three times, earned a DUI conviction while driving with a suspended license, and gotten busted for cocaine possession; let’s at least give the guy points for smooth sailing so far. He’s also the voice of Ferb in Phineas and Ferb. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/122 "2013-04-01T16:27:40Z")
Bumping this for Giancarlo Esposito, who I hadn’t realized was acting on Broadway at age eight with Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy. (At thirteen he was performing in _Lost In The Stars_; at fourteen, in _Seesaw_; and in his early twenties he won the Theatre World Award, but by then he’d started showing up in assorted movies – and I don’t see any sign of personal problems, just steady work: a lot of quality acting on television and occasional turns as producer/director on the big screen, all in between heading back to the stage time and again for yet more award nominations.) ---
**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:** [April 1, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/123 "2013-04-01T17:05:30Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Bumping this for Giancarlo Esposito, who I hadn’t realized was acting on Broadway at age eight with Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy. > > (At thirteen he was performing in _Lost In The Stars_; at fourteen, in _Seesaw_; and in his early twenties he won the Theatre World Award, but by then he’d started showing up in assorted movies – and I don’t see any sign of personal problems, just steady work: a lot of quality acting on television and occasional turns as producer/director on the big screen, all in between heading back to the stage time and again for yet more award nominations.) I had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/124 "2013-04-01T18:30:42Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Bumping this for Giancarlo Esposito, who I hadn’t realized was acting on Broadway at age eight with Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy. > > (At thirteen he was performing in _Lost In The Stars_; at fourteen, in _Seesaw_; and in his early twenties he won the Theatre World Award, but by then he’d started showing up in assorted movies – and I don’t see any sign of personal problems, just steady work: a lot of quality acting on television and occasional turns as producer/director on the big screen, all in between heading back to the stage time and again for yet more award nominations.) He was also in the jail scene of _Trading Places_. (Link with [NSFW language](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl_ydH4B-18)) ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/125 "2013-04-01T21:51:27Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > He was also in the jail scene of _Trading Places_. (Link with [NSFW language](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl_ydH4B-18)) Holy crow, even though he’s almost 20 in that scene he looks very young. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/126 "2013-04-04T03:50:11Z")
Remember the bit in DIE HARD 3 where we quickly learn what Samuel L. Jackson’s character is all about? Having his young nephews call-and-response about the importance of a good education, staying away from drugs, and not wanting any help from white people – and cue our hero in a sandwich board? That kid of eight was back in theaters at nine, in BED OF ROSES with Christian Slater and Mary Stuart Masterson; he then did small-screen work – everything from NYPD BLUE to BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER – before showing up at thirteen in BIG MOMMA’S HOUSE, and back to spending his teens working his way through the alphabet on television: AMERICAN DREAMS, BECKER, COLD CASE – and A.T.O.M., and BONES, and CHARMED – and heck, even NUMB3RS – along with episodes of ER and episodes of CITY OF ANGELS and episodes of GIRLFRIENDS. You need him, he’s there. Be that as it may, [Aldis Hodge](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0388038/?ref_=tt_cl_t14) just wrapped up his fifth year on LEVERAGE as the team’s self-assured computer hacker – and, coming full circle, his most recent role was back on the big screen, in the utterly unnecessary A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2013, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/127 "2013-04-04T04:13:03Z")
Traci Lords? ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/128 "2013-04-04T15:28:31Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > There’s also Laurence Fishburne: acting at age eleven in _If You Give a Dance, You Gotta Pay the Band_ before doing soap-opera work at age twelve in _One Life To Live_ and making his big-screen debut in _Cornbread, Earl and Me_ at thirteen before lying about his age at fourteen to start work on _Apocalypse Now_. > > So in his twenties, he was earning a Tony on Broadway; in his thirties, he started racking up Emmys on television; in his forties, he earned a Tony nomination **and** an Emmy nomination as Thurgood Marshall, which is a neat trick; the point is, I don’t see any personal-life trainwrecks; I just see a guy who wasn’t hurting for work before his Oscar nomination and hasn’t been hurting for it since. I agree that he’s turned out ok, but by his own admission, he was getting all kinds of messed up during the filming of Apocalypse Now. Granted, the filming of that movie was a surreal nightmare for all involved, but he was still so young. It could have gone very wrong for him coming out of that experience. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/129 "2013-04-07T19:31:36Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Brandon Cruz of **The Courtship of Eddie’s Father** grew up to be a fairly successful punk rocker. He has also done some editing work for TV, including “South Park” for its first few seasons. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/130 "2013-04-07T19:45:37Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Or for that matter, Elisabeth Shue, who also started at age 19, became best known as the Karate Kid’s girlfriend. 52 titles for her (and she was smokin’ hawt in Adventures In Babysitting). Before that, Ms. Shue was also a Burger King [hottie.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bT8TkJVXvM) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/131 "2013-04-07T21:09:43Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Or for that matter, Elisabeth Shue, who also started at age 19, became best known as the Karate Kid’s girlfriend. 52 titles for her (and she was smokin’ hawt in Adventures In Babysitting). > [@zamboniracer](#): > > Before that, Ms. Shue was also a Burger King [hottie.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bT8TkJVXvM) 🙂 She’s still a hottie at age 49. She currently co-stars on CSI. And she replaced Claudia Wells as Marty’s girlfriend, Jennifer, in Back to the Future Pts. II and III. Granted, she slept through most of the two movies, but the producers painted themselves in a corner with the ending of the first BttF movie. They didn’t know there would be sequels and if they had it to do all over again, Jennifer wouldn’t have accompanied Marty and Doc to 2015. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/132 "2013-04-09T22:33:18Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > Raven Symone started as a child actress on Cosby, then went to Hangin with Mr. Cooper, and then Disney channel shows, without showing up on the scandal sheets. She’s in her late 20s now and seems to have saved all her money at least. I saw that today is Keishia Knight Pulliam’s 34th birthday, and it occurs to me that Ms. Symone is not the only Cosby/Huxtable child that turned out ok. Keishia played Rudy, of course, and is still working, last seen on ABC’s “Splash.” Tempestt “Vanessa” Bledsoe and Malcolm “Theo” Jamal-Warner never had a public incident either, to my knowledge. Lisa Bonet has been through a lot, but seems to be all right now. ---
**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:** [September 19, 2013, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/133 "2013-09-19T13:10:02Z")
Bumping this due to DADS premiering this week: Brenda Song – who started acting on television at six, was on the big screen at eight, and kept picking up work as a nine-year-old in the LEAVE IT TO BEAVER movie before starting her recurring role on 100 DEEDS FOR EDDIE McDOWD at eleven – was showing up for episodes of 7th HEAVEN and BETTE at twelve, and episodes of ER and JUDGING AMY at thirteen, before heading back to the big screen in LIKE MIKE at fourteen; after more television work at fifteen, she got her big Disney break at sixteen on THE SUITE LIFE. She kept on with that until she was well into her twenties – while still getting roles in COLLEGE ROAD TRIP and THE SOCIAL NETWORK – and keeps working steadily on television while staying trainwreck-free. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/134 "2013-09-19T18:11:47Z")
I was jealous of Bill Mumy. He was a very busy actor from 1960 - 68. He was the “go-to” boy for Mattel commercials, did a Twilight Zone or two, Lost in Space, and then really cut back, or at least in front of the cameras, till Babylon 5. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/135 "2013-09-19T19:24:09Z")
Natalie Portman was already mentioned, right? I only skimmed the thread for names. So this post feels creepy, but ler me preface it by saying that I’ve long maintained that the age bias against actresses over 30 is partially mirrored by a similar age bias against actors under around 27. So for examples of child actors I just started thinking of actresses I like and IMDb’ing them. Turns out most of them were child actors, which sure didn’t turn me off my pet theory. Both Keire Knightley and Winona Ryder probably don’t qualify since they didn’t make it big until they were 15 or 16. Reese Witherspoon was a fantastic example up until a few months ago. She still counts, I think. Need a ruling on Evan Rachel Wood. Was the whole Marilyn Manson thing a crash and burn or what? How about Kristen Stewart? The affair with a director seems small potatoes compared to a Britney/Lyndsay/Amanda style breakdown. Ellen Page has never made any negative headlines that I’ve seen. I have a vague memory of some bad news for Jena Malone, so she could be an example for either good or bad, though I can’t say which. Amber Tamblyn seems like a decent example. Not sure how much these would count since they aren’t exactly headliners, but Nikki Reed, Camilla Belle, Shannon Woodward, Lacey Chabert, Kate Mara, Rachel Leigh Cook, Sara Paxton and AnnaSophia Robb were all child actors and I don’t know of any notable scandals involving them. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/136 "2013-09-19T21:31:32Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > How about Kristen Stewart? The affair with a director seems small potatoes compared to a Britney/Lyndsay/Amanda style breakdown. I’m not certain KS has bottomed out and turned the corner yet. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/137 "2013-09-20T00:57:07Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I’m not certain KS has bottomed out and turned the corner yet. Turned what corner? KS has never, to my knowledge, ever even come close to a minor fender bender, let alone crashing and burning. She has a very good head on her shoulders and is lucky to come from a very stable, supportive, happy family. ---
**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:** [September 20, 2013, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/138 "2013-09-20T12:28:52Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Both Keire Knightley and Winona Ryder probably don’t qualify since they didn’t make it big until they were 15 or 16. Well, the OP did ask for child _actors_. So it’s not just that Keira Knightley shot all of her **Phantom Menace** scenes before turning fourteen, at which point she had that recurring role in the **Oliver Twist** miniseries; it’s that she did a TV movie with Peter O’Toole at thirteen, and another TV movie at eleven after a big-screen movie at ten and yet another TV movie at nine, after doing yet other television work with Minnie Driver and Rupert Graves at – eight, maybe seven? IMDB says seven. So, yeah, after all of that she turns fifteen and finally gets a starring role (as Robin Hood’s daughter in **Princess Of Thieves** ), followed by all her teenaged work in **Bend It Like Beckham** and **Pirates Of The Caribbean** and **Love Actually** and **King Arthur**. But I think she already fit the bill. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/139 "2013-09-20T14:35:09Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Turned what corner? KS has never, to my knowledge, ever even come close to a minor fender bender, let alone crashing and burning. She has a very good head on her shoulders and is lucky to come from a very stable, supportive, happy family. WHY does KS get all this grief that she seems to attract? I swear she hasn’t done a single thing to warrant the crap I see written about her either in the press or online. I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/140 "2013-09-20T16:52:26Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > WHY does KS get all this grief that she seems to attract? I swear she hasn’t done a single thing to warrant the crap I see written about her either in the press or online. I don’t get it. 1. She’s not big on the fame part of acting, and she doesn’t handle publicity well. You can tell she’d rather be anywhere but on the red carpet. People take this as her being snobby and unapproachable. 2. She has Resting Bitch Face. Not her fault, but again, it makes people think she’s a bitch. 3. She ended up being romanced by one of the most desirable hotties of the teenage girl world. It’s just jealousy there. 4. People who hate Twilight automatically turn it into hatred of her because she’s the face of the ‘brand’. Even though she thought she was signing onto a small, indie movie. The first Twilight had only ~$40mil budget and wasn’t expected to become such a spectacle. 5. I liked her up until the point she cheated on her boyfriend with a married man. Not only did she choose to hurt her own boyfriend, she chose to hurt someone’s wife. Double ick. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964.md?page=8)