Child actor

The term child actor is generally applied to a child acting in film or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child.

Examples (movies in which they played are mentioned only if they were still a child):

• Sal Mineo (1939)
  • Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
  • Giant (1956)
• Ron Howard (1954)
  • The Andy Griffith Show (1960)
  • The Music Man (1962)
  • The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963)
• Anissa Jones (1958)
  • Family Affair (1966-71)
• Ricky Schroder (1970)
  • The Champ (1979)
• Ke Huy Quan (1971)
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
  • The Goonies (1985)
• Leonardo DiCaprio (1974)
  • This Boy's Life (1992)
• Heather O'Rourke (1975)
  • Poltergeist movie series (1982-88)
• Macauley Culkin (1980)
  • Home Alone (1990)
  • Home Alone 2 (1992)
  • The Good Son (1993)
• Brad Renfro (1982)
  • The Client (1994)
  • The Cure (1995)

For estimating the age at the time of shooting, note that above the years of release are given.

The term "child actor" carries some stigma as child actors sometimes have troubled adult lives, due in part to their unusual upbringings. A well-known example of this is the child cast of the 1980s sitcom "Different Strokes." Child members of that cast grew into adults who had several run-ins with the law.