# The best and worse child actors (movies and/or TV) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2012, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811 "2012-12-12T07:26:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/61 "2012-12-13T02:53:16Z")
I’m gonna suggest the little-known Nicholas Hoult for best child actor performance in the equally little-known movie _About a Boy_. Nicholas is the boy, but Hugh Grant is another adult boy who plays a completely self-absorbed trust fund baby who’s never worked a day in his life. In the process of screwing his way through every single mom in town, he encounters Nicholas and his mom, and Nicholas will not let him get away with his bullshit. It’s really a remarkable performance, and IMHO the best ever by Grant, though like some other roles here, doesn’t seem to be a stretch at all. ---
**Author:** ![Doody\_Pants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@Doody\_Pants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doody_Pants)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/62 "2012-12-13T03:19:38Z")
Miko Hughes wasn’t great in Pet Sematary, but to be fair he was only about 3 years old. I like that movie a lot, but I wish they would have used a slightly older boy who was a better actor and didn’t look directly into the camera. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/63 "2012-12-13T03:31:37Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > In general, I have to say that today’s child actors are head and shoulders above those of yesteryear, when just being able to recite the lines seemed to be good enough. Neil Patrick Harris would like to have a word with you. > [@Barney Stinson](#): > > Call me crazy, but child actors were way better in the '80s. I remember Jodie Foster as being a great actor as a child, but maybe my memory is clouded because of her success as an adult. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/64 "2012-12-13T03:35:28Z")
another vote for King Joffrey. the kid with the smirk in every scene of Once Upon a Time is rather bad. ---
**Author:** ![alphamatix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@alphamatix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphamatix)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/65 "2012-12-13T03:46:24Z")
The girl who played the eldest daughter on the tv show Medium, Sofia Vassilieva, is an amazing actress IMO. There was at least one episode where her character is prominent and I’ve also seen her in other roles outside of Medium and she’s always remarkable to me. ---
**Author:** ![jehan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f6c823/32.png) [@jehan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jehan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/66 "2012-12-13T03:49:48Z")
The Greenbush twins (who played Carrie on Little House on the Prairie) were dreadful. They couldn’t do much except fall over. I think the show recognized their limited capabilities- they had to bring in new unrelated kids to keep the stories going as they got older. ---
**Author:** ![ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/67 "2012-12-13T03:49:56Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > The kid who plays King Joffrey on _Game of Thrones_. Great acting – I want that little bastard king to die very slowly and painfully. I agree but he’s hardly a child actor. Jack Gleeson was 18 when principle photography began. Maisie Williams (Arya) was 13 and Sophie Turner (Sansa) was 14. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/68 "2012-12-13T04:04:02Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Another vote for Manny from **Modern Family** as the worst. I cringe watching him butcher his great lines. The other kid his age blows him out of the water. Ariel Winter is tremendous. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2012, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/69 "2012-12-13T04:45:01Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > I’m fairly certain they overdubbed the girl’s voice, giving her performance an unnatural vibe. It was on METV recently, and of course the voice was easily recognizable (to me) as that of June Foray (who also did Talking Tina, the evil doll). > **["The Twilight Zone" The Bewitchin' Pool (TV Episode 1964) - Trivia - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734631/trivia/)** > > "The Twilight Zone" The Bewitchin' Pool (TV Episode 1964) - Trivia on IMDb: Cameos, Mistakes, Spoilers and more... > [@](#): > > There was noise interference on the MGM back-lot during the pool sequences, and everyone had to be called back for post-dubbing, but actress Mary Badham wasn’t available. June Foray was brought in to dub her lines. It was a “sloppy” job, and Rod Serling knew it. It was held until the very end of the season as the “final” show (where, it was figured, most people wouldn’t notice, having tuned out of the series). It was also the very last show of the series. Also, the name of Mary’s character is “Sport”, and the boy’s name is “Jeb”! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/70 "2012-12-13T04:53:38Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > It was on METV recently, and of course the voice was easily recognizable (to me) as that of June Foray (who also did Talking Tina, the evil doll). Not to mention Rocky the Flying Squirrel, and most (if not all) of the female voices in the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/71 "2012-12-13T04:59:25Z")
I remember the _Dondi_ comic strip, though I don’t recall ever reading it; the movie was slammed in Medvedev and Dreyfus’s _The Fifty Worst Films of All Time_, with the kid being named the worst child star ever, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/72 "2012-12-13T05:04:14Z")
Some of thse replies have stretched the age requirement for child actor, so perhqps i should set a limit. I’m thinking the 13 and below crowd (most likely the pre-pubescent crowd) as a good age group, but use your own judgement. Ok, my second good and bad nominations Good (well great, IMO) would be Tatum O’Neal, who I did not see mentioned in the thread. Apologies if this is a duplicate. Her acting in Paper Moon was Oscar worthy. I also second or third Haley Mills. The original Parent Trap was when i first saw her, and she was great in it. And that movie has held up well, primarily because of her acting. The worst goes to a three headed monster known as the two youngest children on the Partridge family. Suzanne Crough as Tracy Partridge -truly awful. It’s hard to pick on children so young, but she never improved during the shows entire run. I saw her interviewed on one of those “where are they now” type shows, and she was as bad an interview as she was an “actress”. Brian Foster as Chris Partridge, who replaced the god-awful Jeremy Gelbwaks, the first Chris after the first season. My favorite note from IMDB says that Jeremy was replaced after his father got a job that moved the family out of California. ABC did not receive one letter of complaint about the change. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sally\_Mander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@Sally\_Mander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sally_Mander)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/73 "2012-12-13T05:36:51Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > the kid with the smirk in every scene of Once Upon a Time is rather bad. He’s not that bad, but someone needs to tell him to stop smirking. Conversely, [Bailee Madison](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1933128/), the young actress who played a young Snow White in an episode or two was wonderful. She absolutely nailed the older actress’s mannerisms and facial expressions. Looking at her IMDB page, she’s got quite an impressive resume already. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/74 "2012-12-13T06:18:21Z")
> [@Rollo\_Tomasi](#): > > My favorite one is recent years was Saoirse Ronan in **Atonement**. And she really kicked ass in the movie “ **Hanna** ”. Just a great actress. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/75 "2012-12-13T14:23:45Z")
I thought of a bad one: that kid who was in the Terminator movie. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/76 "2012-12-13T21:01:49Z")
Jodie Foster in The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane gave me nightmares. Best Performance Ever. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/77 "2012-12-13T21:41:52Z")
I just read Patty Duke’s autobiography, and she says the slapping in the dining room scene of the Miracle Worker was quite real. She said how difficult it was to not tense up when you knew it was coming and there was a time she had her jaw clenched and ended up getting part of a tooth chipped off! There were 719 performances of the play, so that meant she got slapped over 1400 times. Interesting read. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/78 "2012-12-13T22:25:47Z")
The twins that played Carrie Ingalls on _Little House on the Prairie_ were so bad, the Ingalls had to adopt the totally fictional Albert, James, and Cassandra just so the scripts could push non-fictional Carrie into the background where no one could find her. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/79 "2012-12-14T00:04:07Z")
Bad: Jerry Mathers Good: Patty Duke Tatum O’Neal: Nobody loves _Paper Moon_ any more than I do. I’ve seen it dozens of times, one of my very favorite films. However, everything I’ve read or heard about the making of this movie strongly suggests that director Bogdanovich should have gotten the Oscar for painstakingly walking a wooden non-actor child step-by-step through what ended up looking like good performance. Directing in the most literal sense. Her subsequent roles support this notion, IMO. Not that I care- it’s a perfect little movie, and however it was accomplished, Tatum was wonderful onscreen. As was her father- PM is IMO the only good performance (great, actually) of his career. Only opinions- I reserve the right to be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/80 "2012-12-14T00:05:49Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > But better still than either Fanning is Hailee Steinfeld, of “True Grit” fame. She was so amazing in that movie that it’s easy to remember she was only 13 years old when they filmed it. She was in a movie with Jeff Daniels, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin all putting in fantastic performances, and she outacted them all. Jeff Bridges, not Daniels. But an excellent recent example. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811.md?page=5)