32 child stars aged like fine wine.
Rising to stardom as a child is an impossible path. Actors often talk about how hard it is to come into their own as adult professionals, especially when they don't look and sound like they did as children.
With that in mind, it is hard to believe that any child star can make the transition to adulthood unscathed. But still. Many stars do, and some even make it look easy. Others have suffered a few setbacks but have gone on to become some of the most successful and beloved public figures of our time (hello, Drew Barrymore). Below are 32 child stars who have aged like fine wine.
At age 15, she became a teen music sensation (...) and starring in "Moesha," to her appearance in the musical drama "Queens" in 2021, to her Broadway debut in "Chicago," Brandy Norwood has aced her 40s without slowing down a bit.
If you really liked "Matilda" and "Mrs. Doubtfire," you liked Mara Wilson. These days, she has made cameo appearances on shows like "Broad City" and (as a voice actor) "Bojack Horseman," as well as writing a memoir.
Arkell, is that you? (I'm tempted to make a joke about that.) In addition to now looking like a fine gentleman and getting closer to his alter ego, Stefan, White continued his acting career and announced the release of his memoir in April 2024.
First of all, I had somehow forgotten that he started his career when he was actually a pre-teen, formerly known as Lil Romeo. Second, Romeo (as he now goes by) continues to work with his father, Master P, as an actor and presenter.
If you are a fan of "Veep," you may not have realized that you have seen Amy (Anna Chlumsky) before. She was the star of "My Girl" and its sequel: but she's the best and please, please, please have her in all TV/movies.
Wait, Ashley Banks is in her 40s (of course, Tatiana Ali has appeared in more than just this show, but this is the role I remember her for). A regular cast member of the rebooted "Bel Air" and a guest star on "Abbott Elementary," Ali was also busy as a child actor.
While most people dream of being Barbie, I dreamed of being Wednesday Adams (not to mention Christina Ricci's character in "Casper"). Among other projects, Ricci recently appeared on Wednesday (a show based on the character she originally played) and Yellowjackets.
Tia and Tamara Mowry defined my 90s television experience thanks to Sister, Sister. More recently, Tia has published several cookbooks and collaborated on a homeware collection titled Spice. by Tia Mowry. She did not stop acting either.
Along with her sister Elle, Dakota Fanning began her career at the young age of five (you may remember her as the little girl who has a heart-to-heart with Joey in "Friends"). The siblings continued their acting careers and founded the production company Lewellen Pictures in 2021.
The lovable lass from "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" has spent her life in the public eye, but continued acting, modeling, and in 2020 began hosting the highly successful "Drew Barrymore Show."
Doogie Howser/Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris as a child and adult, respectively) have been on our TV screens for some time now. He will always and forever be a lewd (and still very hot) parody role in "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" for me.
Frankly, I'm glad my teen idol Kirsten Dunst has grown up and continued to appear in cool movies like "Power of the Dog" and "Civil War". It's wild that she started acting as a kid in "Interview with the Vampire" (and, of course, "Bring It On," which no one will ever forget).
If you didn't know that Ryan Gosling was once a member of the Mickey Mouse Club (and that too at age 13), go look down the rabbit hole for some of his early performances...as a teenager, Ryan never thought he'd get to play Ken in Barbie. I doubt he ever thought he would.
Raven has been on many best-of lists for child actors, but not just in That's So Raven and The Cosby Show. She has also done voice work in "Kim Possible" and other films, become a media personality in "The Masked Diva," and made her Broadway debut in 2013.
The actor from "My So-Called Life" (who rose to fame two years later in "Romeo + Juliet") has gone on to do some very interesting, and in some cases award-winning work: in "Temple Grandin," "Homeland," Fleishman Is in Trouble," among others. I had honestly forgotten how young Hailee Steinfeld was when she starred in [True Grit] (and was nominated for an Academy Award). That makes her subsequent career and transition into a full-fledged adult actor all the more impressive: Pitch Perfect 2, Dickinson, Hawkeye, etc.
Needless to say, Cole Sprouse (and twin Dylan) are still quite young, so it may sound strange to use the word "old" to describe them.
Speaking of young child actors. Jodie Foster was three years old when she appeared in a Coppertone commercial and has been acting ever since; now in her 60s, her return to acting in "Nyad" and "True Detective" is a reminder of how great she still is.
Many child stars struggle to sell adult versions of themselves to audiences. But Miley Cyrus paved the way from teenager Hannah Montana to pop icon who won two Grammy Awards in 2024. (Harry Potter basically grew up in the magical series, but his acting choices since then have been surprising, quirky, and fun (Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, for example). And he has grown into a cool, funny, handsome guy, too.
If you only know Kurt Russell as an adult actor, seeing him as a 12-year-old in "Jamie McFeeters Journey" is an absolute treat. Not surprisingly, Russell has aged considerably, from 80s action superstar to Marvel villain.
If there is a template for how to age gracefully in Hollywood, keep acting, keep people invested in your story, and leverage that fame into business (including investment opportunities and fashion lines), it was once Lizzie McGuire (Hilary Duff).
You have to be a pretty cool person to figure out how to take your acting career from one of the most intense movies ever made (it was Léon: Natalie Portman was 12 and that movie was followed by Heat) and go from there. Natalie Portman has done just that.
What a fun trip down memory lane it is to re-experience "High School Musical". Anyway, technically Hudgens was 18 when the first movie came out, but she had actually started acting a few years before that. She has remained talented and cool ever since.
I had forgotten that Dev Patel was literally a teenager when he made his acting debut in the TV show Skins. But from his subsequent work ("Slumdog Millionaire," "Green Knight," "Monkey Man"), it seems he had no trouble evolving into "hot leading man" status.
Ah, Leo. If you have time, check out some of his old commercials from the 90s. We have literally watched Leo grow up, including his meteoric rise to fame in Hollywood, and will continue to watch him even when he is in his fifties (...) will continue to watch even when he is well into his fifties (...).
Again, it may be a bit unfair to speak of some of these stars as "aging" (Olivia Rodrigo was born in 2003.) However, she began acting at age 12 and appeared in "Bizaardvark" the following year at age 13. In other words, I think she is crushing young adult.
I think few people have grown up as gracefully as Zendaya. She's probably at her best in projects that are so cool that it's easy to forget that she started acting in Shake It Up and K.C. Undercover (not that her performances in those films were great).
Elizabeth Taylor was a legendary beauty, known for her charisma from the moment she appeared in National Velvet, literally as a teenager. Believe it or not, she is 60 years old here. She has long been an icon (and a bombshell, a queen, a legend).
Even before she began appearing in movies at age 10, Scarlett Johansson was a child actor on Broadway. It was probably 2003's Lost in Translation that established her as a full-fledged adult actor and successfully transformed her into one of the hottest stars.
Who knew Brie Larson was a child actor? (She is now an Oscar-winning writer and director, best known for her role as Captain Marvel in the MCU.
It would be hard to surpass Ariana Grande's popularity as a singing and acting superstar (seriously, her fans are rabid). She began acting on Broadway at age 15, but for Nickelodeon fans, her role as Cat Valentine in "Victorious" was the first time people fell in love with her.
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