# Favorite juvenile actors/actresses? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2012, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-juvenile-actors-actresses/612511 "2012-02-11T09:18:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-juvenile-actors-actresses/612511/1 "2012-02-11T09:18:04Z")
Who is at least one of your favorite juvenile actors/actresses, and why? I’ll start by saying that one of my favorites is a young lady by the name of Joey King. Why? Because, at least to me, she hits the bullseye both as herself and as Ramona. How, you might ask? Well, I have the Blu-Ray of _Ramona_, and there is a 5-min. feature on that by the name of “A Day In the Life of Joey King”; I’ve seen it quite a few times. Based on what I’ve seen from it, she seemed to have a lot of fun with the filmmaking process, especially WRT _Ramona_. I learned a couple of things about her too: –Her Walkie-Talkie handle is “Pickle,” a nickname that her on-screen father (John Corbett) uses several times in the film as well. –She has cat allergies (something that, until now, I never knew about her); based on what I heard from an interview snippet, it made the cat scenes very much of a challenge for her. The other thing is, of course, her performance as Ramona, which, I strongly believe, was much better than Sarah Polley’s performance in the 1988 PBS series by that name. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-juvenile-actors-actresses/612511/2 "2012-02-11T20:10:51Z")
Chloe Moretz, from Kick-Ass. She was good through the whole film, but it was when it seemed like she was actually defeated that her performance really won me over. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-juvenile-actors-actresses/612511/3 "2012-02-11T23:06:02Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Chloe Moretz, from Kick-Ass. Good choice. I do think that a young Natalie Portman was great in _Leon_ as well. ---
**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-juvenile-actors-actresses/612511/4 "2012-02-12T00:01:54Z")
Thanks for the responses! Of what Joey did outside of _Ramona_, before or after, what would you recommend? ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-juvenile-actors-actresses/612511/5 "2012-02-12T08:20:33Z")
I’ve been on a Brit movie/old movie kick lately. John Howard Davies - [The Rocking Horse Winner](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042898/) Gordon Gebert - [Holiday Affair](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041473/) Jonathan Ashmore - [A Kid For Two Farthings](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048250/) The best thing about all 3? All them went on to “normal” careers. Gebert is a City College architecture professor, Ashmore made that one film and is now a biophysics professor in London and Davies got out of the acting end of things and became a director/producer things such as _Steptoe and Son_, early _Monty Python_, and _Fawlty Towers_ (apparently it was his idea to cast Prunella Scales as Sybil Fawlty). UT ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-juvenile-actors-actresses/612511/6 "2012-02-12T20:15:49Z")
In my opinion, the greatest acting job ever done by a juvenile was… Hugh O’Conor as the young Christie Browne in _ **My Left Foot.** _ O’Conor was at LEAST as good as Daniel Day-Lewis himself. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-juvenile-actors-actresses/612511/7 "2012-02-12T20:31:10Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Chloe Moretz, from Kick-Ass. She was good through the whole film, but it was when it seemed like she was actually defeated that her performance really won me over. Seconded. Also, Tatum O’Neal was terrific in _Paper Moon_ (“I want my two hundred dollars!”), Jodie Foster likewise in the original _Freaky Friday_, and Lindsay Lohan was cute enough you just wanted to put her in your pocket in the _Parent Trap_ remake. Nowadays… not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-juvenile-actors-actresses/612511/8 "2012-02-12T23:42:25Z")
The best performance by a child actor I ever saw was that of Linda Manz in Terence Malick’s _Days of Heaven_. Really. Her voice-over narration was the thread that tied the whole movie together. It’s her (her character’s) story way more than that of the ostensible main characters. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-juvenile-actors-actresses/612511/9 "2012-02-13T00:42:36Z")
I kinda like Jenette McCurdy, aka Sam on _iCarly_. Funnier than hell. Miranda Cosgrove (Carly) had the most wicked comic timing as the evil little sister on _Josh and Drake_, but playing the straight man role on _iCarly_, doesn’t get as much chance to exercise it. Pity. Also both are (I can say this now that they are of age) really good lookin’. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-juvenile-actors-actresses/612511/10 "2012-02-13T01:43:31Z")
Elijah Wood was amazing in his child and teen roles, especially in _Radio Flyer_. I think Bailee Madison is going to go places. And AnnaSophia Robb is impressive too. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-juvenile-actors-actresses/612511/11 "2012-02-13T02:45:15Z")
My current favorites are both young men: [Will Shadley](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2624166/) from Dirty Sexy Money, and most recently on Alcatraz, and [Ryan Wynott](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2462217/) from Flashforward/The Cape. As for the young ladies, I’d love to see [Ariel Gade](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1262166/) (Invasion) and [Aryana Engineer](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2954597/) (Orphan) in more. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-juvenile-actors-actresses/612511/12 "2012-02-13T04:39:15Z")
Gah, I am becoming a one-trick pony lately. This is the third time in a week that I’ve mentioned _The Middle_. But it’s a good show, dammit! And the two older kids **Charlie McDermott** (Axel) nd **Eden Sher** (Sue) are just terrific. They’re not afraid to do anything and they’re very expressive. McDermott is walking around in nothing but boxers half the time and Sher’s character is both enthusiastic and unfortunate. Those kids just astound me, I think even more than **Nolan Gould** (Luke) from Modern Family. ETA: Ok so those two actors are 20 and 21. So…retract my votes :-/ ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-juvenile-actors-actresses/612511/13 "2012-02-14T21:33:04Z")
She’ll turn 18 in a few months, so she’s not a juvenile anymore, but I’ve liked [Saoirse Ronan](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1519680/) in everything I’ve seen her in. That most recently includes **Hanna** , **The Lovely Bones** , and **City of Ember**.