32 child stars who actually became successful actors

The curse of the child star is a tale as old as time in Hollywood. Being thrown into the spotlight is daunting for anyone. Still, some of the most well-known child stars began acting before they could even walk, growing up amongst celebrities and often struggling to cope with the inevitable pressures involved. 

However, plenty of child stars have grown up to have an equally successful career in their adult years, though struggles with addiction and mental health have plagued some of our most beloved young celebrities.

Here, we round up 32 of the most successful child-turned-adult stars, from the very obvious to the ones you may not have even realised started their career so young.

Ryan Gosling

Like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling made his on-screen debut in The Mickey Mouse Club, where he danced, sang and acted as a child. Gosling even lived with Timberlake for a while, and after the show’s cancellation, he starred in a series of roles as a teenager, before breaking out as the romantic lead in the much-loved 2004 film The Notebook. Later in his career, Gosling became known for more arthouse, independent films such as The Place Beyond the Pines, Drive and Only God Forgives, but his most famous role may well be as Ken in the live-action Barbie movie of 2023, for which he was nominated for an Oscar. 

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Kirsten Dunst

As an adult actress, Kirsten Dunst is known for her varied filmography, from roles in comedies like Bring It On, to her girl next door turn as Mary Jane in Spider-Man and more serious films such as Lars von Trier’s Melancholia and 2024’s Civil War. But her career actually started in commercials when she was just three years old, before her breakout role as a young vampire in Interview with the Vampire, which meant working alongside Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise as a ten-year-old. Six years later, Dunst starred in Sofia Coppola’s debut film The Virgin Suicides, and would later be cast in two more of the director’s films.

Dakota Fanning

By the age of ten, child star Dakota Fanning had already established herself as one of the hardest-working children in Hollywood. Her first television role came when she was just five, and her acting career saw collaborations with Steven Spielberg and Robert DeNiro, a spot on Friends, and several jobs alongside her younger sister, Elle. Dakota’s career hasn’t stopped since, with later roles in the Twilight saga and Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, among other films.

Drew Barrymore

Hailing from the famous Barrymore acting family, Drew had an incredibly tumultuous childhood. Starring in a commercial when she was just 11 months old, her big break came from the popular Spielberg film E.T., a role which catapulted her into fame and stardom; she even hosted SNL when she was just seven years old. Struggling with alcohol and drug addiction at a young age, Barrymore was admitted to rehab when she was only 14, and became emancipated from her parents the same year. After recovering and starring in popular films such as Charlie’s Angels, Scream and Never Been Kissed, Barrymore has enjoyed a successful career since and is now most well-known for her candid talk show.

Keke Palmer

While plenty of people watched Keke Palmer for the first time in the role of a dancer scamming Wall Street bankers in the 2019 film Hustlers, the actor actually began as a child star, appearing in comedy films at the age of 11. She also enjoyed a singing career, releasing her debut album when she was 14. After capturing the attention of a wider audience with Hustlers, Palmer starred in Jordan Peele’s sci-fi-horror Nope, and started her own podcast, where she interviews celebrities such as Peele and the journalist who broke the real-life story behind Hustlers.

Natalie Portman

One of the most well-respected and acclaimed actors working today, Natalie Portman began her career as a child actress, starring in Léon: The Professional when she was twelve years old. Her big career break came with the role of Padmé, a main character in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and its subsequent sequels, which she began filming when she was 16. As an older actor, Portman is probably best known for her Oscar-winning lead role as Nina in Black Swan, for which she trained in ballet for up to eight hours a day and lost almost 10kg of weight.

Kristen Stewart

Though Kristen Stewart got her breakout in the wildly successful Twilight film franchise as protagonist Bella Swan when she was just 17, she’d actually already been acting for quite a few years by that point. Stewart starred in indie films and non-speaking TV roles starting from just eight years old, often playing ‘tomboy’ characters. Her first notable role was in David Fincher’s thriller Panic Room, where she played Jodie Foster’s daughter. 

Stewart’s acting career hasn’t stopped since; as an adult (and outside of Twilight) she is known for her roles in acclaimed films such as Still Alice, Personal Shopper and Love Lies Bleeding, and she’s played historical figures such as Jean Seberg, Joan Jett and Diana Spencer.

Elijah Wood

Elijah Wood is best known for his role as the protagonist in one of the most successful franchises of all time, Lord of the Rings, but his first film appearance was actually when he was eight years old, with a small part in the sequel to Back to the Future. He later starred in films like Flipper and The Ice Storm as a child actor, before gaining international success with the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Kieran Culkin

Kieran Culkin is best-known for his role as Roman, the immature middle child of the powerful Roy family in the hit HBO show Succession. But he can actually be seen in his first film role in one of the most popular and beloved Christmas films, Home Alone, alongside his brother, fellow child star Macaulay Culkin. While his career didn’t grant him as much success as a child than that of his brother, Kieran continued to appear in small comedy roles throughout his adolescence, and has since proved his acting prowess in Succession.

Christian Bale

After training as a ballet dancer and performing in a play alongside Rowan Atkinson, Christian Bale decided he wanted to be an actor at the tender age of ten, and soon had his first major film role in Steven Spielberg’s war epic Empire of the Sun. Though it led him to fame, Bale was bullied at school for his career and briefly abandoned his pursuit of acting. At 26 years old, Bale took on the lead role in the horror film American Psycho, which propelled him into worldwide fame; he is now best known for his dedication to transforming himself for his roles, such as in The Machinist, The Dark Knight and Vice.

Haley Joel Osment

Most people know Haley Joel Osment from his role in the hugely successful M Night Shyamalan film The Sixth Sense, but his first appearance on the big screen was actually in Forrest Gump, where he was cast as the son of Forrest and childhood sweetheart Jenny. He was just six years old. After numerous appearances on TV shows and in small films, Osment’s breakthrough came with The Sixth Sense, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, making him the second-youngest actor to be nominated. As an older actor, Osment has starred in huge Netflix productions such as Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile and the Amazon superhero series The Boys.

Judy Garland

Judy Garland was one of the most famous and instantly recognisable child stars of all time. Born Frances Ethel Gumm to vaudevillian parents who encouraged her to sign a contract with studio MGM at the age of 13, which ended up lasting 15 years, Garland’s most famed role was as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, one of the first Technicolour movies ever made. Her acting and singing career would continue to be hugely successful until her death at the age of 47.

Emma Roberts

The daughter of actor Eric Roberts and the niece of Julia Roberts, it was no surprise that a career in Hollywood was written in the stars for Emma Roberts. At ten years old, Roberts won a role in the first film she auditioned for, before being cast in several Nickelodeon series and recording an album. After starring in popular teen films such as Wild Child and Aquamarine, Roberts later found more fame in Ryan Murphy-created projects such as the American Horror Story franchise and Scream Queens.

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster has had one of the longest and most successful acting careers in Hollywood. As a child star, she played Tallulah in the musical film Bugsy Malone at the age of 13; in the same year, she played a young sex worker in a controversial role in Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, which garnered her worldwide attention. Foster continued to favour more serious roles for The Accused and her breakout film, The Silence of the Lambs, the latter of which is considered one of the greatest movies of all time and became the third (and still most recent) film to win the ‘big four’ at the Academy Awards of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Elle Fanning

Following in the footsteps of her older sister, Dakota, Elle Fanning similarly began acting at a very young age. Often playing the younger sister or younger version of her sister in films, alongside voicing a role in the English language dubbing of the Hayao Miyazaki film My Neighbour Totoro, Elle soon began holding her own in larger roles such as in Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The actress later received worldwide recognition for her work in The Neon Demon, 20th Century Women and TV period drama The Great.

Anna Paquin

With no acting experience under her belt, New Zealand actress Anna Paquin auditioned for Jane Campion’s historical drama The Piano on a whim, and later became the second-youngest Oscar winner in history for her role in the film; her overwhelmed expression and sudden switch to professionalism makes for one of the best Oscars speeches of all time. Though Paquin didn’t plan to continue acting, she later had roles in Almost Famous, X-Men and True Blood, and became one of the most well-known actors from her home country.

Neil Patrick Harris

Though he’s best known for his role as Barney in the hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother, Neil Patrick Harris was actually a child star who was discovered at an acting camp. For four seasons, the young actor played the titular role in Doogie Howser, M.D., as a child prodigy doctor, alongside starring in a variety of films and other shows. As well as his much-loved appearance as Barney Stinson, Patrick Harris is also known for films and TV shows such as Gone Girl, A Series of Unfortunate Events and American Horror Story.

Elizabeth Taylor

One of the most famous actors to have lived, Elizabeth Taylor’s influence can still be seen today, with a hit 2017 novel, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, evidently based on her life and relationships (Taylor was married eight times to seven men). While her later work in Cleopatra, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is amongst her most beloved and iconic, Taylor’s first role was aged 12 in National Velvet, which propelled her into stardom; Taylor’s piercing blue eyes and ‘double eyelashes’, caused by a genetic mutation, helped her to become one of the most striking actresses of her time.

Brooke Shields

Frequently described as one of the most beautiful people in Hollywood from a young age, Brooke Shields had a unique childhood that she would later revisit in the documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields. As a child model, Shields quickly rose to prominence, before she starred as a child being raised in a brothel in Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby; the film included nude scenes despite the fact she was only 11 years old at the time, and this would continue in several more films of hers, including The Blue Lagoon. Due to the controversial nature of both her acting and modelling career, Shields became one of the most recognisable faces of the 80s and 90s and appeared in shows like Friends and The Simpsons. 

Lindsay Lohan

One of the most recognisable faces of the 2000s, Lindsay Lohan started as a child model at the age of three, before her breakout role came in the form of The Parent Trap, a beloved 1998 comedy in which she played the dual roles of twins Hallie and Annie. Lohan continued to star in a variety of popular films into her teen and adult years, including Freaky Friday, Mean Girls, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and Just My Luck. 

Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke has had such a successful career as an adult that many people - even his fans - might not know he started as a child star. Nowadays, the actor and writer - once married to Uma Thurman, who he has a daughter with, fellow actor Maya Hawke - is best known for his brooding, Generation X-defining roles such as in Before Sunrise and Reality Bites, but his career started when he was just 14, starring alongside River Phoenix in a poorly-received film a few years before his breakout in Dead Poets Society. The box office failure of his first film meant that Hawke briefly quit acting, ironically (considering his daughter’s choice of profession) stating: "I would never recommend that a kid act."

Leonardo DiCaprio

One of the world’s most successful actors, Leonardo DiCaprio is mostly known for the gritty roles that made up his later years in acting, though his first on-screen appearances came in the form of commercials when he was a teenager. After struggling to find an agent, he was eventually cast in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, his breakout role. He became one of the youngest Oscar nominees for his role; he would later be nominated six more times, eventually winning the gong in 2016. As an adult actor, DiCaprio is best known for Titanic, Romeo + Juliet, Inception, The Revenant and much more.

Hilary Duff

After starring in several minor and/or uncredited roles throughout her early childhood, Hilary Duff landed the lead role in Disney show Lizzie McGuire, quickly becoming one of the biggest teen stars of her generation. Along with rumours of a Lizzie McGuire revival, Duff starred in the spinoff series How I Met Your Father in 2022, with Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall playing the older version of Duff’s character.

Christina Ricci

After making her film debut at the age of ten, Christina Ricci was cast as Wednesday Addams in the popular 90s film The Addams Family, before going on to star in similarly unique roles such as in Casper and The Ice Storm. As both a child and adult actor, Ricci is known for gravitating towards darker characters, such as the girlfriend of a serial killer in Monster. More recently, Ricci garnered critical acclaim for her role in the series Yellowjackets and as a teacher in the Netflix show Wednesday, with Jenna Ortega taking on the role of Wednesday Addams.

Joey King

At just nine years old, Joey King had a small voice role in the animated film Horton Hears a Who!, before starring in comedies such as Crazy, Stupid, Love and even in a Taylor Swift music video. Transitioning from child to adult roles, King played the lead in the Netflix teen comedy trilogy The Kissing Booth, before depicting Gypsy Rose Blanchard in the Hulu series The Act.

Melanie Lynskey

While her career didn’t start as young as some child stars, Melanie Lynskey’s on-screen debut came at the age of 17, and critical acclaim for her varied film roles has continued ever since. She starred in the cult teen comedy But I’m a Cheerleader in the late 90s, and later took on roles in acclaimed films and TV shows like Mrs America, Yellowjackets, Don’t Look Up and The Last of Us.

Sarah Jessica Parker

SJP is undoubtedly best known as the protagonist and fashion icon Carrie Bradshaw in the hit TV show Sex and the City, but before finding fame as an adult, the actress was actually a child star, appearing on Broadway at a young age and playing the titular role in Annie when she was eleven years old. She later starred in acclaimed films such as Footloose, Hocus Pocus and The First Wives Club, and reprised her beloved role as Carrie in the Sex and the City sequel series And Just Like That….

Emma Watson

Along with co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, Emma Roberts garnered international fame after being cast in the Harry Potter film series, the fourth highest-grossing film franchise of all time, at the age of ten. Following the last Harry Potter film, Watson took on a variety of roles, playing a burgling Valley Girl in Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring and a free-spirited teenager in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. She also starred alongside Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh and Laura Dern in Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women; alongside acting, Watson is known for her philanthropic efforts and as an activist.

Millie Bobby Brown

At the age of 12, Millie Bobby Brown was propelled into stardom for her role as telekinetic Eleven in Stranger Things, which would go on to become one of the most successful Netflix shows of all time. As well as reprising her role for each of the series’ four seasons, Bobby Brown has also featured in films such as Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Damsel, alongside leading two film adaptations of The Enola Holmes Mysteries.

Jacob Tremblay

At just nine years old, Jacob Tremblay played an incredibly challenging role in the 2015 film Room, alongside Brie Larson, as a young boy who has only ever known life inside a small room with his mother; as he was too young to read the entire script, each scene would be explained to him one by one. Tremblay later starred in films such as Doctor Sleep, Wonder and the live-action The Little Mermaid. 

Zendaya

Known as much for her incredible outfits (and iconic collaborations with long-time stylist Law Roach) as she is for her acting chops, Zendaya is one of the most bankable actors working today, with roles in the Dune series, Challengers and the Spiderman trilogy. But her career actually started when she was a teen, making a name for herself in Disney shows and by releasing music.

Zendaya's big break as an adult came in the form of Spiderman: Homecoming in 2017, where she met future partner Tom Holland, and in the same year she had a starring role in The Greatest Showman, before reaching worldwide recognition as the lead of the Gen Z drama Euphoria.

Abigail Breslin

Beginning her career in commercials at the age of three, Abigail Breslin went on to star in M Night Shyamalan’s Signs when she was just five years old before her breakthrough arrived in the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine. Her performance in the lead role was widely praised and landed her an Academy Award nomination; she would continue to star in well-received roles in My Sister’s Keeper, Zombieland and August: Osage County, before being cast alongside Emma Roberts in Scream Queens.