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Acting talent (even if it is from nature) requires many years of “polishing” and refinement. Quite adult actors, who have long been formed as individuals, sometimes spend decades honing their skills before they receive recognition from the audience. They know how to show on the screen (or on the stage) any emotions – joy, love, rapture, boredom, despair, grief or even hopelessness – because they themselves, as a rule, have already experienced them in life.
But sometimes a child appears on the screen, who conveys to the auditorium the same emotions as his adult colleagues, but does it even more authentically, so that we believe his every word, every gesture, look, turn of his head … How is he does? How does this little man know what boundless pain is, what is emptiness in the soul, what is hope in a seemingly hopeless situation? How does he understand what exactly and how to show? Maybe children understand feelings better than us, already slightly “hardened” adults?
Let’s remember 10 little actors who impressed us with their childish play.
10 Henry Thomas
When Steven Spielberg was casting the cast for ET (1982), 10-year-old Henry Thomas showed up to try his hand at casting the role of Elliot, a boy who accidentally befriends a funny alien. According to the script, Elliot’s parents do not really pay attention to him, so the boy, of course, suffers from loneliness and restlessness.
At the casting, Henry, who was asked to portray sadness, completed the task so accurately that Spielberg himself could not hold back his tears. Henry Thomas got the role and played it brilliantly (and very emotionally), despite the fact that during the entire filming process, in fact, he communicated with the doll.
9. Kirsten Dunst
At 11 years old, young Kirsten Dunst almost outplayed the already famous actors Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in the film Interview with the Vampire (1994). She had a chance to play the role of Claudia – an adult vampire, forever “stuck” in the body of a little girl (and also having far from childish feelings for Louis – the one who once made her a vampire).
Kirsten not only coped with the role, she perfectly conveyed with her acting the confusion and suffering of the “old soul” in a young body. By the way, Brad Pitt later said that it was much more interesting to communicate with Kirsten than with many of her adult colleagues.
Many remember the grown-up (17-year-old) Dunst in the drama The Virgin Suicides as Lux Lisbon, played by the young actress in a very authentic and poignant manner. In total, before coming of age, Kirsten Dunst starred in 4 dozen films, having tried herself in a variety of roles and deserving many accolades from critics.
8. Daniel Radcliffe
Few people know that even before his starring role as “the boy with the scar” Daniel Radcliffe had acting experience. At the age of 10, he played the young David Copperfield in the drama of the same name. But, of course, the main “width and depth” of his talent was revealed precisely in the role of the maturing (and gaining life wisdom) Harry Potter.
Agree – now it is impossible to imagine any other actor in his place. Dan so organically entered this image (in no way inferior in the skill of the game to his adult colleagues, including the famous Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith), that now he has to constantly prove to the whole world that he, in fact, is not “lifelong Harry Potter”, but a very versatile actor. And by the way, he succeeds very brilliantly.
7. Macaulay Culkin
Of course, we all remember this funny blond-haired kid from the movie “Home Alone”. He, in fact, did not play – he WAS an ordinary boy of not timid ten who got into a non-standard situation and very successfully (with a huge, typically childish fantasy) solving the problems that arise along the way. Kevin-Macaulay was then only 9 years old, but he became the idol of millions of viewers.
But the film “The Good Son”, where Macaulay’s acting talent showed one more of his beautiful facets – dramatic – unfortunately, few will remember. In this picture, he played Mark, a teenager with obvious mental disabilities, a sociopath and a sadist. He enjoys torturing animals, then tries to kill his little cousin, and then his own mother.
Of course, it was very difficult for the viewer to perceive the mischievous “Kevin from Home Alone” in such a completely opposite role. Moreover, the 12-year-old Macaulay played it too authentically. And then there were several more roles (almost not remembered by the viewer), drugs, alcohol, early marriage (at 17) and a quick divorce … And Macaulay Culkin’s career, as a result, went downhill.
6. Jodie Foster
Twice “Oscar-winner”, Jodie Foster, began acting in commercials and TV shows from the age of three, and in big movies from the age of 10. At 14, she received her first Oscar nomination for her role as child prostitute Iris in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver.
Anticipating a flurry of serious accusations in advance for casting such a young actress in such a specific role, Scorsese first asked Jodie to undergo a whole series of psychological tests to make sure that she could actually withstand the mental stress associated with playing the role of Iris.
Foster successfully passed all the tests, and then frankly and very sincerely played her character, revealing all the simplicity and complexity of his personality. From that moment on, all paths to serious cinema were open to Jodie Foster.
5. Emma Watson
The one and only Hermione Granger was the only way young actress Emma Watson was perceived for a long time. A funny big-eyed girl (who knew how to be very serious) behaved very confidently at the casting for this role, which surprised and captivated the producers and director Chris Columbus. Emma was then only 9 years old.
The shooting showed that the choice turned out to be ideally correct. Just like with Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe, the character (Hermione) and his performer (Emma Watson) fit together like a key to a lock.
In “Potterian” both the comic and dramatic talents of the young actress appeared. Not surprisingly, after this eight-episode saga, Emma Watson takes on a variety of roles often and regularly (and, I must say, does a great job with them).
4. Hayley Joel Osment
Little actor Hayley Joel Osment began acting in films at the age of 6, but became world famous after the release of the movie The Sixth Sense (1999). The role of Cole Cyr – “the boy who sees ghosts” – brought the 11-year-old Haley an Oscar nomination. His masterful play (especially his childishly wise and deep look) amazed both his colleagues on the set, the audience, and then film critics.
A year later, in 2000, Haley again showed the depth of his dramatic talent, playing the seventh grader Trevor McKinney, who came up with his own theory of how to make our world a better place, in the drama Pay It Forward.
And in 2001, in “Artificial Intelligence”, he almost outplayed Jude Law himself, playing the role of an android boy looking for real maternal love so touchingly, poignantly and realistically that critics predicted a great future for Hayley Joel Osment in big cinema. Alas, in 2006, Haley was caught driving drunk and with drugs in his pocket, and then he got fat, losing his childish charm, after which his film career came to a standstill …
3. Leonardo DiCaprio
Now also the “Oscar-winner” (“Finally!” And “Thank God!”) Leonardo DiCaprio first appeared in front of the cameras at 2,5 years old. Until the age of 14, he managed to star in 30 commercials and (in episodic roles) in several TV shows, including quite well-known ones, such as Santa Barbara, Lassie’s New Adventures, etc.
But he played his first notable role (noted by critics very, very positively) only at the age of 16, in the film This Boy’s Life (1991) with Robert de Niro and Ellen Barkin. As De Niro himself later said, the guy impressed him with his game – truly reliable and professional.
And a year later, Leo got the role of Arnie Grape (a mentally retarded teenager) in the drama What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? with Johnny Depp. DiCaprio so organically entered the role that many viewers thought that the director really took on the role of a boy with serious developmental disabilities. Now we all already know that Leo is able to play anyone and anything, even a stool.
2. Dakota Fanning
A predisposition to the acting profession manifested itself in little Dakota Fanning as early as 4 years old (at this age she was sent to a children’s theater studio). And at the age of 6, the girl had already played the first serious role in her film career.
In the film “I’m Sam” (2001), Dakota got the role of Lucy Diamond Dawson, the daughter of the mentally retarded Sam, who loves his baby very much, but cannot take care of her properly. Dakota did such a good job with the role of Lucy, looking after her own dad, with the seriousness of an adult, that the film is impossible to watch without crying.
And at the age of 12, Dakota Fanning caused a stormy scandal by playing amazingly Luellen, a girl from a dysfunctional family who, by all means, wants to get to the concert of her favorite singer Elvis Presley and was raped by an acquaintance who took advantage of this. After the release of this film (“Hunted”, 2007), some especially impressionable viewers and critics demanded that Dakota’s mother be deprived of parental rights for allowing her daughter to star in “this” without an understudy. Dakota herself reasonably replied that “this is just a movie, this is acting.”
1. Natalie Portman
Another Oscar winner, Natalie Portman (then Natalie Hershlag), also dreamed of becoming an actress from early childhood. She spent every school vacation at the theater camp.
And then one day (at the age of 13) Natalie woke up famous – the film by Luc Besson “Leon” (1994) was released, in which she played the young killer Matilda. (By the way, almost 2 contenders auditioned for this role, but the serious and decisive Portman beat them all). In the frame, Matilda, who accidentally survived the murder of her entire family by the drug lord’s henchmen, smokes, learns to shoot, tries to make eyes at the killer Leon who sheltered her, even kills. (Hmm… How do you like such a role for a 12-year-old girl?) Nevertheless, Natalie did it 10 points out of 10, impressing with her talent both the entire film crew, and, a little later, film critics and spectators (and thereby hurting herself road to a big film career).