Best Professional Child Actors of All Time
by BadWebDiver | created - 11 Apr 2014 | updated - 25 Apr 2014 | Public
1. Jodie Foster
Actress | The Silence of the Lambs
Jodie Foster started her career at the age of two. For four years she made commercials and finally gave her debut as an actress in the TV series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968). In 1975 Jodie was offered the role of prostitute Iris Steensma in the movie Taxi Driver (1976). This role, for which she received ...
2. Elijah Wood
Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Elijah Wood is an American actor best known for portraying Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's blockbuster Lord of the Rings film trilogy. In addition to reprising the role in The Hobbit series, Wood also played Ryan in the FX television comedy Wilfred (2011) and voiced Beck in the Disney XD animated ...
3. Mara Wilson
Actress | Matilda
Mara Elizabeth Wilson was born on Friday, July 24th, 1987 in Los Angeles, California. She is the oldest daughter of Michael and Suzie Wilson, with three elder brothers - Danny (b. 1979), Jon (b. 1981) and Joel (b. 1983) - and a younger sister Anna (b. 1993). When Mara was 5 years old, her eldest ...
4. Trevor Morgan
Actor | The Sixth Sense
Trevor Morgan is an actor, director and writer. He was born in Chicago, IL to Lisa Morgan and Joe Borrasso.
Trevor begin acting at age five working on numerous TV shows and commercials even appearing on a Life cereal box. His acting breakthrough came when he earned a five-episode arc on ER (1994) ...
5. River Phoenix
Actor | My Own Private Idaho
River Phoenix was born River Jude Bottom in Madras, Oregon. His mother, Arlyn (Dunetz), a Bronx-born secretary, and his father, John Bottom, a carpenter, met in California in 1968. They worked as itinerant fruit pickers, and later joined the Children of God religious group (John was originally ...
6. Joseph Mazzello
Actor | Jurassic Park
Born in Rhinebeck, New York, he got into acting when he was 5 years old, after his sister had appeared in 30-odd commercials. Since then he has acted opposite some of the best actors in Hollywood as a bright, expressive actor with complexity, sensitivity, and emotion. He attended film school at USC...
7. Logan Lerman
Actor | The Perks of Being a Wallflower
One of today's leading talents across both independent and mainstream film, Logan Lerman is an immensely talented actor who takes on challenging roles and brings dynamic characters to life on screen.
Logan was born in Beverly Hills, to a Jewish family. His parents are Lisa (Goldman), who worked as ...
8. Asa Butterfield
Actor | Hugo
Asa Butterfield was born in Islington, London, England, to Jacqueline Farr and Sam Butterfield. He began acting at the age of 8, after a talent spotting casting director saw him at his local after school drama club, The Young Actors Theatre in Islington. Following on from a couple of small roles in...
9. Jon Whiteley
Actor | The Kidnappers
Amazingly talented child star Jon Whiteley was born Jon James Lamont Whiteley on February 19, 1945 in Monymusk, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and put together an enviable, albeit brief, career in 1950s film drama. This precocious talent started things off winningly at age six by earning first prize for ...
10. Macaulay Culkin
Actor | Home Alone
Macaulay Culkin, one of the most famous American child stars, was born on August 26, 1980 in New York City, New York, USA, as the third of seven children of his father Kit Culkin (a former stage and child actor and also Macaulay's former manager) and mother Patricia Brentrup. He is the brother of ...
11. Hayley Mills
Actress | Pollyanna
Born Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills in London in 1946, she is the daughter of the great actor Sir John Mills and the well-known novelist-playwright Mary Hayley Bell. Her sister is the actress Juliet Mills. She grew up in her parents' home, an outgoing, funny child, and, because she spent so ...
12. Sean Astin
Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Sean Patrick Astin (né Duke; February 25, 1971) is an American actor, voice actor, screenwriter, director, producer, family man, author, marathon runner, political activist and philanthropist who is well known for his film debut portraying Mikey in Steven Spielberg's The Goonies (1985), for playing...
13. Max Pomeranc
Actor | Searching for Bobby Fischer
Max was born in Manhattan, New York. He attended P.S.9 for elementary school and Wagner Jr. High for grades 6-8. He rarely talked about his film work and was part of the rowdier crowd. Max spent a lot of time playing handball or messing around with his friends in the neighborhood. He last film was ...
14. Shirley Temple
Actress | The Little Colonel
Shirley Temple was easily the most popular and famous child star of all time. She got her start in the movies at the age of three and soon progressed to super stardom. Shirley could do it all: act, sing and dance and all at the age of five! Fans loved her as she was bright, bouncy and cheerful in ...
15. Daniel Radcliffe
Actor | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Daniel Jacob Radcliffe was born on July 23, 1989 in Fulham, London, England, to casting agent Marcia Gresham (née Jacobson) and literary agent Alan Radcliffe. His father is from a Northern Irish Protestant background, while his mother was born in South Africa, to a Jewish family (from Lithuania, ...
16. Jack Wild
Actor | Oliver!
Born September 30, 1952, in Royton, near Oldham, England, Jack Wild was discovered by talent agent June Collins, mother of rock star Phil Collins. His breakthrough came when he landed the role of Oliver in the London stage production of "Oliver!" When it came to casting the film, the role of the ...
17. Virginia Weidler
Actress | The Philadelphia Story
Delightful child/juvenile actress Virginia Anna Adelaide Weidler (her friends called her "Ginny") had that knowing gleam in her eye that usually spelled trouble in one form or another for anyone nearby. She was born in Eagle Rock, California, in 1927, one of six children. Her mother was former ...
18. Jeremy Spenser
Actor | Fahrenheit 451
Jeremy Spenser was born on July 16, 1937 in London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Fahrenheit 451 (1966), Outpost in Malaya (1952) and Huckleberry Finn (1952).
19. Gabriel Damon
Actor | RoboCop 2
Gabriel was born in Reno, Nevada to Anne & David. From a young age Gabriel was surrounded by music and the performing arts and at the age of three his familly moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career for him in acting.
Gabriel got work quickly, landing a coveted role in the 1984 TV series Call to ...
20. Matt O'Leary
Actor | Frailty
Matt O'Leary was born on July 6, 1987 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Frailty (2001), Time Lapse (2014) and Live Free or Die Hard (2007).
21. Spencer Breslin
Actor | The Cat in the Hat
Spencer Breslin was born on May 18, 1992 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Cat in the Hat (2003), The Kid (2000) and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006).
22. George Winslow
Actor | Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
The dark blond with deep blue eyes and cute "Buster Brown" haircut who was equipped with a deadly acute, dry facade was born George Karl Wentzlaff in Los Angeles on May 3, 1946. While it would have been hard for anyone to steal scenes from the likes of such veteran comedy superstars as Marilyn ...
23. Lindsay Lohan
Actress | The Parent Trap
Lindsay Dee Lohan was born in New York City, on 2 July 1986, to Dina Lohan and Michael Lohan. She began her career at age three as a Ford model, and also made appearances in over sixty television commercials, including spots for The Gap, Pizza Hut, Wendy's, and Jell-O (opposite Bill Cosby). Lohan ...
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