A great performance from a precocious young actor can steal scenes and even entire movies and TV shows. Like the kids on this list, who have so much personality at such a young age it's crazy. From TV stars like Gary Coleman on Diff'rent Strokes to supporting roles in movies that end up being the most-talked-about bits of the films, like Jonathan Lipnicki in Jerry Maguire, these kids are just oozing charm and talent.
Shirley Temple
You can't have a list like this without the original Hollywood kid star, the great Shirley Temple. Though Temple acted in films into her late teens before retiring in 1950, she is really best remembered for her roles as a clever witty kid in movies like 1935's Curly Top and 1936's Stowaway. After Temple retired, she went on to have a successful career as a spokesperson and even a foreign diplomat.
Macaulay Culkin
There are very few kids that could ever carry a movie, much less a franchise, like Macaulay Culkin did with the Home Alone movies. The first movie is one of the most successful movies of all time, and while the entire cast of Home Alone is amazing, the movie would not be the same with anyone else as Kevin McCallister.
Quvenzhané Wallis
Quvenzhané Wallis' performance in Beasts of the Southern Wild is, in all senses, a revelation. Her performance is so powerful and nuanced on a level that even many adult actors can't match. It was so good, that Wallis became the youngest actress ever nominated for an Academy Award.
Ke Huy Quan
Ke Huy Quan comeback with his amazing, award-winning performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once was the feel-good story of 2022. It came, of course, four decades after he first blew audiences away with roles like Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom and Data in The Goonies, where he showed just how much personality a kid can have on screen.
Peter Billingsley
For a generation of kids, A Christmas Story is THE definite Christmas movie. It was so popular that for a time, it would run a loop on cable TV around the holiday. Of course, while the whole cast is memorable, Peter Billingsley's role as Ralphie is the one people talk about the most.
Soleil Moon Frye
The 1980s were awash with precocious kids leading shows and few were on a higher level than Punky Brewster. The lead character, played by Soleil Moon Frye, found herself in all kinds of spots, usually funny, though sometimes serious and Frye could handle it all.
Emmanuel Lewis
For six seasons, Emmanuel Lewis brought joy to American homes as the orphaned Webster in the show with the same name. Like others in the decade, Lewis carried a network show with his comedic timing and cuteness. The diminutive Lewis, who was diagnosed with pituitary dwarfism, used his condition to his advantage, not to mention his great acting, to get people laughing everywhere.
The Olsen Twins
Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen are examples of kids who left acting behind, but their joint performance as Michelle Tanner in Full House will always be beloved by fans of the show. The twins both had enough personality to fill a soundstage when they played the role, starting when they were just babies. Incredible.
Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment's big break came as the intense kid who could see dead people in The Sixth Sense. Like a few others on this list, he's a child star who is still acting today and it's not hard to see why given the talent he displayed at just 11 years old.
Millie Bobby Brown
By the time Millie Bobby Brown was the ripe old age of 12, when she first starred in Stranger Things on Netflix, the actress was a seasoned vet. She had already had regular roles on a couple of TV shows both in the US and her native UK and had made a number of guest appearances on shows like NCIS and Grey's Anatomy. Of course, it would as a Eleven in Stranger Things that really proved how great she is.
Christian Bale
Christian Bale is one of the best actors of his generation, something he started to prove very early in his life when he took on the starring role of a war orphan in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun. Bale was only 13 at the time and his performance is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. It's hard to fathom the ability to do that as barely a teenager.
Gary Coleman
There isn't a more famous catchphrase from 1980s TV than "Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?" Of course, those words were part of seemingly every single episode of Diff'rent Strokes. Gary Coleman's role as Arnold, the orphaned kid taken in, with his brother, by Mr Drummond was one of the most popular characters of the decade.
Anna Chlumsky
While Macaulay Culkin was the big "star" of My Girl when it was released, his counterpart, played by Anna Chlumsky is every bit as charming as wonderful as Caulkin. Chlumsky's talents were on full display as a kid, talents that would eventually earn her many Emmy nominations for her work as an adult in Veep.
Jonathan Lipnicki
Let's be honest, is there a cuter kid than Jonathan Lipnicki in Jerry Maguire? His charm and unintentional wit is totally off the charts in the rom-com. He even knows how much a human head weighs (8 pounds) and that bees and dogs smell fear. No too shabby.
Tatum O'Neal
When Tatum O'Neal won the Oscar for starring alongside her father, Ryan O'Neal, in Paper Moon in 1974 she became the youngest person to ever win the award at just age 10. That pretty much says it all. While other kids have been nominated, she was the first kid to win. She continued to show her talents and personality in movies like The Bad News Bears and Nickelodeon before personal problems derailed her promising career.
Henry Thomas
Acor Henry Thomas has had a long career in TV and on film, but the movies we all best remember are when he was a child actor full of skill and personality in movies like E.T. and the underrated Cloak & Dagger. E.T. was one of the most successful movies of all time and is ranked as one of Steven Spielberg's best movies, thanks in large part to Thomas' performance.
Jaleel White
It's true that Steve Urkel on Family Matters is one of the more polarizing characters in TV history, but Jaleel White's performance as the nerdy neighbor shouldn't be controversial. He was perfect in the role and people are still making references to it decades later, which tells you all you need to know.
Hailee Steinfeld
In literature, there are few kids with more personality than Mattie Ross in Charles Portis' classic novel True Grit. It takes a young actor with an equally big personality to play her on-screen and in the Coen Brother's 2010 adaption, Hailee Steinfeld just crushes the role.
Drew Barrymore
When you come from Hollywood royalty, like the Barrymore family, you'd better have some acting chops. Drew Barrymore proved just how great she was before she was even seven years old when she starred in her breakout role as Gertie in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She continued acting as a kid in movies like Firestarter and Irreconcilable Differences, before moving on to adult roles and eventually, her own talk show.
Keshia Knight Pulliam
The Cosby Show was among the most popular shows of the 1980s and while Bill Cosby was undoubtedly the star of the show, Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played the youngest Huxtable child, Rudy, stole a TON of scenes in every season. Who could ever forget the lip-syncing scenes with the whole family, and not immediately recall her legendary moments in those scenes?
Hayley Mills
How about not one, but two roles that prove just how much personality one child actor can show off? For Hayley Mills, The Parent Trap wasn't her first movie, but it is the one most remembered from her child-acting days. She plays both twins in the movie and does it so well, that you'd swear it would have to be two people, even though they look alike.
Abigail Breslin
Little Miss Sunshine was the surprise hit of 2006 and that was in no small part (pun intended) to Abigail Breslin's brilliant performance as Olive, the girl at the heart of the dysfunctional family's road trip. you know someone is a star when they stand out from a cast that includes Alan Arkin, Paul Dano, Steve Carell, and Toni Collette.
Anna Paquin
These days Anna Paquin is probably best known for her work in the X-Men series, but she really burst onto the scene as an 11-year-old in The Piano, for which she became one of the youngest actors to ever win an Academy Award. More than three decades later she's still lighting up the screen.
Alfonso Ribeiro
In the 1980s television was filled with precocious kids tearing it up on shows like Silver Spoons. Ricky Schroeder may have been the star as young Ricky, a role that launched his career, but his best friend, Alfonso, played by Alfonso Ribeiro, stole a lot of the scenes he was in. After Silver Spoons, Ribeiro danced into our hearts as Carlton on The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air.
Natalie Portman
It is undeniable that Natalie Portman is one of the finest actors of her generation and her career all started when she was just 12 in Leon: The Professional. It's a complicated role, one that even many adult actors would struggle with, but Portman showed right away just what kind of acting chops she had in the movie. It's a challenging role for audiences, thanks to her fantastic performance.
Alyssa Milano
Alyssa Milano's career has gone through some peaks and valleys, like many actors. One of the highest peaks came when she was just a kid, starring as Samantha in Who's The Boss?, a classic '80s sitcom. Tony Danza played her father and the chemistry between them was legendary. Maybe one day we'll get that reboot we've been waiting for.
Jerry Mathers
In the whole history of American television, one of the most enduring characters has to be from its golden age in the 1950s, Beaver Cleaver. Played by Jerry Mathers, The Beav was an instant hit with kids and parents alike and the show ran for decades in reruns all over the country. Mathers even returned to play The Beaver during the Baby Boomer nostalgia fad of the 1980s.
Keisha Castle-Hughes
When Keisha Castle-Hughes was nominated for an Oscar in her breakout role in The Whale Rider, she was the youngest person to ever receive that honor. Her performance is fully deserving of the praise she received and she's continued to receive well-earned praise for her roles in Game of Thrones as Obara Sand, and as Hana Gibson in FBI.
Jodie Foster
Playing a role like Jodie Foster played in Taxi Driver takes a truly special actor. Foster, who was just 14 when she played the complicated role, has gone on to have an incredible and empowering career in Hollywood, but it's hard to imagine her having a tougher assignment than that part, with such adult complications, in Taxi Driver.
Dafne Keen
There is something so magical about kids playing roles that really wrestle with adult themes and one of the best recent examples is Dafne Keen in Logan. It's a complicated role, dealing with complicated subjects and Keen is sublime throughout the movie.
Heather O'Rourke
Heather O'Rouke's all too tragic life was taken way too soon. The Poltergeist star died when she was just 12 years old, but in those 12 years, she left a heck of an impression on the world. Her performance in Poltergeist completely steals the legendary horror film.
Natalie Wood
While Natalie Wood is too often remembered for all the wrong reasons, in her short life (she died when she was just 43), she packed a ton of memorable performances in that life. One of the most enduring has to be her role in Miracle on 34th Street, which came when she was just 9 years old.
