At six, Sean Marquette was on the big screen; from seven to nine he fielded soap-opera work, at eleven he’d pop in for an episode of The Hughleys and an episode of Becker and an episode of Judging Amy; he’s now twenty-five, having picked up acting work steadily if unspectacularly every year since.
I mention him because he was back in theaters as the little-kid version of Mark Ruffalo’s character in 13 Going On 30. Remember that one? Turns out a twelve-year-old was actually the best choice for the title character; at fifteen she was the star of her own TV show – and after yet more work on television and in movies, Christa Allen is still playing Charlotte Grayson on Revenge; she’ll be twenty-two next month, and will presumably follow up this third season with plenty more on-screen work.
Never mind her, though; the point is that she was the pint-sized doppleganger of Jennifer Garner, which brings to mind that Ben Affleck’s been in theaters since age eight. Yes, before he was that preteen on Voyage Of The Mimi. Yes, before winning those Oscars and getting cast as Batman.
And, yes, he’s the brother of Casey Affleck, who’s been acting on-screen since twelve – he was playing young Bobby Kennedy at fourteen – and has racked up an Oscar nomination of his own in between likewise doing the writer/director/producer thing.
Casey was also in the American Pie movies with Thomas Ian Nicholas (the kid in A Kid In King Arthur’s Court, and the twelve-year-old star of Rookie Of The Year, and who at eight was playing Flashback-Tony in Who’s The Boss) and Jason Biggs (TV and movie work at twelve, television castmember and Broadway performer at thirteen), both of whom are still getting plenty of work in their thirties. I mean, have you seen Orange Is The New Black?
(You should; Natasha Lyonne, who’s been getting TV and movie work since seven, is terrific in it.)