Former Child Star: Difference between revisions
→Real Life instances
prefix>Import Bot (Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.FormerChildStar 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.FormerChildStar, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
|||
(32 intermediate revisions by 8 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''He's a former child star?! Oh, just lock him up and throw away the jail!''
|'''Bosco''', ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police|Sam and Max]]: Culture Shock''}}
Probably one of Hollywood's biggest [[Acceptable Targets]], the [[Former Child Star]] is [[Exactly What It Says
▲{{quote|''He's a former child star?! Oh, just lock him up and throw away the jail!''|'''Bosco''', ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police (Video Game)|Sam and Max]]: Culture Shock''}}
While some kids idolize these stars and want to be
▲Probably one of Hollywood's biggest [[Acceptable Targets]], the Former Child Star is [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|just what it sounds like]]: a star of TV or film whose career was at its peak in their formative years. Alas, such an unorthodox childhood can leave its mark on anyone (especially if they were [[Not Allowed to Grow Up]]), and it always does in fictional depictions of the Former Child Star. In adulthood, they may be a struggling actor who finds it hard to be taken seriously when everyone remembers them as "[[I Am Not Spock|that one kid from that one show]]", if they're remembered at all. And that's if they're lucky: the unlucky ones wind up mourning their glory days in a dead-end job, or (dis)gracing the covers of tabloids after a run-in with the law. Sadly, a case of [[Truth in Television]], as the troubled biographies of some real-life Former Child Stars will show. On the other hand, there are other child actors who grew up well, like [[Jodie Foster]] and Bill Mumy, because their parents took care to raise them up right under the circumstances.
▲While some kids idolize these stars and want to be like--or be--them because of how "glamorous" their lives are, their lives more or less suck 80% of the time. Can you say [[Blessed With Suck]]?
No doubt [[Growing Up Sucks]] for them...especially if they're [[Contractual Purity|treated as though they never did]].
Subtrope of [[Always an Actor]]. Compare with [[White Dwarf Starlet]].
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== [[Film]] ==
* The title character of the 1962 film ''[[What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
* The David Spade film ''Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star'' is about one of these characters trying to learn about "normal" family life from a typical suburban family in preparation for a role.
* Jaleel "[[Family Matters|Steve Urkel]]" White played himself in the film ''[[Big Fat Liar]]'', briefly showcasing his struggles as an adult actor when everyone remembers him as "that Urkel kid".
* ''[[Harold
** This ironically led to a revival in Harris' career.
* "Baby" Brent in ''[[Cloudy
* Donnie in ''[[Magnolia]]'', a former [[Child Prodigy]] on a TV quiz show who fell on hard times.
* ''Life With Mikey'' starred [[Family Ties|Michael J. Fox]] as a former child star turned talent agent.
** Although in his case it's even weirder, most of his fame came from him playing a child while he was an adult. These weren't roles he had played since he was a child, his entire
* Philip Seymour Hoffman's character in ''[[Along Came Polly]]'' plays with this trope, even featuring a movie poster in the style of ''[[The Breakfast Club]]'', and a character meltdown when he tries to direct and play every role in a community theatre production.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
* The ''Gemma'' books by Noel Streatfeild are about a teenage
▲== Literature ==
* Subverted in the [[X Wing Series]], part of the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]. Garik "Face" Loran was a child star who appeared in Imperial propagandist [[Call a Rabbit
▲* The ''Gemma'' books by Noel Streatfeild are about a teenage [[Former Child Star]] who is sent to [[The Good Old British Comp|comprehensive school]]. She changes her surname so as to be inconspicuous, but finds she doesn't like being a nobody, and ends up becoming (locally) famous again.
▲* Subverted in the [[X Wing Series]], part of the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]. Garik "Face" Loran was a child star who appeared in Imperial propagandist [[Call a Rabbit A Smeerp|"holodramas"]] until he realized the levels of cruelty [[The Empire]] was capable of. Now he's one part [[The Atoner]], one part [[Master of Disguise]] (he's still a fantastic actor), and one part [[The Ace]] (though this is mostly an act, and he can be a truly competent pilot when he needs to be). This definition of "child" is a bit flexible and seems to extend to "teen", since a number of women in his squadron had crushes on him when he was starring in holofilms.
** His old contemporary and rival Tetran Cowall, on the other hand, stayed Imperial.
* Pearl Bright of Jane Lindskold's ''[[
▲== Live Action TV ==
* An ''[[SCTV]]'' segment parodies the trope with the show ''Oh That Rusty!'', which has been running for over 20 years with the same lead actor. He's clearly an adult, and offscreen he basically runs the show now, but his character Rusty has never aged. Since Rusty is ''eight years old'', the show recasts the other characters and redesigns the sets to try and hide this.
* Robin from ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' was one (in Canada). The rest of the group mock her mercilessly for it.
* In the ''[[Married...
* Marcus Little of ''[[The Suite Life On Deck]]'' was formerly the [[One
== [[Music]] ==
* [[Barenaked Ladies]]' song "New Kid On The Block" has a line about this: "I'm a New Kid on the Block/I'm 23 and [[Contractual Purity|they won't let me grow up]]."
==
* [[Peter Sellers]]' 1958 comedy album ''The Best of Sellers'' has a song, "I'm So Ashamed", where a pop singer laments his falling out of favor, having not had a hit song in three weeks. It's revealed that the poor guy's almost 9 years old now...
* George Leroy Tirebiter from the ''[[Firesign Theatre]]'' album ''Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers''.
▲* Barenaked Ladies' song "New Kid On The Block" has a line about this: "I'm a New Kid on the Block/I'm 23 and they won't let me grow up."
== [[Theatre]] ==
* The Broadway musical ''[[Avenue Q]]'' features Gary Coleman as a superintendent.
** And in the Mexico City production, the character was turned into a [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]] version of Carlos Espejel, a Mexican comedian who was a child actor in eighties' Mexican TV. Imagine a kid dressed up as Dracula, trying awfully hard to be scary and [[Hilarity Ensues|failing miserably, time after time...]]
* Baby Rose, from the original version of ''Babes in Arms'', moved to New York after she got older and "became passé". Now a gorgeous teenager, she's followed everywhere by a barbershop quartet who sing backup for her, but she has so little money left from her Hollywood days that, when the rest of the cast gets sent to a work farm, she and the quartet get sent there, too.
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
▲== Video Games ==
* The Soda Poppers from Telltale Games' episodic [[Sam and Max Freelance Police|Sam and Max]] adventure games, who were reoccurring characters throughout the first two seasons before {{spoiler|revealing themselves to be evil in Episode 205, ''What's New Beelzebub?''}}.
== [[Web Original]] ==
* [[Funny
==
* ''[[Batman:
▲* [[Funny Or Die]]'s ''[http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c8ad4aa802/wax-on-f-ck-off-with-ralph-macchio Wax On, Fuck Off]'' is about [[The Karate Kid|Ralph Macchio]] trying to ''become'' a Hollywood trainwreck (or at least look like one) in order to gain more roles.
* One episode of ''[[
* ''[[Static Shock]]'' had a one-shot villain named Replay who was a former child star with [[
▲* ''[[Batman the Animated Series (Animation)|Batman the Animated Series]]'' had minor baddie "Baby" Dahl, a former starlet who wasn't able to find work as a serious after her show was cancelled because she's [[Older Than They Look|stuck in the body of a little girl]].
▲* One episode of ''[[Bonkers (Animation)|Bonkers]]'' had a Former Child Star trying to pass himself off as [[Mickey Mouse]].
▲* ''[[Static Shock]]'' had a one-shot villain named Replay who was a former child star with [[Mes a Crowd|self-duplication]].
** And was also voiced by former child star [[Neil Patrick Harris]].
* ''[[The Simpsons (
* Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture from ''
** This could also apply to supporting character Dr. Billy Quizboy.
** One of the recurring themes in the show is that this ends up happening to pretty much ''all'' "Boy Adventurers" when they grow up. [[Jonny Quest]] himself, for example, is now a paranoid junkie. Rusty also attends a therapy session that features a [[Batman|Robin]] like former sidekick with an eating disorder, an [[Astro Boy (
== [[Real Life]] ==
* As a musical example, [[Britney Spears]]
* [[Lindsay Lohan]]... Oh dear. It was a mix of [[The Prima Donna|her personality]] (even as a child) and [[Stage Mom|her parents]] that eventually demolished anything she had left resembling a professional career.
* The famous child acting duo Corey Feldman and Corey Haim both had meltdowns for adult lives. Eventually it claimed Corey Haim's life. Corey Feldman has survived fairly well, but unfortunately that's all we ever hear of him doing anymore.
* Brian Bonsall, who played baby brother Andy Keaton on ''[[Family Ties]]'' and Worf's son Alexander on ''[[
* Macaulay Culkin became a star after ''[[Home Alone]]''.
* [[Edward Furlong]], despite solid performances in ''[[American History X]]'' and a couple of other movies, is still remembered as [[Terminator|a juvenile John Connor]].
* Jake Lloyd today seems to be very bitter and cynical about his role as Anakin Skywalker in ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'', but when you have gone through high-school and college with people [[Never Live It Down|constantly accusing]] you of ruining ''[[Star Wars]]'', it is pretty hard to not to.
* [[Michael Jackson]] was ultimately a bigger star as an adult solo act, but didn't completely subvert this trope. The abuse he suffered under [[Stage Mom|his dad's]] thumb as a child star warped him so badly that once he was able to stand on his own, he became obsessed with finally having a happy childhood in his private life. Thus, most of his adult pursuits and hobbies were juvenile and a way for him to "live as a kid" (i.e., the whole Neverland Ranch), and were a big reason he wound up with the [[Memetic Molester]] reputation that ruined his career.
* Brad Renfro was 12 when he made his film debut in the critically-acclaimed film ''[[The Client]]'', co-starring with Susan Sarandon and [[Tommy Lee Jones]]. He won ''The Hollywood Reporter''{{'}}s Young Star Award in 1995 went on to appear in ''Apt Pupil'' and ''[[Ghost World]]''. Sadly, he spiraled into drug and alcohol abuse and died from a heroin overdose at the age of 25.
* The three lead kid actors on ''[[
* Played tragically straight with [[River Phoenix]]. He had a skill for acting far beyond anyone else in his generation, but couldn't cope with the pressures of fame and hated that he was part of a system he despised. in which he was the focus of attention that should have been devoted to causes such as Humanitarian or Animal Rights which he felt strongly about. He turned to drugs and wound up dying of an overdose.
** Averted with his brother [[Joaquin Phoenix|Joaquin]], who's got a pretty good career as an adult, but played up to the trope with his extended breakdown in the fake-autobiographical ''I'm Still Here''.
* The rather sad case of [[Bobby Driscoll]] who was Disney's golden boy during the 1940s. Famous for his roles in ''[[Song
* Other than the [[Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen|Olsen Twins]] (who made the choice to move on to other ventures, including fashion design), just about all of the child/teenage actors who starred in ''[[Full House]]'' fell out of the limelight for quite a long time. It says something that the [[Career Resurrection]] move for the three main non-Olsen girls that actually stuck was ''[[Fuller House]]'', a sequel of the series that brought them fame in the first place.
▲* The rather sad case of Bobby Driscoll who was Disney's golden boy during the 1940s. Famous for his roles in ''Song Of The South'' and ''Peter Pan'' he was in several movies but was abruptly let go in the middle of the 1950s. He was ridiculed in school for being a child star and lapsed into obscurity through drugs. He was found dead and the body wasn't identified until a year later.
** Jodie Sweetin in particular stands out as an example of this trope played straight. Facing an inability to find further work and a traumatic social life due to being typecast as Stephanie Tanner, she became an alcoholic and a habitual user of marijuana, cocaine, LSD and most famously, meth. However, she seems to have gotten her life back on track recently{{when}}, has published a memoir about her drug addiction, and
** Before starring in ''Fuller House'', Candace Cameron
▲** Jodie Sweetin in particular stands out as an example of this trope played straight. Facing an inability to find further work and a traumatic social life due to being typecast as Stephanie Tanner, she became an alcoholic and a habitual user of marijuana, cocaine, LSD and most famously, meth. However, she seems to have gotten her life back on track recently, has published a memoir about her drug addiction, and is now seeking a [[Career Resurrection]].
* [[Leif Garrett]] is an example of this, a child pop star who got embroiled with drugs and scandals. Currently a commentator on [[Tru TV]]'s ''[[
▲** Candace Cameron has since bouced back a bit, now appearing on [[Make It or Break It]]. Not as well-known or massive as Full House was in its time, but still a noteworthy performance.
▲* [[Leif Garrett]] is an example of this, a child pop star who got embroiled with drugs and scandals. Currently a commentator on [[Tru TV]]'s ''[[Worlds Dumbest]]'' alongside fellow [[Former Child Star|Former Child Stars]] Danny Bonaduce and Todd Bridges.
* There is an interesting contrast between the two stars of ''[[Guest From the Future]]''. [[Natalia Guseva]] acted in a few more movies, but decided to become a scientist instead. Now, she not only works as a biochemist, but also is still involved with the fan community, and is raising a daughter. Meanwhile, [[Alexei Fomkin]] had a few more roles, but got into drug problems, which caused him to lose roles and spiral further downward. He quit acting and moved to a village, which seemed to be straightening him out. Sadly, he died in 1996 when his apartment burned.
* [[Robert Blake]] also starred in ''[[The Little Rascals|Our Gang]]'' comedies (as Mickey Gubitosi), then later starred in ''[[In Cold Blood]]'' and had the title role on the TV series ''[[Baretta]]'', and years later was acquitted of his wife's murder, but lost a civil wrongful death lawsuit filed by his children.
* Judy Norton Taylor was thirteen when she was initially cast as Mary Ellen in ''The Homecoming'', the [[Pilot Movie]] for ''[[The Waltons]]'', and had a few other roles before that. She was considered a "child actress" well into her twenties, and even posing in ''[[Playboy]]'' in 1985 didn't seem to help much. Although she still acts (and writes and directs), the majority of her "big" roles since 1981 have been in the various ''Waltons'' [[Reunion Show|reunion TV movies]], the last of which was in 2000.
* Filipino actor Jiro Manio was hailed as a child prodigy for his appearance in the critically acclaimed ''Magnifico'' (2003), but his career fell by the wayside when his life was mired by drug addiction in his teens, having been considered a has-been before he hit 20. Manio made headlines in the 2010s when he was spotted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) wandering around after a supposed altercation with his relatives. He went to rehab and left in 2017 but once again made headlines when he was arrested for allegedly stabbing a man in 2020.
* [[Elizabeth Taylor]], going from a child star in movies like ''[[Lassie Come Home]]'' to one of the most famous film actresses '''ever'''. Her private life, however, was notably less successful: she was notorious for her large number of weddings and divorces, and was treated for alcoholism and prescription drug addiction.
* [[Jodie Foster]]. First major role (after a series of Disney films) was in ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' as a twelve-year-old child prostitute. Even after the scandal over [[Stalker
* [[Shirley Temple]].
* Jackie Cooper starred in some ''[[The Little Rascals|Our Gang]]'' comedies and was still a successful actor, director, and producer, most famous on screen as Perry White in the ''[[Superman (
* Bill Mumy of ''[[Lost in Space]]''. His parents took care that he grew up properly during his career as a child, including carefully investing his pay, and he became a successful musician (his comedy pop band [[Barnes & Barnes]] is responsible for that "Fish Heads" song) and a reasonably busy actor who even got another juicy sci-fi TV role as Lennier in ''[[Babylon
** His daughter Liliana is also making it well as a cartoon voice actress (most notably as the voice of Panini in ''[[Chowder]]''), and even played alongside her dad in the sequel to "It's a Good Life", "It's Still a Good Life", on the second revival of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]''. She's since gone on to be a successful adult actress in her own right.
* [[Dean Stockwell]]
* The child cast of ''[[The Wonder Years]]'' have all managed to do well as adults: [[Fred Savage]] is a director and producer along with occasional acting, [[Danica McKellar]] is an author and mathematician when not acting, and Josh Saviano (Paul) is an attorney.
** Although Saviano has been the subject of the famous myth that he became Marilyn Manson when he grew up which he has found very amusing.
* [[Christian Bale]]. He rose to fame as a child actor in films like ''[[Empire of the Sun (
* [[The Partridge Family|Danny Bonaduce]] has [[Adam Westing|made an entire ''career'']] out of being a washed-up ex-child-star. In interviews and his comedy routines, he makes a point of stating that he would have turned into a drug-addicted [[Jerkass]] with or without his role on ''[[The Partridge Family]]''.
* [[Natalie Wood]]. Starred in ''[[Miracle
* [[Natalie Portman]]. Her first big role was at the age of 11-12 in ''[[Léon: The Professional]]'', and she has been <s>equally</s> ''far'' more successful as an adult, starring in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequel films, ''[[V for Vendetta]]'', ''[[Black Swan]]'' (which won her an Oscar) and ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]''. Like Emma Watson below, Portman taking a career break to go to college (and [[Ivy League|Harvard]], [[Teen Genius|no less]]) may have had something to do with it. Like Christian Bale, she also won an Oscar, for Best Actress, for her role in ''[[Black Swan]]''.
▲* [[Natalie Wood]]. Starred in [[Miracle On 34th Street]] aged 8, but successfully adapted to 'grown-up' parts in her teens with ''[[Rebel Without a Cause]]'' and ''[[The Searchers]]'' and is barely remembered as a child star at all.
* [[
* Speaking of Christmas movies, Peter Billingsley from ''[[A Christmas Story]]'' grew up to be a successful director and producer. [[Bishounen|And he's quite handsome,]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130602081231/http://images.buddytv.com/articles/movies/profiles/peter-billingsley.jpg too.] He's also made an appearance in the [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]] as Mysterio's [[The Dragon|second-in-command]] in ''[[Spider-Man: Far From Home]]''.▼
* [[Ron Howard]]. Starting out as Opie on ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]'' and Richie on ''[[Happy Days]]'', he then went on to direct films like ''
▲* Speaking of Christmas movies, Peter Billingsley from ''[[A Christmas Story]]'' grew up to be a successful director and producer. [[Bishounen|And he's quite handsome,]] [http://images.buddytv.com/articles/movies/profiles/peter-billingsley.jpg too.]
▲* [[Ron Howard]]. Starting out as Opie on ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]'' and ''[[Happy Days]]'' he went on to direct films like ''Apollo13'' and ''[[A Beautiful Mind]]'' (not to mention his involment in ''[[Arrested Development (TV)|Arrested Development]]'').
** Howard is still an [[Acceptable Target]] in comedy for how his ''appearance'' has aged horribly.
* [[Neil Patrick Harris]] is a notable aversion: after spending his teens on ''[[Doogie Howser, M.D.]]'', he worked steadily as a guest star on TV and on Broadway. But his career ''really'' took off after he did a cameo in the first ''[[Harold
* The main cast of the ''[[Harry Potter (
** [[Daniel Radcliffe]], apart from his role as the title character,
** [[Rupert Grint]]'s major claim to eccentricity is owning an ice cream truck, saying that if his career after the ''Harry Potter'' movies are finished falls through, he can always fall back on a career as an ice cream man. A fairly mild indulgence for a multimillionaire, all things considered.
** As for [[Emma Watson]]... well, let's face it, there
*** Film critic Leonard Maltin famously said once that Watson was in "the early stages of babehood". Now that she's most certainly an adult and effectively
** As a side note, [[Chris Columbus]], who directed the first two ''Potter'' films, previously directed ''[[Home Alone]]''. As he has discussed in interviews, Columbus is unhappy with how [[Macaulay Culkin]] turned out and considers this partly his fault. When casting the ''Potter'' kids, he was determined to avoid the same mistakes and tried to cast children with stable home lives.
* [[Phil Collins]]. Though he was a child model/actor who played [[The Artful Dodger]] in a West End production of ''[[Oliver
** Another aversion: early productions of ''Oliver!'' featured Steve Marriott in the titular role. Marriott infuriated his family by choosing music over acting, given that he'd already become an established success, but went on to be the extremely popular frontman for Small Faces and Humble Pie.
* Whit Hertford was a fairly popular child actor and voice actor appearing in works like ''[[Jurassic Park]]'', ''[[Full House]]'', and ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'', he came back into show business having a successful career as an actor, writer, and director.
* After a successful career as a child, which included an Oscar for her role in ''[[The Piano]]'', [[Anna Paquin]] transitioned to adulthood easily, finding her best work on
*
* Sean Astin transitioned fairly well from [[The Goonies|child actor]] to [[The Lord of the Rings (
* [[Jennifer Connelly]] went a long way from being a young girl in ''[[
* Thomas Sangster, from such films as ''[[Love Actually]]'' and ''[[Nanny McPhee]]'', has had success beyond his cute little boy image, in films as diverse as ''Hitler: The Rise of Evil'' and ''Tristan & Isolde''. Sangster also played young Paul McCartney in ''[[Nowhere Boy]]''.
* Back in the 1910s, at the Vitagraph film studio, there was a local kid from Brooklyn named Harry Horowitz who enjoyed hanging out there. Harry was charming and [[Large Ham|a natural ham]], and the Vitagraph people began putting him in films, making him a child star. Young Harry would grow up to be one of the most violent and abusive men in the world: {{spoiler|Moe Howard of [[The Three Stooges]]. [[Mean Character, Nice Actor|But it's an aversion too.]]}}
* Stefan Brogren has come as close as anyone to being a [[Real Life]] version of [[SCTV]]'s "Rusty" by playing the role of Archie "Snake" Simpson in every incarnation of the ''[[Degrassi]]'' franchise since 1987 while taking on an ever larger role behind the camera. His character, however, has aged and progressed from student to teacher to principal of the titular [[High School]], while the show's hiatus coincides with the period the character would've been getting his degree.
* [[Justin Timberlake]] started off early, as a performer on ''[[The New Mickey Mouse Club]]'' (other cast members included Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera). After departing from
* Elijah Wood started off as a modestly successful child actor, appearing in such films as ''[[Back to The Future|Back to the Future: Part II]]'', ''[[The Good Son]]'', and ''[[North]]''. It wasn't until starring in Peter Jackson's take on ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' that his adult career really kicked off.
* Blake Foster has been doing alright since his time as Justin Stewart in ''[[Power Rangers Turbo
* [[Mayim Bialik]] hit it big with the Bette Midler film ''[[Beaches]]'' and then her own long-running [[Sitcom]], ''[[Blossom]]''. Then, like Natalie Portman, Emma Watson and others she left show business to go to college, where she got a Ph.D. in neuroscience. And then she returned to show business as a regular on ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]''.
* [[Danielle Brisebois]] started her career on Broadway as "the littlest orphan" in ''[[Annie]]'' and kept working for years, including a notable turn as Archie Bunker's niece Stephanie on ''[[All in The Family]]'' and ''[[Archie Bunker's Place]]''. In the late 1980s she retired from acting and began a music career that included membership in the short-lived group [[New Radicals]], a successful solo career, producing, writing, and an [[Academy Award]] nomination for song-writing.
* [[Brooke Shields]] started as a child model, transitioned to acting with the infamous film ''[[Pretty Baby]]'', and continued acting through her teens, until like others on this list she took time off to go to college -- in her case, [[Ivy League|Princeton University]] in the mid-1980s. Her career appeared to die for about a decade, but after a notable guest appearance on ''[[Friends]]'' as a [[Stalker with a Crush]] she got her own sitcom, ''[[Suddenly Susan]]'', and despite raising a family has managed to maintain an active acting career since.
* Averted with ''[[Mary Poppins]]'' star Karen Dotrice, who largely retired from acting and has made sporadic appearances since shying away from the spotlight in the 80s, her most recent cameo appearance being as an old lady in ''[[Mary Poppins Returns]]''. When asked about why she retired she cites being coaxed into appearing topless as a teenager, further stating that she wouldn't have appeared in ''Poppins'' had she do it all over again.
** Things weren't so lucky for her co-star Matthew Garber (who portrayed Dotrice's on-screen brother Michael Banks in the film), as he passed away in 1997 after contracting hepatitis whilst in India.
*
* Once famous as a child actor in Sweden and the son of a famous actor, Alexander Skarsgård gave up acting for quite a while until returning a decade later and becoming famous for roles on ''[[True Blood]]'' and ''[[Generation Kill]]''.
* At one point, [[Drew Barrymore]] was the epitome of the bad end of this trope; at the age of 15, she already went through smoking cigarettes and pot, drinking, doing cocaine, attempting suicide and staying in rehab twice. However, she eventually sobered up and became a successful adult actress.
* [[Joseph Gordon-Levitt]] took a breather from acting after playing Tommy on ''[[3rd Rock
* Something similar can be said of [[Wil Wheaton]] and his role as [[
** Wheaton built an adult career on convincing executives that "geeks" (who he simultaneously expressed hatred for on social media) actually like him. Critical and audience reception of his modern works shows that, no, audiences still hated him... until ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]''.
* Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett are subversions as well, now much better known for their indie rock band [[Rilo Kiley]] then their pasts as child actors.
* [[Jackie Coogan]] starred with [[Charlie Chaplin]]
* Ironically played with in the life of Mickey Dolenz. He was the child star of ''[[Circus Boy]]'' for several years, after which his parents took him out of show business entirely to avert this trope. By all accounts, it worked... far better than when he gained and lost fame
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Trope]]
|