# Hey, let's be needlessly cruel: Shitty, no-talent child actors! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2007, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-lets-be-needlessly-cruel-shitty-no-talent-child-actors/406677 "2007-06-04T08:36:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-lets-be-needlessly-cruel-shitty-no-talent-child-actors/406677/81 "2007-06-05T16:51:04Z")
[QUOTE=SaharaTea] I can’t believe no one’s mentioned her yet - Raven-Symone’s portrayal of Olivia on the \*\*Cosby Show \*\* made we want to strangle her cutesy little neck. Her character practically ruined the show - a shame, since all the other kids were good actors. [/QUOTE] Funny you should say that. I remember seeing a special about the Cosby Show (on Nick at Nite, probably) where they all talked about how great Raven Symone was. They said that even at her young age, she understood what her role was better than Rudy had. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-lets-be-needlessly-cruel-shitty-no-talent-child-actors/406677/82 "2007-06-05T17:02:33Z")
[QUOTE=Lord Ashtar] Funny you should say that. I remember seeing a special about the Cosby Show (on Nick at Nite, probably) where they all talked about how great Raven Symone was. They said that even at her young age, she understood what her role was better than Rudy had. [/QUOTE] Rudy was great because she acted like a real kid. Olivia was nothing more than a trained seal who spouted off cheesy lines intended to draw “Awwwws!” from the audience. She was just like those damn \*Full House \* twins. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-lets-be-needlessly-cruel-shitty-no-talent-child-actors/406677/83 "2007-06-05T17:05:43Z")
[QUOTE=Shirley Ujest] I have to add that the entire cast of **Facts of Life** was just plain awful. [/QUOTE] For some reason I remembered this show as one of the best on television from when I was a kid with some of the best scripts and plots and all that. Then it was off the air for many years and I didn’t see it again until the early 2000s and when I did it was a case of “Jesu talkin’ bout, what was I thinking? This is awful!” ## Speaking of _Facts_, would Molly Ringwald count as a child actor? If so I nominate her. She amazingly went from _Facts of Life_ to _Breakfast Club_ and _Pretty in Pink_ and the stage version of _Cabaret_ and lesser vehicles without ever changing expression or persona. Bob Newhart once said in an interview “I worked with some child actors. On one project. I got to meet their mothers too. Yep. There’s a reason that every character I played on TV was sterile.” ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-lets-be-needlessly-cruel-shitty-no-talent-child-actors/406677/84 "2007-06-05T17:42:54Z")
Of course this whole thread reminds me of the “WE LOVED BEING CHILD STARS {On Your Television}” video at the end of Dickie Roberts. In case there’s anybody who hasn’t seen it, it can be seen with all it’s [NOT SAFE FOR WORK LANGUAGE here](http://youtube.com/watch?v=SOzsFpq7XSM). (I never would have recognized some, such as Rodney Allen “Jack in the Box” Rippy and Jay “Dennis the Menace” North- pity they didn’t have the “My baloney has a first name” kid.) It’s the only reason to see the movie, but the audio commentary is interesting. The producer mentions that “if this were 1975 this video would have cost $40 million to hire these guys”, and his story of how he got Maureen McCormick and her TV brothers was cool. He ran into Florence Henderson, told her the story of the video as he envisioned it (including Marcia using the F word) and asked if Florence thought there was any chance the Brady kids would go for that. Florence said “I think they’d _love_ it! But to be sure, we can ask them.” He thought she meant through their agents, but that’s when she took out her cell phone and pushed their speed dial numbers. (Ironically the song includes the line “Our co-stars are not on our speed dials so please don’t ask!”) ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-lets-be-needlessly-cruel-shitty-no-talent-child-actors/406677/85 "2007-06-05T18:53:35Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] Edward Furlong was one of the whiniest performances I’ve ever seen in _Terminator 2_, and the reason Brad Renfro gave a natural performance in _The Client_ was he wasn’t acting: he’s sucked in almost everything else. [/QUOTE] I think Edward Furlong is a pretty good actor. He did well in _Pecker_ and that movie with Richard Gere. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-lets-be-needlessly-cruel-shitty-no-talent-child-actors/406677/86 "2007-06-05T19:30:45Z")
Holy crap! [This](http://badexample.mu.nu/archives/nude%20olsen%20twins.jpg) was on the “troll dolls” link- frankly, it may not be safe for anyone… Is it Photoshop? Or are they ugly AND skanky? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-lets-be-needlessly-cruel-shitty-no-talent-child-actors/406677/87 "2007-06-05T19:53:15Z")
It’s photoshop. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-lets-be-needlessly-cruel-shitty-no-talent-child-actors/406677/88 "2007-06-05T20:25:06Z")
[QUOTE=susan\_foster] Freddie Highmore. (Had to look him up). Wanted to smack him in Finding Neverland. Wanted to smack him in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Susan [/QUOTE] Perhaps- but there is one scene in _Arthur and the Invisibles_ where Highmore’s character Arthur realizes that his parents have missed another of his birthdays, and he assures his grandmother that it’s okay and that he’s “used to it now” as tears roll down his cheeks. It was a great moment. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-lets-be-needlessly-cruel-shitty-no-talent-child-actors/406677/89 "2007-06-05T20:26:07Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] It’s photoshop. [/QUOTE] Thought so- boobies seemed too big… ---
**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:** [June 6, 2007, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-lets-be-needlessly-cruel-shitty-no-talent-child-actors/406677/90 "2007-06-06T00:58:22Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] Agreed. My point was that she is not as bad as **John DiFool** was implying – but that she obviously shows the effects of a long-term smoking habit. Smoking ages your face; no getting around it. [/QUOTE] The one I saw shocked me because of the horrid dark circles around her eyes. The one posted here isn’t that bad, and I am glad that she has managed to patch her life back together. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-lets-be-needlessly-cruel-shitty-no-talent-child-actors/406677/91 "2007-06-06T01:40:47Z")
[QUOTE=Indygrrl] I think Edward Furlong is a pretty good actor. He did well in _Pecker_ and that movie with Richard Gere. [/QUOTE] Edward Furlong and Richard Gere have never been in a movie together. Are you perhaps thinking of Edward Norton? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-lets-be-needlessly-cruel-shitty-no-talent-child-actors/406677.md?page=4)