5 Child Stars That Avoided The Pitfalls Of Young Fame

At one point or another, nearly everyone has known or been a fan of a child actor. Those lucky kids who take Hollywood by storm with their big rosy cheeks, mischievous smiles, and all around impossibly cute looks. Unfortunately, cuteness does not usually last forever.

As their adorable childhood features fade away, soon replaced by the unavoidable awkwardness of puberty, these kids fall from favour, pushed aside to make way for the next batch of adorable young stars. Many of these former child actors, high on funds but low on the life skills that a more traditional childhood would give them, go off the rails, falling in with bad crowds and making unwise decisions that can destroy their chances of picking up their career again later.. Macaulay Culkin and Lindsay Lohan are good examples of this, though Macaulay has turned things around in recent years, and good luck to him.

Not all child actors go off the rails, however, and not all those who go off stay off. Some kids manage to keep a good head on their shoulders, and avoid the pitfalls that come with finding fame at a young age.

1. Emma Watson

While the Harry Potter cast as whole seem to have mostly avoided the pitfalls of childhood fame, Emma Watson is a particularly special example.

The actress earned her break out role as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone at the tender age of eleven. In reviews of the film, Watson was singled out as a particularly impressive young talent. After completing work on all eight films, she took some time away from acting to attend Brown University, where she earned a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature.

Even with this break, Watson has enjoyed the most successful post-Potter career, winning her dream role as Belle in Disney's live-action remake of Beauty & The Beast, and later playing Meg March in Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women.

Outside of acting, Watson is a vocal advocate of gender equality. Since 2014, the actress has served as a U.N Women Goodwill Ambassador.

2. Freddie Highmore

After hitting it off on the set of Finding Neverland in 2004, Freddie Highmore was hand-picked by new Willy Wonka Johnny Depp to star alongside him as Charlie Bucket in a remake of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

Highmore has worked regularly from this point onward, with roles in the Arthur And The Invisibles trilogy, and The Spiderwick Chronicles, among others. In 2013 he shed his child star image with the role of future serial killer Norman Bates in the TV series Bates Motel. After Bates Motel ended, Highmore was cast in the role of Sean Murphy, a surgical resident with high-functioning autism, in The Good Doctor. The role is earning him critical acclaim, and praise from Autism advocacy groups. He also serves as a Producer on the show, and has directed an episode.

Unlike many other actors who found fame young, Highmore is highly private in his personal life, and avoids Social Media.

3. Hilary Duff

After a few small roles in the late 90s, Hilary Duff got her big break playing the lead role in Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire from 2001 to 2004. In 2002, Duff starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie, Cadet Kelly. The film remains a favourite with fans. The following year, the young actress took Lizzie to the big screen in Lizzie McGuire: The Movie.

Once Lizzie McGuire came to an end, Duff pulled double duty as a teen queen of the 2000s, launching a successful music career and starring in popular films such as A Cinderella Story and Raise Your Voice. Duff currently stars as Kelsey Peters in Younger.

She was supposed to reprise her role as Lizzie McGuire for a Disney + series, but creative differences between Disney and the producers have left the reboot's status up in the air. However, the cast, including Hilary Duff, just reunited over Zoom for a dramatic script-reading of the original Lizzie McGuire's first episode, giving fans an isolation mood booster.

4. Tom Holland

Before he was Spider-Man, he was a boy who just wanted to dance. Tom Holland got his break into the entertainment industry as one of the many boys to play Billy Elliot on stage in Billy Elliot: The Musical. Talent Scouted from a local dance club, Holland spent two years in dance training before being added into the rotation of on-stage Billys.

After finishing his two year run as Billy, Holland played Lucas Bennet in The Impossible, a film which told the story of a family's struggle to survive when they are separated during the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. The role earned him critical acclaim, and made Hollywood stand up and take notice. There was even talk of an Oscar Nomination for the young actor, but this did not come to pass.

It was not until three years later that he earned his true big break, as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the 2016 film Captain America: Civil War. Holland credits his Billy Elliot dance training for allowing him to perform some of Spider-Man's physical feats without the aid of special effects.

5. Seth Green

Seth Green (Born Seth Benjamin Gesshel-Green), a man now famous for his voice acting and comedy work, grew up in a Jewish household, with one sister, Kaela. He was apparently a born comedian, with loved shows such as Monty Python and Blackadder among his key influences. While Green began acting at the age of Seven, it was not until age thirteen that he earned his first major role, playing Patrick Dempsey’s bratty younger brother, Chuckie, in the romantic comedy Can’t Buy Me Love. He then took on a supporting role in My Stepmother Is An Alien, acting alongside his future Buffy The Vampire Slayer co-star, Alyson Hannigan.

Now what about his teen and some early adult years, where some young stars find trouble? Well, Green did give up Judaism, but this was not done out of rebellion as much as following his own belief in the divinity of the Universe as a whole, rather than tying himself to a single religion. He also legally changed his surname from Gesshel-Green to simply Green, but this was a professional decision, not at all due to any conflict with his family.

Seth Green is now a much loved actor and voice actor, working across both film and television. He is also the Director and co-creator of the animated sketch comedy series Robot Chicken, performing many of the voices on the show.

Having learned from the mistakes of the past, many parents of young stars now make a greater effort to keep their children on the right path. Hopefully, that will lead to more success stories like those above, and less of the tragic downfalls we have seen previously.