Why the dislike for child actors when they become teens?

No doubt, but he had been involved with something else at that point, I just don't recall what. Maybe it was another game show, he seemed pretty comfortable in that format.

 

This is just my opinion, but it appears to me that Hollywood doesn’t like hiring teenagers. Teenage characters seem to be given to young adult actors. This leaves a gap for teenage actors to have to overcome. Some teenagers seem to get cast (Jodie Foster, Brooke Shields) but they seem to be few and far between.

This dislike may be the reason child actors have a harder time once they become teenagers. All the roles they could be playing are taken by actors in their 20s which leaves them with scraps.

As far as why Hollywood doesn’t want to hire teenagers is a mystery to me. Maybe it has something to do with the rapid biological changes teenagers go through?

 

Not sure of the time line, but it might have been ‘The Surreal Life” on VH1 or MTV (I forget which). He met his (now ex) wife on that show and was somewhat high profile for a time after that.

 

I agree but I’ve seen/heard people say they don’t like later season Opie.

 

well I'm not in that category...I like them for as long as they are on TV...a fan always.

 

I agree he was always pleasant...and enjoyable.

 

Reading what Shirley Temple said about her Hollywood time, she’s an original member of the #metoo movement.

Shirley Temple Was The World's Biggest Child Star, But Had To Suffer Years of Tragic Abuse For It

 

I've always enjoyed whatever Ron Howard was in from TV to films, but his ability as a director is his real calling.

 

Kids are cute - as they grow up - maybe not so much.

 

There's the fact that you continue to perform as a child actor captured forever on film and are also compared to your current self. One is going to suffer. I'd also point out that those kids don't always "learn" to act but perform some variation of who they might be.

 

Micky Dolenz started his career as a child actor and starred in his own series ‘Circus Boy’ in the late 1950’s. He continued his acting career as he got older and guest starred in shows like ‘Peyton Place’ before landing in ‘The Monkees’.

 

I thought Shirley Temple was great in her teens. I wish she'd have been able to make more movies as she seemed like she had some depth and could really act. The Bachelor And The Bobby Soxer was maybe her most well known from that time.

Bill Mumy was probably the best, a lot of range, and Ron and Clint Howard were always good. Mickey Dolenz was a natural, and Davy Jones. Robert Blake had a bad time as a kid but also very talented. Jackie Coogan way back also loaded with talent. They all were still good as adults/teens.

 

I certainly don't hate Ron Howard. But since his bungling of Eight Days a Week, I have lost some respect for some of the choices he made in that film as a director.

 

He had a reality show,

 

Some of them are just not good enough actors, or just didn't have the right breaks ( the right role in a hit film).

Others are. I'd say Jodie Foster, Kurt Russell, Jackie Cooper, Ron Howard, Jason Bateman, Mickey Rooner were always (perhaps "often" is a better word) good no matter their age.

Someone like Macauley (sp?) Culkin - well speaking only for myself, it was fun to watch a cute kid thwart burglars in a live action cartoon. Or watch him play a bad seed. Once he outgrew the cuteness he lost mojo. Still, with the right role, you never know.

 

I'm sure that part of the reason Hollywood is reluctant to hire teenage actors is due to child labour laws. These laws restrict the number of hours that a minor can work in front of the camera. That's why high school students in TV shows are often played by actors in their early twenties - without them, the studios couldn't produce the episodes fast enough to keep up with a weekly television schedule.

There are exceptions to every rule, of course. Claire Danes was a teenager when she was cast in My So-Called Life. In order to comply with the child labour laws, the writers limited the number of scenes in each episode that she would appear in. As a result, the focus of the show shifted from being solely about her character to more of an ensemble piece that gave a lot of screen time to her friends, along with her parents and their friends.

 

Jodie Foster is a great actress at any age. Matt Dillon was perfect in things like Tex and Rumble Fish, and has been solid as an adult.

 

Well, my problem is when you have a large cast of "teenagers" that look like the movie cast of Grease: people obviously pushing 30. I think it's possible to hire kids who turned 18 last week and can work a full shooting day and still project the image of somebody who is about 15-16-17.

I worked on a small indie film about 12-13 years ago (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) and I had an interesting conversation with the director and producer about the casting. There was a scene in the film where the "high school kids" as the lead characters (who were all 25+) were horsing around a swimming pool and one of them gets injured. The problem for me was that all the background players were real teenagers, all 15 or 16, and they looked like children by comparison. So on the one hand, you have "Hollywood" teenagers, and on the other, you have "actual" teenagers. And they're rarely the same. They tried to work around it with editing, but it was kind of visually jarring, at least to me.

Neil Patrick Harris is another example of a child actor who managed to forge a very successful career as an adult, in TV sitcoms, dramas, even Broadway musicals. I think he basically never stopped working, which is a rarity among kid actors. In his case, I think he was actually 15 while playing 14 on the show. Because child actors can generally only work about 4-5 hours a day, they came up with ways of shooting around his character while still letting him be the central focus of the show. What helped is that he had a near-photographic memory of the script and rarely screwed up, so he was an exceptional talent who did very well working with the system.

Fred Savage of The Wonder Years did not do as well, but he did make an effort to move into adult roles, like his brief stint in the NBC sitcom Working. Jaleel White ("Erkel" on Family Matters) also tried to break out in adult roles on shortlived series like Grown Ups; I can say for a fact that White was not happy in the last few episodes of that show. In both cases, I don't think the problem was with the actors, but rather, finding the right show for their talents and their look.

 

I think my first ever crush as a kid was Kim Richards. I thought she was as cute as could be!



Even into the 80's when I saw her again I thought "Wow, she's awesome!":



But now that we are both adults I think "meh". Might have to do with her lifestyle more than anything. Haven't seen the show she is now now (or was on) because I am not interested in that type of show. No acting or bad acting involved.

Always loved Ron Howard but I read Barry Livingston's book (Ernie Douglas) and there was a part that both of them were trying out for. Barry said that Ron was stand-offish and was very cocky and he tried to upstage him. He said by the end of the scene they were both standing at the edge of the stage. Barry said there is no ill-feelings and it just could have been that teenage personality but he would do the same thing to Ron during the audition.

 

By and large teenagers are not liked except by other teenagers. I hope I am not overgeneralizing.

 

Chloe Grace Moretz is a good example of a child actor who is maturing very well, and now getting adult parts like the recent The Miseducation of Cameron Post.

 

They even had a reality show for a little bit--"My Fair Brady".

Why do I keep this knowledge?

 

Yeah, this is a rare case of a cute kid who grew up and became a knockout. Glad she's doing well, and she's been in some good films as an adult, too.

 

She's 20 and can convincingly play 15, and appears to be choosing projects carefully to build a good body of work.

 

Dow got better, though. He was better as a teen than as a younger kid. Whereas Mathers was brilliant as a kid and lousy at the end.