Yeah, it doesn’t survive the test of time.
Well, yes, but it was also Mara Wilson. Natalie Wood was in the original; Mara Wilson was in the remake they did in the nineties.
Depends what you mean by most fakous, and by what you mean as child actor. And what age group you’re asking.
Eg, Leonardo Di Caprio is by far one of the most famous actors in the world. He started acting (with regular roles) as a child.
Daniel Radcliffe was also definitely one of the most famous child actors, but he’s still acting - mostly indie stuff, but he’s doing well.
But I don’t think that’s what you mean - you mean someone who was famous as a child actor, and everything else since has eclipsed that.
Shirley Temple was HUGE.
Macaulay Culkin was HUGE. He made way fewer movies; the turnaround for movies was different when he was acting.
I very much doubt anyone under 30 would have a single clue who Shirley Temple was.
Definitely not outside the US. Leave it to Beaver is something I knew of vaguely from mentions on TV shows and online.
Never heard of Mara Wilson, and the only remake I know of had Sebastian Cabot as Kris Kringle.
Same. 48 and have never seen a Temple movie in full (I have seen clips) but, when I saw the thread title, my first thought was “Shirley Temple”. So I’m voting for her.
Man didn’t you guys have endless black and white re-runs on Saturdays when you were little kids back in the day 
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I’m only a few years older but I’ve probably seen most of the Abbott & Costello movies, quite a few Shirley Temple flicks, a ton of Little Rascals and Three Stooges shorts, even a few Laurel and Hardy films (I wasn’t a fan as a kid - Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein was more my speed). Ah, well - I guess it is all just tears in the rain now 
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Yeah, but I also had Svengoolie showing me Godzilla vs The Smog Monster on Saturdays. Miss Temple didn’t stand a chance.
Going on overall career accomplishments, Judy Garland would be the most “famous” in this regard. If were talking strictly the most famous child actor, then it would be Shirley Temple
Hmmm…Little Miss Marker vs. Destroy All Monsters…
Yeah, a good point well made 
. I would have made the same choice. Though somehow I managed to squeeze in all of the above, which may speak more to my unhealthy obsession with the tube back then than anything else.
Same here, a year younger. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Shirley Temple movie, but she’s the quintessential child actor to me. McCauley Culkin? Dunno. He was in the sweet spot of my generation but I’m not sure if I’d happen upon him. I thought of Drew Barrymore first for my cohort.
I’m going with this, using the ‘added accomplishment’ benchmark for most famous. He started early, and has never not been famous.
Sure, Shirley Temple was a ‘bigger’ star, but she more or less dropped out of the public eye after a while (unless you were really looking for her). Same with Rooney and a few others.
But Howard started out as Opie, moved on to Happy Days, then went behind the camera and has a long list of very successful movies ever since. He is a fame juggernaut.
Jackie Coogan was the first one that came to mind, along with Shirley Temple. Macaulay Culkin is in the top five, I’d think.
Willfully abusing the ambiguity in the op, I nominate Bruce Lee. While not famous as a child actor, his subsequent worldwide fame has arguably far eclipsed that of any other child actor.
Christian Bale, Drew Barrymore, Jackie Chan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Roddy McDowell and Mickey Rooney might also be in play if “famous” is defined in terms of a sustained acting career.
Re: Ron Howard - I have long thought that his brother Clint had the real acting talent in the family.
Jackie Coogan was HUGE. Thousands would cram the streets of cities in much of the world to catch a glimpse of him. And he was of a very different era (famous from 1920 to 1928) than Shirley Temple (famous from 1933 to 1941).
If the members of the OP’s family who are arguing for Macaulay Culkin are younger Generation X or Millennials, I would imagine that Culkin is just far more relevant to them than Shirley Temple or any other child actor from previous eras, whose work the younger family members just aren’t familiar with, and whose names they might not even recognize – or, in the cases of actors like Ron Howard, Natalie Wood, or Elizabeth Taylor, they may not realize that they were well-known child actors first.
Home Alone was a huge hit, and made Culkin into a household name for a few years. He made several other well-known movies as a child actor (Uncle Buck, My Girl, Home Alone 2, etc.), but it’s really that first Home Alone film that he’s known for.
Culkin had that one iconic film role, but his moment of real, widespread fame was pretty short-lived, compared to, for example, Shirley Temple (who I think is the best answer to the question, if all eras of film are considered).
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. I know him from that movie because the whole plot hinges on his selling the winning lottery ticket to Humphrey Bogart. I don’t remember him being in anything else before Beretta.
This board skews old. We are overwhelmingly over 40 here. The under 30s would all know Miley as they are of her generation, and likely won’t know Shirley Temple. The tweens even less so for either, of course, and that will only continue. In 90 years, none of the names we are listing will be remembered.
How sexist to not mention Darla…
Shirley Temple is well-known today, 90 years after the peak of per popularity. I share @terentii’s belief that Miley Cyrus will not have as much cultural relevance, though we could be wrong.
You are probably correct that in another 90 years Shirley Temple will not be well known, but that’s not the point that was made.
I have also never seen a Shirley Temple movie, but I have seen clips and recognize her and have enjoyed her eponymous soft drink.
My first thought was Macaulay Culkin, because he was the famous child actor from my childhood. But the child actor from my grandparent’s time that I know of despite never even seeing her movies is clearly the correct answer.
It’s maybe the first time in history that these two names were used in the same sentence, but the circumstances demand that I speak of Shirley Temple and Gary Coleman.