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{{trope}}
[[File:babyjane_7479.jpg|link=What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Film)|frame|Apparently, ''this'' is what happened to Baby Jane. Not a pretty sight.]]
 
 
{{quote|''He's a former child star?! Oh, just lock him up and throw away the jail!''|'''Bosco''', ''[[The Adventures of Sam and& Max: Freelance Police (Video Game)|Sam and Max]]: Culture Shock''}}
 
Probably one of Hollywood's biggest [[Acceptable Targets]], the Former Child Star is [[Exactly What It Says Onon 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 Withwith Suck]]?
 
No doubt [[Growing Up Sucks]] for them...especially if they're [[Contractual Purity|treated as though they never did]].
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== Film ==
* The title character of the 1962 film ''[[What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (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 and Kumar]] Go To White Castle'' had [[Real Life]] Former Child Star [[Neil Patrick Harris]], although playing a far more dysfunctional version of himself than actually exists.
** This ironically led to a revival in Harris' career.
* "Baby" Brent in ''[[Cloudy Withwith a Chance of Meatballs]]''. As a baby he was the mascot of the town sardine cannery and has spent his entire life trading on his fame, down to wearing a diaper underneath his clothes.
* 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.
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== Literature ==
* 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 Aa 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 ''[[Breaking the Wall (Literature)|Breaking the Wall]]'' trilogy is a [[Former Child Star]], a contemporary of no less than Shirley Temple herself. However Pearl herself subverts the usual description of this trope by being moderately wealthy thanks to her mother's careful investing of her childhood earnings, maintaining connections throughout Hollywood, and being an octogenarian [[Badass]].
 
 
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* 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... Withwith Children]]'' episode, "You Better Shop Around" Jerry Mathers (known for ''[[Leave It to Beaver]]'') guest stars, playing himself as a washed-up former child star, who has resorted to judging shopping contests in supermarkets. Bud and Kelly mercilessly mock him for this.
* Marcus Little of ''[[The Suite Life On Deck]]'' was formerly the [[One-Hit Wonder]] kid rapper Lil' Little.
 
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[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 [[Me's a Crowd|self-duplication]].
** And was also voiced by former child star [[Neil Patrick Harris]].
* ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]''' episode "Last Tap Dance In Springfield" has this with Lisa's tap teacher, who was a Shirley Temple-style star and is now a nasty old harridan who hides behind [[Tastes Like Diabetes]] mannerisms most of the time. She admits to tapping coded messages for the Allies in WWII and destroying Buddy Ebsen's credit rating, so this two-faced nature was probably always there.
* Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture from ''The [[Venture Brothers]]'' applies to this in a non-acting sense: he was a boy adventurer a la ''[[Jonny Quest]]'', but has been met with failure after abject failure in his attempt to "adventure" post-adolescence.
** 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 (Mangamanga)|Astro Boy]] looking robot with anger management problems, and two [[Hardy Boys]] like former boy detectives who almost certainly killed their father. The whole experience actually leads Rusty to realize that by the standards of his peers he made out pretty good.
 
 
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* [[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 ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation|Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' has been arrested several times for assault and drug possession.
* Macaulay Culkin became a star after ''[[Home Alone]]''. Twenty years later, it still is his most important role.
* [[Edward Furlong]], despite solid performances in ''[[American History X]]'' and a couple of other movies, is still remembered as [[Terminator|a juvenile John Connor]].
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* [[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 ''[[DiffrentDiff'rent Strokes]]'' -- Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges, and Dana Plato -- became infamous for brushes with the law as adults. Plato ultimately died at 34 of a drug overdose which was ruled a suicide. Gary Coleman, meanwhile, <s>[[Avenue Q|turned into a crossdressing woman and became the super for an apartment building somewhere in Upper Manhattan]]</s> [[Funny Aneurysm Moment|struggled to recover before tragically dying at 42 from head trauma]]. Bridges, meanwhile, is a regular on TruTV's ''The Smoking Gun Presents'', along with former ''Partridge Family'' cast member Danny Bonaduce, another example of a [[Former Child Star]] who fell into serious problems as an adult (both Bridges and Bonaduce appear to be getting their lives on track at this point).
* 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, who's got a pretty good career as an adult.
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==== Real Life aversions: ====
* [[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 was in ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' as a twelve-year-old child prostitute. Even after the scandal over [[Stalker Withwith a Crush|John Hinckley]], she went on to have a very successful career which includes ''two'' acting Oscars.
* [[Shirley Temple]]. She went to be happily married for 50 years until her husband's death, and was an Ambassador for the United States to Czechoslovakia, during the Velvet Revolution. Also, during the 1968 Soviet Crackdown on Czechoslovakia, she led over 700 people to the border and got them through because the guards were fans of her.
* 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 (Filmfilm)|Superman]]'' film series starring Christopher Reeve.
* 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 Five5]]''.
** 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]]''.
* Dean Stockwell averts this big time, starting as a child star in the 1940s, and continuing to work steadily for the next '''sixty-five''' years, being best known as Al on ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' and Cavil on the rebooted ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]''.
* 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 (Filmfilm)|Empire of the Sun]]'' and his [[Old Shame]] ''[[Newsies]]'', but truly came into his own in ''[[American Psycho]]'' and is now best known as [[Batman]] from ''[[The Dark Knight Saga]]'', and won a Best Supporting Actor [[Oscar]] for his work in ''[[The Fighter]]''.
* [[The Partridge Family|Danny Bonaduce]] has [[Adam Westing|made an entire ''career'']] out of being a washed-up ex-child-star.
** Averted, as 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 Onon 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.
* [[Natalie Portman]]. Her first big role was at the age of 11/12 in ''[[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 (Film)|Black Swan]]'' (which won her an Oscar) and ''[[Thor (Filmfilm)|Thor]]''. Like Emma Watson below, Portman's 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 (Film)|Black Swan]]''.
* [[Kirsten Dunst]]. Her first big role was in ''Interview With The Vampire'' at 12 then [[Jumanji]] when she was 14, but she went on to a string of critically acclaimed as well as commercially successful roles in the ''[[Spider -Man]]'' films, ''[[Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind]]'', ''[[Marie Antoinette (Filmfilm)|Marie Antoinette]]'', and ''[[Melancholia]]'', which won her the Best Actress award at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] in 2011.
* 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 series)|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 and Kumar]] movie - ironically enough, playing a lecherous, drug-addled version of himself. He's now best known to present-day audiences as the womanizing Barney Stimson on ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', as well as Dr. Horrible from ''[[DoctorDr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Web Video)|Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]''.
* The main cast of the ''[[Harry Potter (Filmfilm)|Harry Potter]]'' movies seem to have avoided the worst aspects of child acting. Having begun acting at 9-11, they've shown steady development for over a decade and a total of eight films without any major misbehaviors or prima donna-ism. By all reports, all seem genuinely well-adjusted and mature.
** [[Daniel Radcliffe]], apart from his role as the title character, has starred in the stage play ''[[Equus]]'' and was critically acclaimed for his performance. He has since begun slowly branching out into other film and stage productions.
** [[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.
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*** Film critic Leonard Maltin famously said that Watson was in "the early stages of babehood". Now that she's most certainly an adult and effectively an adult actress, she is considered to have reached that milepost.
** 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! (Theatre)|Oliver]]'' and had teeny tiny blink-and-you'll-miss-him roles in ''[[A Hard DaysDay's Night]]'' and ''[[Chitty Chitty Bang Bang]]'', his success as an adult far eclipsed his success as a child actor/model.
** 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 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 T.V.
* Averted with [[Sarah Jessica Parker]], who started her career as [[Annie (Theatre)|Annie]] on Broadway and ''[[Square Pegs]]'', then made the transition to adult star with plenty of movie roles...and then she starred in ''[[Sex and Thethe City]]''...
* Sean Astin transitioned fairly well from [[The Goonies|child actor]] to [[The Lord of the Rings (Filmfilm)|adult actor]].
* [[Jennifer Connelly]] went a long way from being a young girl in ''[[Labyrinth (Film)|Labyrinth]]'' to being the respectable adult actress she is today.
* 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.]]}}
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==== Real Life subversions: ====
* Up until a few years ago, [[Jackie Earle Haley]] was the embodiment of this trope, having starred in '70s hits ''[[The Bad News Bears]]'' and ''[[Breaking Away]]'', but then failing to make the transition to adult roles and quit acting for 13 years. However, in 2006 he returned to Hollywood and after playing supporting roles in the remake of ''[[All the KingsKing's Men]]'' and ''[[Little Children]]'' (and getting an Oscar nomination in the latter), he starred in ''[[Watchmen (Filmfilm)|Watchmen]]'' as Rorschach, signed a multi-picture deal to star as Freddy Krueger in the rebooted ''[[Nightmare On Elm Street]]'' series, and is co-starring on ''[[Human Target]]''.
* 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 Fromfrom the Sun]]''. Since he resumed his career, he's won raves in just about every project he's done.
* Something similar can be said of [[Wil Wheaton]] and his role as [[Creator's Pet|Wesley]]. But he grew up pretty well of it.
* 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]] as The Kid, sued his parents for squandering his film earnings before he became an adult ([[There Should Be a Law|which led to]] the California Child Actor's Bill, AKA the Coogan Act), and much later became known as TV's [[The Addams Family (TV)|Uncle Fester]].
 
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