Shaping culture and breaking barriers
From 1994 to 1997, the teenage Benson appeared as Abigail Deveraux on the daytime soap opera 'Days of Our Lives.'
Christian Bale is, of course, primarily associated with his role as Batman in the 'Dark Knight' trilogy. More recently. he starred in the 2019 sports drama 'Ford v Ferrari.'
Elisabeth Moss is known for her roles in the likes of 'Mad Men' and 'The Handmaid's Tale.' She is another one with a list of acting credits as long as her arm.
But Moss hadn't reached double digits when she landed her first TV role in the mini-series 'Lucky Chances' (1990). The role that then put her on the radar was as Zoey Bartlet on 'The West Wing.'
The actress was born in 1989 and by 1994 landed her first main TV role as Sarah Roberts in 'One Life to Live.' After that she was a regular on mainstream TV.
Hayden Panettiere may be best known for her role as Claire Bennett on the NBC series 'Heroes,' but she is another actress with a huge list of acting credits to her name.
But the actor first graced our screens in 1991 when he appeared in the Western comedy 'City Slickers.' He was 11 years old at the time and played the role of Danny Robbins. He then starred in ‘October Sky’ in 1999.
However, she actually started out when she was just a teenager and landed a role on Disney's 'Kids Incorporated' (1990). She then rose to fame thanks to her role in 'Party of Five' (1995-1999).
As an adult, Jennifer Love Hewitt has forged a successful career in both acting and music.
But her screen debut actually came in 1965, when she appeared in a Coppertone TV commercial at age three. In the following years she appeared in over 50 TV shows, including ‘The Courtship of Eddie’s Father’ (1969-1971).
Fishburne was born in 1961 and by 1973 had his first role on the ABC soap opera 'One Life to Live.' His most notable childhood role was in 'Cornbread, Earl and Me' (1975).
But Rivera got her first notable acting job when she was just four years old and appeared on the CBS sitcom 'The Royal Family' (1991). She was so young that she couldn't read the scripts!
Sources: (Insider) (Ranker)
See also: The biggest child star success stories
With more than 100 acting credits under his belt, Laurence Fishburne is one of the industry's more prolific actors. It helps that he started young.
At the age of 14, she appeared in the 1988 sci-fi comedy film 'My Stepmother Is an Alien.' She played Jessie Mills, the daughter of widowed scientist Steven Mills (played by Dan Aykroyd).
Jake Gyllenhaal is best known for his leading role in ‘Donnie Darko’ (2001), in which he starred alongside his sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal. More recently he played Mysterio in ‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’ (2019).
Before she was Hanna Marin on the teen drama series 'Pretty Little Liars,' Ashley Benson had a career as a teenage soap star.
Prolific actor Ethan Hawke is best known for movies such as 'Reality Bites' (1994), 'Training Day' (2001), and 'Boyhood' (2014).
Academy Award-winning actress Jodie Foster is best known for her roles in ‘The Accused’ (1988) and ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991).
Katherine Heigl’s breakout role was as Dr. Izzie Stevens on ‘Grey’s Anatomy.' She also starred in films such as ‘Knocked Up’ (2007) and ‘27 Dresses’ (2008).
Keri Russell rose to fame in her early twenties when she starred in the series 'Felicity.' More recently, she starred in the spy thriller series 'The Americans.'
But long before any of those roles she starred opposite Gerard Dépardieu in the 1994 film ‘My Father the Hero.’ She was just a teenager at the time and played the daughter of Dépardieu’s character.
Green was born in 1974 and by 1984 he had starred in his first two films: 'Billions for Boris' (1984) and 'The Hotel New Hampshire' (1984). More recently, he wrote and directed his first film, 'Changeland' (2019).
Seth Green is known by most as Dr. Evil's son Scott Evil from the 'Austin Powers' movie series. However, his acting career actually began years before those movies came out.
The late Naya Rivera was best known for playing the role of cheerleader Santana Lopez on the Fox musical comedy series 'Glee.' She landed the role in 2009.
But Russell actually landed her first screen appearance at age 15 on 'The All-New Mickey Mouse Club' on the Disney Channel, from 1991 to 1993.
The actress who played Lily on 'How I Met Your Mother' and who delivered the "and one time at band camp" line in 'American Pie' (1999) had her first big-screen role long before either of these appearances (also long before her 'Buffy' days).
Little do people know, however, that the actor who would go on to play Batman actually made his first film when he was 13 years old. He starred in Steven Spielberg's 'Empire of the Sun' (1987).
His breakout role was in the 1989 movie 'Dead Poet's Society,' but his on-screen debut actually came four years earlier when he starred in the sci-fi film 'Explorers' (1985) at age 14.
When it comes to child actors, there are some whose roles as youngsters are the highlight of their acting career. It is not uncommon for child actors to grow up and either choose a different path or be unsuccessful as an adult actor. On the flip side, there are those child actors who go on to be wildly successful adult actors, and whose roles as children pale in comparison to the roles of their adult careers. In such cases, it can be easy to forget someone was a child actor in the first place!
Check out this gallery for some actors who were surprisingly also child actors.
These Hollywood stars were once child actors
The actors who were on screen long before they were stars
CELEBRITY Acting
When it comes to child actors, there are some whose roles as youngsters are the highlight of their acting career. It is not uncommon for child actors to grow up and either choose a different path or be unsuccessful as an adult actor. On the flip side, there are those child actors who go on to be wildly successful adult actors, and whose roles as children pale in comparison to the roles of their adult careers. In such cases, it can be easy to forget someone was a child actor in the first place!
Check out this gallery for some actors who were surprisingly also child actors.