Top 20 Best Child Actors or Actresses
by christophershobris | created - 10 Jun 2013 | updated - 16 Dec 2014 | PublicI've done a list on the adult actors and actresses and now this list will be about the youngsters of the big screen who have been a part of some of the greatest classics in films and who have inspired others including adults to do the same.
1. 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 ...
Easily the most famous child actor ever, her talent for acting and singing made her a smash.
2. 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 ...
Not so much anymore, but when he was a child he took acting to the next level for children. No cheesy, typical child performances, but stood his own against stars like Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, and Elijah Wood among many others.
3. Henry Thomas
Actor | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Henry Jackson Thomas Jr. is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and had a lead role in the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), for which he won a Young Artist Award and received Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award, and Saturn Award nominations. Thomas also had roles in films ...
His role and E.T.'s was the only ones we cared about in the film, his masterful effort in E.T. floored more people then when the Oakland Raiders beat the New England Patriots. That was for you football fans out there.
4. Haley Joel Osment
Actor | The Sixth Sense
Haley Joel Osment is an American actor who has proven himself as one of the best young actors of his generation. He is the first millennial male to have received an Academy Award nomination for acting.
Osment was born in Los Angeles, California, to Theresa (Seifert), a teacher, and actor Eugene ...
When I first saw him in Forrest Gump, I knew we had someone speciel for the acting world.
5. Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Actor | The Lion King
Jonathan Taylor Thomas was born Jonathan Taylor Weiss on September 8, 1981 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Claudine (Gonsalves) and Stephen Weiss. He has an older brother, Joel, and has Pennsylvania Dutch (German) and Portuguese ancestry. Growing up, he liked the music group Boyz II Men, and his ...
Before he went off to Columbia University he was a star amongst actors especially in the early 90's. Playing the roles that made him famous was one of his first which was him voicing the cute little lion cub named Simba in the Disney classic The Lion King. Also in that same year he played Tim Allen's middle child in Home Improvement. After the two successes he went on to make other films that were not so good until he did the role of Tom Sawyer in Tom and Huck.
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...
Joseph doesn't seem like much now but as a child he was. Most well-known for being in the film Jurassic Park in 1993, and in 1994 he played Rourke in the Kevin Bacon, Meryl Streep film The River Wild.
7. Judith Barsi
Actress | The Land Before Time
The only child of Jozsef Barsi and Maria Benko, Judith Eva Barsi beat 10,000-to-1 odds when she was discovered at a San Fernando Valley skating rink at age 5 1/2 in 1983 and mistaken for a three-year-old. Her first commercial was for Donald Duck Orange Juice and she went on to appear in anywhere ...
This young lady didn't get much time to shine but when she did she indeed did shine. She is known for voicing Ducky in the popular animation Land Before Time. Unfortunately her life was short due to her and her mother being murdered by her father, who took his own life shortly after.
8. Mary-Kate Olsen
Actress | It Takes Two
Mary-Kate Olsen (born June 13, 1986) is an American actress, fashion designer, producer, author, and businesswoman. She co-founded luxury fashion brands The Row, Elizabeth and James, and the more affordable lines Olsenboye and StyleMint alongside her fraternal twin sister Ashley Olsen. Olsen ...
She and sister Ashley are mostly well-known for playing Michelle Tanner in the hit comedy, romance show Full House. They also went on to make there own direct-to-video films.
9. Hayden Panettiere
Actress | Heroes
Hayden Lesley Panettiere was born on August 21, 1989 in Palisades, New York, to actress Lesley Vogel and fire department captain Skip Panettiere. Her younger brother was actor Jansen Panettiere (1994-2023). Her parents are both of half Italian descent, along with German and English. Her mother got ...
Hayden also did the voice of Dot in A Bug's Life and went on to do many other successful films.
10. Alexander Gould
Actor | Finding Nemo
Gould was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He began acting at the age of two and is perhaps best known for providing the voice of the title character of Disney/Pixar's film Finding Nemo (2003) and starring as Shane Botwin on the Showtime dark comedy-drama series Weeds (2005). His ...
He was also the voice of Nemo in "Finding Nemo".
11. Ashley Olsen
Actress | Full House
Ashley Fuller Olsen (born June 13, 1986) is an American fashion designer, producer, author, businesswoman and former actress. She co-founded luxury fashion brands The Row, Elizabeth and James, and the more affordable lines Olsenboye and StyleMint with her twin sister Mary-Kate Olsen. She is also ...
12. Abigail Breslin
Actress | Little Miss Sunshine
Academy Award-nominated actress Abigail Breslin is one of the most sought-after actors of her generation. Her unique and charismatic talents have contributed to her versatile roles in both comedy and drama.
Recently, Breslin headlined the first season of the horror-comedy series, Scream Queens (2015)...
13. Daryl Sabara
Actor | Spy Kids 3: Game Over
Daryl Sabara is an American actor best known for a variety of roles, including 'Juni Cortez' from the incredible Spy Kids (2001) franchise, 'Hero Boy' from the Robert Zemeckis Christmas film The Polar Express (2004), and Robin Williams' son in the cult classic film World's Greatest Dad (2009). ...
14. Alexa PenaVega
Actress | Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams
Alexa Ellesse PenaVega was born Alexa Ellesse Vega on August 27, 1988 in Ocala, Florida and raised in Los Angeles, California to Gina Denise Rue, a former model & Baruch Jairo Vega, a photographer. She is known for her role as Carmen Cortez in the Spy Kids series and Shilo Wallace in the film Repo!...
15. Robert MacNaughton
Actor | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Robert MacNaughton was born on December 19, 1966 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for E.T. (1982), I Am the Cheese (1983) and The Electric Grandmother (1982). He has been married to Bianca Hunter since July 2, 2012.
16. Miranda Cosgrove
Actress | Despicable Me 2
Miranda Taylor Cosgrove was born May 14, 1993 in Los Angeles, California, to Christina (Casey) and Tom Cosgrove, who owns a dry-cleaning business. She was discovered at a young age singing and dancing around a table in a restaurant, where an agent saw her talent and quickly signed her. Miranda's ...
She impressed me when she played Megan Parker in Drake and Josh. iCarly wasn't that flashy. Drake & Josh is where her best performance is.
17. Dickie Jones
Soundtrack | Avengers: Age of Ultron
American actor who achieved some success as a child and as a young adult, especially in B-Westerns and in television. The son of a Texas newspaper editor. Jones was a accomplished horseman from infancy. At the age of four he was billed as the World's Youngest Trick Rider and Roper. At the age of ...
Also did the voice of Pinocchio in the Disney film in 1940 of the same name.
18. Jeremy Suarez
Actor | Brother Bear
Jeremy Steven Suarez is an African American actor from Chicago, Illinois known for playing Jordan Thomkins from The Bernie Mac Show and voicing Koda from Disney's Brother Bear franchise. He also acted in Jerry Maguire, Fat Albert, Treasure Planet, The Ladykillers and The Proud Family. He is married...
All I know him for is playing a bear cub in Brother Bear.
19. Thomas Horn
Actor | Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Thomas Horn won on "Jeopardy!" during Kids Week with an earning of 31,000 after wagering 12,000 during Final Jeopardy. His acting career kicked off when he was cast in the feature film Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which was based on the 2005 novel by Jonathan S. Foer. This drama received a ...
Thomas did a great job in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the best in my opinion since Henry Thomas. Ok, maybe not that extreme scale, but he did good. Good enough to make the list.
20. Emily Osment
Actress | Hannah Montana: The Movie
Emily Jordan Osment was born on March 10, 1992 in Los Angeles. She is the younger sister of The Sixth Sense star, Haley Joel Osment. Her father Eugene is also an actor of some renown. Following in their footsteps, Emily started her acting career performing in several commercials, including a radio ...
She also played Gertie Giggles in Spy Kids 2.
Tell Your Friends