These 12 Child Stars Grew Up to Become Hollywood Royalty
12View galleryGrowing up in front of a camera is hard. For every child star who makes it, dozens disappear once they outgrow their famous roles.
These 12 did the opposite. They started as kids in sitcoms, family movies and TV shows, and grew up to win Oscars, top the charts and become some of the biggest names in entertainment.
1. Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore was just 7 when she charmed the world as Gertie in Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). She came from Hollywood royalty, too: the Barrymores had been acting for generations.
Her teenage years were famously rocky, but she rebuilt her career in the ’90s with hits like The Wedding Singer. She also produced the Charlie’s Angels films through her own company, and in 2020 she launched The Drew Barrymore Show.
2. Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster was acting in commercials as a toddler. At 14 she earned her first Oscar nomination for Taxi Driver (1976), a role most adult actresses would have found daunting.
Instead of burning out, she went to Yale, then came back stronger than ever. She won two Best Actress Oscars, for The Accused and The Silence of the Lambs, and became a respected director as well.
3. Leonardo DiCaprio
Before he was the king of the world, Leonardo DiCaprio was a teenage sitcom actor, joining Growing Pains in 1991. Two years later, at 19, he earned an Oscar nomination for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
Titanic made him a global heartthrob in 1997, but he spent the next two decades proving he was far more than a pretty face. He finally won his Oscar for The Revenant in 2016.
4. Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman was 12 when she was cast as Mathilda opposite Jean Reno in Léon: The Professional (1994). Soon after, she was Queen Amidala in the Star Wars prequels.
Remarkably, she fit a Harvard degree in psychology in between film shoots. In 2011 she won the Best Actress Oscar for her haunting performance in Black Swan.
5. Kirsten Dunst
At 12, Kirsten Dunst held her own opposite Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt as a child vampire in Interview with the Vampire (1994). The role earned her a Golden Globe nomination.
She grew into one of her generation’s most interesting actresses, from Bring It On to Mary Jane in the Spider-Man films. In 2022 she earned her first Oscar nomination, for The Power of the Dog.
6. Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci made her film debut at about 10, playing Cher’s daughter in Mermaids (1990). A year later she became the unforgettable deadpan Wednesday in The Addams Family.
Unlike many child stars, she moved smoothly into daring adult roles in indie films. Decades later she found a new generation of fans with the hit series Yellowjackets, which earned her an Emmy nomination.
7. Ryan Gosling
In the early ’90s, a young Ryan Gosling was a Mouseketeer on Disney’s The Mickey Mouse Club, alongside future pop stars Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake.
He went on to become one of Hollywood’s most respected leading men, with Oscar nominations for Half Nelson, La La Land and Barbie. His “I’m Just Ken” performance at the 2024 Oscars stole the show.
8. Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson made her film debut at 9 in North (1994). At 13 she won over critics as a traumatized young rider in Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer.
As an adult she became one of the highest-grossing actresses of all time, thanks largely to playing Black Widow in the Marvel films. In 2020 she earned two Oscar nominations in the same year, for Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit.
9. Elijah Wood
Elijah Wood was one of the busiest child actors of the early ’90s, with roles in Avalon and The Good Son opposite Macaulay Culkin.
Then Peter Jackson cast him as Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings. The trilogy became one of the most successful in film history, and the former child actor was at the center of it all.
10. Neil Patrick Harris
At 16, Neil Patrick Harris became a household name as a teenage genius physician in Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989). For years, it seemed he’d never escape the role.
He did, spectacularly. He played the scene-stealing Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother, won a Tony Award for Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and hosted the Tonys, the Emmys and the Oscars.
11. Mila Kunis
Mila Kunis was just 14 when she was cast as Jackie on That ’70s Show. She famously fudged her age at the audition, and the producers only found out later.
She also became the voice of Meg Griffin on Family Guy before breaking out in films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Black Swan and Bad Moms.
12. Miley Cyrus
At 13, Miley Cyrus became a global sensation as Disney’s Hannah Montana, the schoolgirl with a secret pop-star identity.
Many Disney stars struggle to shake off their image, but Cyrus reinvented herself again and again. Her 2023 hit Flowers spent weeks at No. 1 and won her first Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year.
From Child Stars to Legends
Fame at a young age often ends badly, which makes these stories even more impressive. Each of them found a way to grow up, keep working and turn early success into a lasting career.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons, cropped. Drew Barrymore: Eva Rinaldi (CC BY-SA 2.0). Jodie Foster: Claire Fridkin (CC BY-SA 4.0). Leonardo DiCaprio: Raph_PH (CC BY 4.0). Natalie Portman: Colleen Sturtevant (CC BY 4.0). Kirsten Dunst: Georges Biard (CC BY-SA 3.0). Christina Ricci: Kevin Paul (CC BY 4.0). Ryan Gosling: Elen Nivrae (CC BY 2.0). Scarlett Johansson: Harald Krichel (CC BY-SA 4.0). Elijah Wood: Bryan Berlin (CC BY-SA 4.0). Neil Patrick Harris: Harald Krichel (CC BY-SA 4.0). Mila Kunis: Max Surprenant (CC BY 4.0). Miley Cyrus: Raphael Pour-Hashemi (CC BY 2.0).
