# Non-annoying child actors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481 "2014-06-10T16:13:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/21 "2014-06-10T21:57:42Z")
Christina Ricci! Also the kid who plays Carl on The Walking Dead. Obviously his actions, as scripted by the writers, are annoying as hell, but his acting is fine. ---
**Author:** ![danhanegan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb9ed0/32.png) [@danhanegan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danhanegan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/22 "2014-06-10T22:04:45Z")
Max Pirkis as Octavian in Rome, the HBO series. I could completely picture this kid growing up to dominate the known world. To be fair, he was apparently 15 or so when it was shot, a bit on the old side to call a child. But damn, he was scary. He was also good as midshipman Blakeney in Master and Commander. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/23 "2014-06-10T22:05:53Z")
Wil Wheaton was great on Star Trek. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/24 "2014-06-10T22:44:12Z")
Kaitlyn Dever, _Justified._ She’s on Tim Allen’s sitcom now, never watched it, but she really impressed me. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/25 "2014-06-10T23:32:29Z")
The actress who played Liesel in The Book Thief wasn’t annoying. To me. I suppose she could have been to someone else. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/26 "2014-06-11T01:00:19Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Similarly, Margaret O’Brien in “Meet Me In St. Louis.” Only if you don’t watch her lips. She produced so many “pouty” mouths, at times she looked like a duck. > [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Wil Wheaton was great on Star Trek. Uh-oh. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/27 "2014-06-11T02:03:37Z")
The majority of the Our Gang (Little Rascals) kids were not annoying, but just natural. Which was Hal Roach’s intention all along. People who have no clue sometimes seize upon the fact that Roach turned Shirley Temple down when she auditioned for the Gang. But he knew exactly what he was doing. Shirley was undeniably talented, but Roach wanted nothing to do with child actors who practically screamed “Look how cute I’m being” with their every move. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/28 "2014-06-11T02:36:59Z")
David Rawle makes Moone Boy, and his co-star Ian O’Reilly is a scene stealer. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/29 "2014-06-11T02:42:50Z")
Maisie Williams. She’s simply amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/30 "2014-06-11T03:36:39Z")
The little girl in Baron Munchausen. Yeah, she screamed a little too often – but, damn, she had every right! She was face-to-face with the Angel of Death! I thought she was more likeable than most child actors, and I admired her performance. (Looked it up; unless I misread the entry, the character was Sally Salt, and the actress was Sarah Polley.) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/31 "2014-06-11T03:52:10Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I liked Fred Savage in The Wonder Years, and his brother Ben in Boy Meets World. I dunno. I read a post here on the SDMB that, by the last couple of seasons of _Boy Meets World_, William Russ was ONLY doing it for the paycheck. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/32 "2014-06-11T04:22:02Z")
I thought Susan Melvin, who played a non-spoiled child heiress in [this episode of Route 66](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0690439/combined), did a good job. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/33 "2014-06-11T05:04:57Z")
> [@Anamorphic](#): > > I think most child actors are annoying simply because they’re usually not very good actors, and when they try, they just come across as cloying. > > I don’t know her name, but watching the new season of Louie, I am absolutely shocked at how good the actress playing Louie’s youngest daughter is. She is just so incredibly natural, playing some pretty difficult scenes. > > Okay, I just looked her up… her name is Ursula Parker. First one that came to my mind, as well. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/34 "2014-06-11T06:37:08Z")
I had a big crush on Danielle Brisebois when I was a kid. She was Stephanie on All in the Family. I didn’t really like “kids shows” when I was a child…I watched Barney Miller, Benson, Cheers, and Taxi. So I was happy to see a show with a kid who interacted with adults in a mature show…not just mugging for the camera like Gary Coleman. ---
**Author:** ![Victor\_Charlie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7ea924/32.png) [@Victor\_Charlie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victor_Charlie)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/35 "2014-06-11T08:13:31Z")
Aubrey Anderson-Emmons plays Lily on Modern Family. I think she’s pretty hilarious at times. The young Anna Paquin was far from annoying, and not just because she also won an Oscar. ---
**Author:** ![Victor\_Charlie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7ea924/32.png) [@Victor\_Charlie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victor_Charlie)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/36 "2014-06-11T08:16:52Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Kieran Shipka has played a perfect little bitch (“Just Like Mommy, Kids!”) some of the time but she’s such a fine actress at such a young age that I can’t find her annoying in any way. She’s growing into a real beauty with more chops than January Jones will collect in her lifetime. > > Wait… can I list January Jones, who doesn’t seem to have ever grown into adulthood anyway? To each his own, of course, but I would put Kieran (or a least her character) on the most annoying list. I cringe whenever she shows up. The best episodes have no trace of Don’s first family. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/37 "2014-06-11T13:29:43Z")
Thomas Brodie-Sangster was born in 1990, so he was not quite a child when he appeared in the “Human Nature/Family of Blood” episodes on _Doctor Who_. But he’d had a considerable career by then–and I doubt he’s ever been annoying unless a role demands it. (As Jojen Reed in _Game of Thrones_, he’s still looking younger than his years.) ---
**Author:** ![CheshireKat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheshirekat/32/1207_2.png) [@CheshireKat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheshireKat)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/38 "2014-06-11T13:58:28Z")
Reese Witherspoon in her first movie, _The Man in the Moon_. She was 15, playing a 12-year-old - awesome performance, imo. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/39 "2014-06-11T14:13:31Z")
Neil Patrick Harris as Doogie Howser MD gets my vote. Not only an amazing child actor, but an amazing adult actor. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481/40 "2014-06-11T14:16:08Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Thomas Brodie-Sangster was born in 1990, so he was not quite a child when he appeared in the “Human Nature/Family of Blood” episodes on _Doctor Who_. But he’d had a considerable career by then–and I doubt he’s ever been annoying unless a role demands it. > > (As Jojen Reed in _Game of Thrones_, he’s still looking younger than his years.) He did a pretty passable Paul McCartney in _Nowhere Boy_ as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-annoying-child-actors/690481.md?page=3)