Child Actors Who Were Never The Same After Their Breakout Role
Playing part in a bloodsoaked epic is sure to change a person — especially if they're only 14 years old. These former child actors may have grown up, but they'll never forget the roles that got them started.
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00:00Playing part in a blood-soaked epic is sure to change a person, especially if they're
00:05only 14 years old.
00:07These former child actors may have grown up, but they'll never forget the roles that got
00:11them started.
00:13Drew Barrymore captured hearts around the world when she starred in E.T. the Extraterrestrial
00:17as Gertie, one of the children who forms a bond with the lovable alien.
00:20She was just 7 years old at the time.
00:23Child stardom was rough for the young Barrymore, who grew up in an abusive home before being
00:27thrust into the limelight.
00:29Not only did she come from a family of famous actors, but there was also a pattern of alcoholism
00:33that ran through each generation.
00:35Luckily, she had a special relationship with Steven Spielberg on the set of E.T., with
00:39the director making an effort to not rob Barrymore of her childhood during production of the
00:42film.
00:44Be good.
00:47Yes.
00:50By her teenage years, however, Barrymore had already been exposed to the world of drugs
00:54and promiscuous Hollywood parties.
00:56She was 13 when she first entered rehab for substance abuse, and it wasn't her last visit
01:01either.
01:02As the actor told The Guardian about this period of her life,
01:12Taking on the title role in the film adaptation of one of the most popular book series in
01:15the world was tough for Daniel Radcliffe, especially since he started doing it at the
01:20age of 11.
01:22Starting with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Radcliffe made regular big-screen appearances
01:26as the boy wizard over the course of a decade, with millions of fans watching him and his
01:30co-stars grow up.
01:32Radcliffe stuck with Harry Potter for 10 years out of love for the character, although it
01:35took a toll on his personal life.
01:37He dealt with the pressure of living up to expectations by drinking, but it wasn't long
01:41before the coping mechanism brought some unique downsides.
01:44He told BBC Radio,
01:51It's, oh, Harry Potter's getting drunk in the bar.
01:55Radcliffe got sober in 2013, a few years after the release of Harry Potter and the
01:58Deathly Hallows Part II.
02:00He's since had quite the eclectic career, with offbeat appearances in Swiss Army Man,
02:05the TBS comedy Miracle Workers, and even Merrily We Roll Along on Broadway.
02:10Nicole Culkin rose to international acclaim through his role in 1990's Home Alone as
02:14Kevin McAllister, a boy left unsupervised at Christmas time who has to outsmart a pair
02:18of nitwit burglars.
02:20The movie was a massive success, earning the 10-year-old actor a theatrical sequel, plenty
02:25more memorable roles, and even a hosting gig on Saturday Night Live.
02:29However, Culkin didn't like the attention that followed Home Alone, in particular the
02:33friendship he forged with Michael Jackson after the movie's release led to speculation
02:37of wrongdoing on Jackson's part, which Culkin has denied.
02:40As his life became tabloid fodder, Culkin felt overwhelmed enough by the attention that
02:44he quit the business, telling Time,
02:50Although he took a step back from acting to go back to school, Culkin seems to be doing
03:03just fine nowadays.
03:05He started a family with fellow former child star Brenda Song, and still makes occasional
03:09appearances in movies and TV shows.
03:12The year after Home Alone was released, some of Macaulay Culkin's fame rubbed off on Anna
03:16Klumski when the two acted together in My Girl.
03:18At 11 years old, Klumski's performances in the film and its 1994 sequel were memorable,
03:23especially given the gravity of their subject matter.
03:26However, the child actor didn't remain in the limelight for long, opting to finish high
03:29school and pursue higher education rather than chase fame.
03:32Klumski ended up taking an office job at a publishing company after graduating college,
03:36while keeping acting as a side pursuit and making brief appearances on shows like 30
03:40Rock and Law & Order.
03:41She gained further recognition as an adult when she was cast in HBO's Veep as political
03:45operator Amy Bruckheimer, a role that earned her six Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting
03:50Actress in a Comedy.
03:52Klumski shared her candid thoughts on My Girl with the Daily Beast, saying,
03:55"...I think it's a great thing that it was a resonant film and it meant a lot to a lot
03:58of people.
03:59But I think when you're constantly identified with something that happened so long ago,
04:03and that was at an age that is not your age now, it just becomes sort of unfair."
04:07Despite that, Klumski still credits My Girl with inspiring her return to acting as an
04:12adult.
04:13Thanks to a fortune teller who recognized her and advised her to go back to the craft.
04:17When Kihui Kwan took home the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing Wayman Wang in 2022's
04:22Everything Everywhere All at Once, it was a massive boost for his career after several
04:26decades out of the limelight.
04:28His story starts back in 1984, when 12-year-old Kwan got to be Harrison Ford's plucky sidekick
04:33in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
04:35Okie dokie, Dr. Jones, hold on to your potatoes!
04:39Short Rounds should have been the first in a long series of successful roles for Kwan,
04:43but that didn't end up being the case.
04:45Even after a second successful appearance in 1985's The Goonies, he struggled to book
04:50roles.
04:51This was hard on the young Kwan, who had fallen in love with acting on the set of Temple of
04:54Doom.
04:55He told People magazine,
04:56"...Never in my wildest imagination did I think I would end up being an actor.
05:00I have such fond memories of working on Indiana Jones."
05:04Of course, not everybody in Hollywood forgot about Kwan.
05:07The actor kept in touch with Steven Spielberg after the production of Temple of Doom.
05:11After receiving annual Christmas presents from the director during his journey from
05:14out-of-work actor to award winner, Kwan also found work choreographing fight scenes for
05:19movies like X-Men and The One.
05:21Not every actor had a positive experience with their roles as a child actor, which happens
05:25to be the case for Tyler James Williams.
05:28After working as an extra on Saturday Night Live and Sesame Street, the actor was cast
05:32as a young Chris Rock on Everybody Hates Chris in 2005 for four seasons.
05:36At 12 years old, such a role should have led to a slam dunk of a career for Williams, but
05:41luck wasn't on his side.
05:42As Williams told GQ, the pressure of having to carry a sitcom on his own was hard, especially
05:47coinciding with his awkward teenage years.
05:49He admitted,
05:50"...Every time someone comes up to me, regardless of what it is they recognize me for, what
05:54that says to me in the moment is that I'm seen.
05:56I have to be on immediately, because someone's watching."
05:59By the end of the show, Williams was allegedly told by one of the producers that he would
06:03never work again.
06:04Luckily, Williams didn't let that comment get the best of him, and he took a step away
06:08from acting to study the craft before landing roles in The Walking Dead and Dear White People.
06:12Eventually, he had a second breakthrough as part of the cast of Abbott Elementary, and
06:16this time, the actor walked away with three Emmy nominations for his role in the show.
06:20So far.
06:22Disney Channel has a knack for turning young performers into worldwide sensations, and
06:26in the late 2000s, none were more popular than Miley Cyrus.
06:30Her show Hannah Montana was massively popular, allowing her to kickstart her music career
06:34at the same time with hits like Party in the USA and The Climb.
06:38Cyrus was only 13 when she started the show, but when it ended five years later, she was
06:4218 and was ready to change her image in some pretty impulsive and drastic ways.
06:46I'm a teenager, we act without thinking, and we get this, it's what we do.
06:51The years after Hannah Montana ended were rife with controversy for the young star,
06:54from provocative dances at the Video Music Awards to the infamous music video for her
06:58song Wrecking Ball.
07:00Cyrus later attributed the behavior to a rebellion against her years as a Disney icon, reflecting
07:04to British Vogue,
07:05I was creating attention for myself because I was dividing myself from a character I had
07:09played.
07:10Anyone, when you're 20 or 21, you have more to prove.
07:14I'm not my parents, I am who I am.
07:16Now even older and more mature, Cyrus doesn't look back fondly on those wild years of hers,
07:21but she still has the music industry credibility and success to prove that it doesn't define
07:26her.
07:27Kristen Stewart wasn't quite a child actor when she played Bella Swan in Twilight, as
07:31she was 18 years old.
07:32When she was 10 and 11, however, she got her start by taking part in the production for
07:36David Fincher's Panic Room alongside Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker, and Jared Leto.
07:41Stewart's character's family is attacked by a group of intruders, and the fact that she's
07:45diabetic complicates things even further.
07:48Stewart told Vanity Fair that the experience on the set of Panic Room, despite involving
07:51some intense acting, was what made her fall in love with the craft.
07:55She recalled,
07:56I never wanted to leave.
07:57Every time I had to go home because it had been nine hours.
08:00I was like, why?
08:01It's fine.
08:02I can kick it.
08:03I can hang.
08:04I'm not tired.
08:05She even remarked that she's much different as an actor now, as she feels more sensitive
08:08to the things she performs compared to how easily she was able to handle it as a child.
08:13Years later, Stewart and Foster reunited when the latter was honored with a star on the
08:16Hollywood Walk of Fame, with Stewart crediting the Silence of the Lambs star for being a
08:20role model to her younger self.
08:22Game of Thrones was a difficult show to make, with a number of actors having to make it
08:26through eight seasons of sex and violence.
08:29Assuming their character wasn't brutally killed off, of course.
08:32This was definitely true for Sophie Turner, who played Sansa Stark, and it was compounded
08:36by the fact that she was only 14 during season one.
08:40As Turner revealed years later, the pressures of being on a show like Game of Thrones as
08:44a teenager took a toll on her mental health, resulting in eating disorders, body dysmorphia,
08:49and severe anxiety.
08:51In an interview with Dr. Phil, she revealed,
08:53I used to get a lot of comments about my skin and my weight and how I wasn't a good actress.
08:58I would just believe it.
09:00Turner ended up seeking therapy, even enlisting a live-in counselor to help her manage her
09:04eating habits at one point.
09:05Though she's admitted that she'll likely spend the rest of her life dealing with the
09:08trauma of living through Game of Thrones, Turner has a much more balanced life nowadays.
09:12I'm a slow learner.
09:14It's true.
09:15But I learn.
09:19Like Miley Cyrus before her, Olivia Rodrigo turned her Disney Channel fame into a career
09:23as a chart-topping pop star.
09:25Long before she dropped her debut album, Sour, Rodrigo got her start playing a teenage internet
09:29star on Bizaardvark.
09:31And once that show ended, she gained even more recognition as NeNe in High School Musical,
09:35the musical, the series.
09:37Rodrigo was always an aspiring songwriter, but she didn't get her big break until the
09:41Disney Plus show's producers asked her to pen an original song for her character to
09:45sing in the first season.
09:47That song was All I Want, which put Rodrigo on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time
09:52and launched her into mainstream success.
09:54Eventually, she released her debut single as a solo artist, Driver's License, inspired
09:58by her on-set romance with her co-star Joshua Bassett.
10:01It was a record-breaking number one hit, which came as a surprise to both the music industry
10:06and Rodrigo herself.
10:07She told The Guardian,
10:08It's not like I was like, in order to have a sustainable career, I'm gonna roll it
10:12out slowly and this and that.
10:14I kind of had overnight success.
10:16Rodrigo ended up leaving High School Musical, the musical, the series in its third season
10:20to focus on her solo act.
10:22Time will only tell if the pop star looks back fondly on her Disney years.