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!
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.)
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.
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…)
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.
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.
Post #179.
Her?
Actually, that’s a very impressive resume for someone who’s really not very recognizable.
Well sure there it is. But I added the podcast. It was a recent one so it should still be free.
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.
Sarah Brightman made her West End debut at age 14 in * I and Albert*, and is still going strong.
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.
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?
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.)
I always remembered him as the kid that moon walked into Michael Jackson in the Pepsi Commercial.
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.
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.
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.