The reality behind the idea of being a child actor is that there’s a certain percentage chance that they’ll go on to be successful later in life, as some of those that start their careers young find themselves being cast into movies that are considered to be masterpieces or at least worthy of note and possible of carrying their actors’ careers forward in a big way. Unfortunately some child actors don’t tend to reach the potential that they were thought to have, as many aspects of show business can intrude upon a person’s life and make sticking with said career that much harder. Some bow out due to pressure, some due to other difficulties that materialize, and then some had a moment of brilliance and that was it. For others though the ride continued into adulthood, where they’ve continued to shine and have become insanely popular with each passing year thanks to roles that have been designed to showcase their talents in a number of different ways. Some of them tend to rise and fall occasionally while a few of them have stayed pretty much on or near the top of their game, but all of them have reached their potential at one point or another and continue to do so with each new project.
Here are some of the most successful child actors that are still around.
5. Natalie Portman
While she has plenty of detractors and fans for various reasons, Natalie has definitely made her mark in show business in a few different roles since she’s gone dark with some roles and been upbeat and positively chipper in others. She does appear to enjoy serious roles but has taken on a few that were a little looser when it comes to the serious factor, such as her role in the MCU, which will continue with the next Thor movie. She has managed to wow a lot of people with her acting and as a kid she was fun to watch in The Professional alongside Jean Reno since her portrayal as a slightly abused waif was pretty believable.
4. Leonardo DiCaprio
From TV to the movies he’s been a heartthrob for a lot of young women since he’s considered to be a very good-looking man that has his act together and is great when it comes to certain roles. There have definitely been roles that he shouldn’t have been allowed to touch in the past, but a lot of those have either been forgotten and as a result he’s judged more by the roles he’s taken on as an adult considering that this is the time that his career really started taking off. After finally winning an Oscar he’s kind of faded just slightly, as is pretty normal it feels when one wins such a prestigious award, but it’s easy to think that he’ll keep pumping out great movie in the years to come.
3. Christian Bale
A lot of people might have actually forgotten that Christian was a child actor since he’s been so convincing as an adult that a lot of his earlier stuff has kind of gone by the wayside. That, and the fact that he played Batman has really dominated his career as well. His roles in movies such as American Psycho and The Machinist have also taken a great deal of attention away from his childhood years since to be fair, much like many adults he’s been getting better with age and it shows every time he’s on screen since he keeps refining his craft and bringing on a new experience every time he’s on camera.
2. Kurt Russell
Yes, as your parents or grandparents could tell you, Kurt Russell was a child actor, as he was on TV and in movies for a while as a kid and kind of grew up in the business. One might think after five decades spent in the business he’d be done with it, but to be fair Kurt has been just as great as an adult and as he gets older since his sense of humor hasn’t left him and he’s reached that point where doing and saying what he wants is pretty standard for a guy that’s been there, done that, and has more to give to the audience since he’s just as talented now as he was when he was in his prime.
1. Joseph-Gordon Levitt
One thing about this guy is that when he was younger he played a few roles that weren’t quite as serious and were actually quite comical. As he got older though he started taking on more serious and very emotion-packed roles that saw him acting in movies that dealt with more adult situations. It makes sense honestly since he’s matured a great deal, but it was still quite a switch to watch him go from being a young kid to a mature adult almost overnight.
Some child actors make it and others hang around as long as they can.
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