Child actor

The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated terms include teenage actor or teen actor, an actor who gained popularity as a teenager.

Shirley Temple rose to prominence as a child star in the 1930s.

Famous earlier examples include Elizabeth Taylor, who started as a child star in the early 1940s in productions like National Velvet before becoming a popular film star as an adult in movies.

Many child actors find themselves struggling to adapt as they become adults, mainly due to typecasting. Macaulay Culkin and Lindsay Lohan are two particular famous child actors who eventually experienced much difficulty with the fame they acquired at a young age. Some child actors do go on to have successful acting careers as adults; notable actors who first gained fame as children include Mickey Rooney, Tim Matheson, Drew Barrymore, Shia LaBeouf, Jake Gyllenhaal, Mila Kunis, and Molly Ringwald. Other child actors have gone on to successful careers in other fields, including director Ron Howard, politicians Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński, and singer Jenny Lewis.

Regulation

In the United States, the activities of child actors are regulated by the governing labor union, if any, and state laws. Some projects film in distant locations specifically to evade regulations intended to protect the child. Longer work hours or risky stunts prohibited by California, for example, might be permitted to a project filming in British Columbia. US federal law "specifically exempted minors working in the entertainment business from all provisions of the child labor Laws." Any regulation of child actors is governed by disparate state laws.

California

Due to the large presence of the entertainment industry in Hollywood, the state of California has some of the most explicit laws protecting child actors. Being a minor, a child actor must secure an entertainment work permit before accepting any paid work. Compulsory education laws mandate that the education of the child actor not be disrupted while the child is working, whether the child actor is enrolled in public school, private school or even home school. The child does their schoolwork under the supervision of a studio teacher while on the set.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, a child actor is defined as someone under school leaving age. Before a child can work, they require a performance license from their Local Education Authority as well as a licensed chaperone; a parent can only chaperone their own child, and a chaperone's duties include acting in loco parentis and recording arrivals and departure time from the work place, the time a child is working, their breaks, and the amount of tutoring. A child requires a minimum of three hours of tutoring daily and a lesson must be a minimum of 30 minutes to count towards the total and with regards to 18 and 19-year-olds in further education, considerations are made in regards to their studies.

There are regulations and guidance to safeguard all actors under the age of 20; OFCOM guidance states a child's health and safety, well-being and welfare are paramount in television production and factors such as their age, maturity and life experiences can affect their performance. OFCOM also advises that broadcasters undertake risk assessments, consider seeking expert advice and follow best practices.

Issues

Ownership of earnings

In the United States before the 1930s, many child actors never got to see the money they earned because they were not in charge of this money. Jackie Coogan earned millions of dollars from working as a child actor only to see most of it squandered by his parents. In 1939, California weighed in on this controversy and enacted the Coogan Bill, which requires a portion of the earnings of a child to be preserved in a special savings account called a blocked trust. A trust that is not actively monitored can also be problematic, however, as in the case of Gary Coleman, who after working from 1974, later sued his adoptive parents and former business advisor for $3.8 million over misappropriation of his trust fund.

Competitive pressure

Some people also criticize the parents of child actors for allowing their children to work, believing that more "normal" activities should be the staple during the childhood years. Others observe that competition is present in all areas of a child's life—from sports to student newspaper to orchestra and band—and believe that the work ethic instilled or the talent developed accrues to the child's benefit.

The child actor may experience unique and negative pressures when working under tight production schedules. Large projects which depend for their success on the ability of the child to deliver an effective performance add to the pressure.

Ethel Merman, who several times worked in long-running stage productions with child actors, disliked what she eventually saw as their over-professionalization—"acting more like midgets than children"—and disapproved of parents pushing adulthood on them.

After the childhood success

Jodie Foster in 1974

There are many instances of troubled adult lives due to the stressful environment to which child actors are subjected. It is common to see a child actor grow up in front of the camera, whether in films, TV shows or both. However, it is not uncommon to see child actors continue their careers throughout as actors or in a different professional field.

Jodie Foster started acting at age 3. She became famous by starring in films such as Taxi Driver and The Accused which earned her two Academy Awards. Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson started their careers as young actors, leading to successful careers even after the franchise. Other child actors who went on to have successful adult acting careers include Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, Will Smith, and Kirsten Dunst.

Others, like Macaulay Culkin, Lindsay Lohan, and Drew Barrymore, struggled with their adult careers due to the intense pressures that child acting brought.

See also

• Child labor