Most TV shows with characters in high school have adult actors play the kids. I’m wondering what examples are out there of shows where an actual teenager was given the role.
I can think of a couple examples from my own childhood where child actors who were already famous were given their own TV show: the Olsen twins were given their own show when they were still minors, and I think Amanda Bynes starred in a show while she was still a minor. Only other example I can think of is how Mila Kunis lied about her age to get the role of Jackie on That 70s Show.
IIRC, Sally Field was 15 when she was cast in Gidget. Patty Duke was 17 when she got her own show.
Pretty sure that most of the Nickelodeon & Disney Channel kid’s show circuit had teens playing teens. Your Jamie Lynn Spears and Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato and the rest of the “give them a show and an album” people.
Putting adults into the roles seems like more of a prime-time deal, maybe because they’re looking for more experienced actors or dealing with more “mature” content than you get from the kids channels.
On Saved By The Bell, they were teens. They were a few years older than their characters, other than Screech, who was a few years younger than his co-stars, but they were still teens.
It’s done, to my understanding, for two main reasons. Older actors, are a little easier to work with. Trying to get a group of 19 year olds to do what you want is going to be easier than trying to get a group of 14 year olds to do the same thing.
Also, when the principal actors are older than all the background actors/extras it makes them stand out so you don’t lose them in a sea of high school students walking behind them.
Four of the five kids in this series were minors: Barbara Hershey, the Schultz Brothers, and Tammy Locke.
FUN FACT: IIRC, this was the first TV show ever to feature real twins playing twins.
Another reason is that minors can only work so many hours a day and also require on-set tutors.
I think it’s also easier from a schooling and labor standpoint. And working with the unions. But, yeah, the finished product on even a CW “teen” drama is a lot more polished than what you get from Nickelodeon at 4:00 in the afternoon.
Aidan Gallagher, who plays the hard-bitten, perpetually thirteen-year-old Number Five on The Umbrella Academy, just turned 17 last week.
Looks like KJ Apa — “Archie” — was a teen during the first season of RIVERDALE.
There is, of course, a Trope for this. Specifically the “Exceptions” folder.
Claire Danes really was 15 when she starred in My So-Called Life. The actors playing her friends were older, but she was genuinely the age of the character she played.
Valerie Bertinelli and Mackenzie Phillips were really 15 & 16 when One Day at a Time premiered in 1975. I think those were the ages the characters were supposed to be. Bertinelli may have been a year older than her character, but she was a real teenager.
link isn’t working for me…
A couple of obvious examples: Fred Savage was 13 when he was cast as Kevin Arnold in The Wonder Years. And Neil Patrick Harris was 16 when he first played Doogie Howser, M. D.
TV Tropes seems to be having trouble with their site. Give 'em a bit.
Down Right Now
tvtropes.org - Television Tropes
Server is down. Last checked 2 secs ago.
Christina Applegate was fifteen and David Faustino was thirteen in the first season of Married … with Children.
Sean Giambrone - Adam Goldberg on The Goldbergs - started when he was 14. I do believe he has always played a character younger than himself, though not much younger. He’s 21 now and the character is a senior in high school. I forget if the character was in high school when they began, or not.
Frankie Muniz was 14 at the beginning of Malcolm in the Middle, the older brother Reese (Justin Berfield) was also 14, and the younger brother Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan) was 9.
The boys in Home Improvement were very similar ages to their characters. I think the eldest brother might actually have been playing a role older than he was in reality.
The three kids on Everybody Hates Chris were 13-14 when the show began (2005-2009).
The four kids on Black-ish were 14, 14, 10 and 10 when their show began (2014). I do believe the characters are the same age as the actors, as the two oldest have graduated. The two youngest may be playing a little younger.
The three kids on Fresh Off The Boat were 12, 11 and 9 when their show began (2015). Hudson Yang was a senior in high school in the just-completed season the show and he’ll only be 17 this October.
I’m getting the idea that sitcom kids are more often kids. Teens in drama, especially high school teens in dramas, are more likely to be played by 18+ year olds.
Which makes some sense. Hard to find an 18 year old to convincingly play the 12 year old precocious genius in your family sitcom.