# 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:** 5
**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, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/81 "2012-12-14T00:17:47Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > The little girl in _Forbidden Games_ is the best I’ve ever seen in a movie, and there’s another French movie – forgot the title – starring a four-year-old whose mother dies. The title of the movie is the little girl’s name. Anyone know it? [**Ponette**](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117359/) Speaking of foreign language films, Ana Torrent was absolutely sublime in the 70s Spanish masterpieces _The Spirit of the Beehive_ and _Cria Cuervos_. She has grown up to be a beautiful actress, too. ---
**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, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/82 "2012-12-14T00:21:40Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Jake Lloyd > > [/thread] > > His acting in “The Phantom Menace” was so wooden, some people called him “Mannequin Skywalker.” He wasn’t too bad in “Jingle All the Way,” though. As terrible as Lloyd was, I didn’t remember that nickname getting traction until Hayden Christensen took over the role. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/83 "2012-12-14T00:40:19Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Jodie Foster in The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane gave me nightmares. Best Performance Ever. Me too. I also remember a movie in which she played a child prostitute that has stuck with me forever, except the title, doh! Chloe Moretz reminds of her in a way, perhaps because she also played a child doing very adult things but still believably being a child, in Kick-Ass. Christian Bale turned in one of the best performances of any age ever in Empire of the Sun. Worst is hard to think of because I tend to be forgiving of kids failing at something that a lot of grown-ups also fail at. I can’t even fault Jake Lloyd, given that the adult actors were at least as bad in that movie. ---
**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 14, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/84 "2012-12-14T00:43:38Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Me too. I also remember a movie in which she played a child prostitute that has stuck with me forever, except the title, doh! _Taxi Driver._ DeNiro, Scorsese. “You talkin’ t’me?” :dubious: ---
**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, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/85 "2012-12-14T01:01:04Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > The worst child actors are pretty much anyone on the disney channel. It’s the _Saved By the Bell_ school of dramatic arts method. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/86 "2012-12-14T01:02:35Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > It’s the _Saved By the Bell_ school of dramatic arts method. Speaking of Hayley Mills… ---
**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 14, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/87 "2012-12-14T01:15:56Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > … Christian Bale turned in one of the best performances of any age ever in Empire of the Sun. … I’d forgotten about that – absolutely brilliant movie, yet doesn’t seem to get nearly as much attention as many of Spielberg’s other movies. And yes, Bale is tremendous as a kid running wild in a WWII Japanese internment camp. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/88 "2012-12-14T01:35:58Z")
> [@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). > > ["The Twilight Zone" The Bewitchin' Pool (TV Episode 1964) - Trivia - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734631/trivia) > > It was also the very last show of the series. > [@terentii](#): > > Not to mention Rocky the Flying Squirrel, and most (if not all) of the female voices in the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons. She also was one of the main female voice actresses in the old Warner Brothers cartoons, playing Granny and Witch Hazel. She still is active today, still playing Granny on the new Looney Tunes show, as well as doing voice work on the CGI Garfield cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/89 "2012-12-14T04:08:28Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > _Taxi Driver._ DeNiro, Scorsese. “You talkin’ t’me?” :dubious: No, I meant the other movie in which she played a child prostitute. Grew up in a brothel, nerdy man married her when she was about 12. Even as a kid I wondered what her parents were thinking, putting her in those roles… ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/90 "2012-12-14T04:15:14Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Even as a kid I wondered what her parents were thinking, putting her in those roles… I seem to remember that Jodie Foster has been long estranged from her entire family, and a few years ago, her brother (in a shameless bid to cash in on his sister’s fame) wrote a book “outing her” as a lesbian and as having severe, chronically untreated bi-polar disorder… ---
**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 14, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/91 "2012-12-14T04:48:09Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > No, I meant the other movie in which she played a child prostitute. Grew up in a brothel, nerdy man married her when she was about 12. > > Even as a kid I wondered what her parents were thinking, putting her in those roles… You’re sure it was Jodie Foster, and not Brooke Shields? 😕 > **[Pretty Baby (1978 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Baby_(1978_film))** > > Pretty Baby is a 1978 American historical drama film directed by Louis Malle, written by Polly Platt, and starring Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, and Susan Sarandon. Set in 1917, it focuses on a 12-year-old girl being raised in a brothel in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans, by her prostitute mother. Barbara Steele, Diana Scarwid, and Antonio Fargas appear in supporting roles. The film is based on the true account of a young girl who was sexually exploited by being forced int... ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/92 "2012-12-14T05:04:26Z")
Great: the kids in _Stand By Me_, particularly River Phoenix Bad: the little screamy girl in _War of the Worlds_ (Dakota Fanning) ---
**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 14, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/93 "2012-12-14T05:11:27Z")
Have I missed it, or has no one yet mentioned Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher? I swear, I wanted to throw him out an airlock the first time he appeared in ST: TNG! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/94 "2012-12-14T05:12:59Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > You’re sure it was Jodie Foster, and not Brooke Shields? 😕 > > [Pretty Baby (1978 film) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Baby_(1978_film)) Apparently Diane Lane was up for that role as well as _Blue Lagoon_ at a later age, beaten out twice by Shields. Lane is kinda interesting because IMO she’s an example of a so-so child and young adult actor who gradually became better at her craft as she aged and continued to work steadily. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/95 "2012-12-14T05:33:28Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > You’re sure it was Jodie Foster, and not Brooke Shields? 😕 > > [Pretty Baby (1978 film) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Baby_(1978_film)) I think you’re right and I was misremembering. And now I also wonder what brooke shields’ parents had against her growing up as a normal kid. ---
**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 14, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/96 "2012-12-14T05:38:38Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I think you’re right and I was misremembering. And now I also wonder what brooke shields’ parents had against her growing up as a normal kid. IIRC, she had a very demanding mother who basically pushed her into show business. If you look around on YouTube, e.g., you might find some interviews with them from the '70s. If not, look for the sketch on SCTV where Rick Moranis played her mother opposite Catherine O’Hara as Brooke. Bob Guccione was, BTW, one of the first to take advantage of Brooke’s “exposure” in _Pretty Baby_, if I’m not mistaken. ---
**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 14, 2012, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/97 "2012-12-14T08:27:10Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/wu7EP2Uk1vk/maxresdefault.jpg "Brooke & Terri Shields RARE Interview at Xenon with Bill Boggs") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu7EP2Uk1vk) [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0mLHiXkM0c) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/98 "2012-12-14T10:53:54Z")
Dakota Fanning was pretty good in _Taken_, in part because she already looked like an alien child. But it was a pretty heavy role and she managed it well. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/99 "2012-12-15T19:21:51Z")
I second Hayley Mills & Lindsay Lohan. My other favorite is [Gordon Gebert](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0311357/), who played Janet Leigh’s son in the 1949 movie [Holiday Affair](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041473/). He’s one of the most natural child actors I’ve ever seen in a film. UT ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811/100 "2012-12-15T19:34:05Z")
I just watched “Tenth Avenue Angel” (1948) and was very impressed by young Margaret O’Brien. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-and-worse-child-actors-movies-and-or-tv/643811.md?page=6)