There are plenty of child stars that help bring our favorite childhood shows to life. A lot of them don’t stop there, either. Many move on to continue their celebrity status in one way or another. Here, we’ll take a look at where some of your favorite child stars from the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s are today!
Lisa Bonet
Lisa Bonet is an incredibly recognizable child star from the ’80s. In fact, she’s still a pretty recognizable face now, even decades later.
Back in the ’80s, you might have seen her on The Cosby Show or A Different World. Her personal life has made a lot of headlines since then, including her marriage to Lenny Kravitz back in the ’80s. More recently, she was in a relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Jason Momoa.
Danica McKellar
Danica McKellar was well-known for a few roles in the ’80s. This included appearances in The Twilight Zone and The Wonder Years. In more recent years, you can hear her work in appearances on Phineas and Ferb or Transformers: Rescue Bots.
More surprisingly, she’s worked hard alongside that to earn a Ph.D. in math! If you want to learn math with her, she’s also written Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape and Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who’s Boss.
Sean Astin
When it comes to some pieces of media, it’s hard to find an ’80s kid who wasn’t aware of them. Who could have missed The Goonies? One actor that made his first silver screen appearance there was Sean Astin, who played Mickey Walsh.
Of course, most people know his later work in Lord of the Rings as Samwise Gamgee. The rest of his career has varied in genre, ranging from voice acting on Sofia the First to appearing as a fan-favorite character in Stranger Things.
Emmanuel Lewis
If you were a fan of Webster anytime during its run from 1983 to 1989, you’ll quickly recognize Emmanuel Lewis as the main character.
The star has continued to act as well, although he hasn’t been seen on screen much since his 2013 appearance on Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis. A year later, he would appear on the podcast TV Guidance Counselor. In 2019, he briefly appeared in a music video done by Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz.
Joey Lawrence
Joey Lawrence had his first roles in the ’80s when he was still quite young. You might have seen him on Blossom or Gimme a Break! back then.
If you want a more recent sitcom with a grown-up Joey Lawrence, you can try out Melissa & Joey with none other than Melissa Joan Hart of Sabrina the Teenage Witch fame. You can see some of his reality TV work on Cupcake Wars and Celebrity Big Brother.
Melissa Joan Hart
Speaking of Melissa Joan Hart — she’s another child star that’s still busy in show business. Other than Sabrina the Teenage Witch, she also starred in Clarissa Explains it All.
We’ve already covered how she was in Melissa & Joey, but what else has the star been up to since then? Well, she’s acted in some children’s roles recently, including The Loud House. She also tried her hand at Dancing With the Stars, making it through six weeks of the competition.
Fred Savage
Back when Fred Savage was a child star, there were a number of roles that you may have caught him in. He’s another Wonder Years alum, for one.
He also had roles in both Little Monsters and the famous film The Princess Bride. By the ’90s, you could catch him in Working. If you want something even more recent, he starred in The Grinder with Rob Lowe.
Lukas Haas
Early on in his career, you could catch child star Lukas Haas in the 1980s titles Testament and Witness. His career continued beyond that too. He’s been in a few roles that most people recognize.
He’s appeared with Leonardo DiCaprio twice, in Inception and again, five years later in 2015, for The Revenant. More recently, you can see him in Widows as well as First Man. These are only a few films in an expansive filmography.
The Olsen Twins
In the late ’90s and early 2000s, the Olsen twins were hard to miss. Oftentimes, Mary-Kate and Ashley appeared as a dynamic duo or playing the same person.
The twins continued to act for a time after they hung up their hats on roles like Michelle Tanner in Full House. Now, you’re more likely to see these sisters working in fashion as designers. However, they’re still active in film, now working in distribution as the owners of Dualstar Entertainment Group.
Tia and Tamera Mowry
It seemed like twins were pretty popular on TV in the ’90s and 2000s. Another famous set of child star twins is Tia and Tamera Mowry.
When they were young, they starred together in the show Sister, Sister. They’d play together again in Twitches and its sequel later on. As adults, they wrote four books in a series called Twintuition, although each woman has taken on her own solo projects as well.
Tatyana Ali
Tatyana Ali was on a wildly popular sitcom — The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. However, she was even younger when she appeared on shows like Sesame Street.
She took on a role in The Young and the Restless starting in 2007, which she kept until 2013. After that, she played in Love That Girl!, Second Generation Wayans, and Fancy Nancy. She’s also been in a number of titles since then.
Mara Wilson
Mara Wilson was a star from a young age. Most fans think of either Matilda or Mrs. Doubtfire as her roles as a child star that introduced them to her work. Since then, though, Wilson has done quite a bit!
She went to school for a time, attending both Idyllwild Arts Academy and the Tisch School of the Arts. As for acting, she’s appeared in titles like Bojack Horseman and Broad City. If you want to read some of her personal writings, she’s released two books: Accidental Fame and Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood.
Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment didn’t stay in the kids’ genre for long, even as a child star. His real rise to fame occurred when he starred in the horror film The Sixth Sense. Since then, the star has continued to show up in a variety of roles.
More recently, he’s leaned away from horror and into comedy appearing in titles such as The Eric Andre Show, Robot Chicken, and Comedy Bang! For a mix of comedy and horror, he’s appeared in the show What We Do in the Shadows.
Anna Paquin
Anna Paquin had an impressive start to her career as a child actor. Her first appearance was in The Piano at 11 years old, taking home an Academy Award for her work.
The actress has taken on a number of new roles since then, a few of which are quite memorable. Who could forget her donning a uniform to play Rogue in X-Men or her role in True Blood? More recently, she’s been in The Irishman and The Affair.
Ryan Gosling
Like many child stars, Ryan Gosling had his start on The All-New Mickey Mouse Show. He also had roles in Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and Young Hercules.
Today, there’s no shortage of movies with Ryan Gosling’s star power behind them. Fans can catch him in La La Land, The Notebook, Blade Runner 2049, and Crazy, Stupid Love. Those are just a few titles from an impressively long filmography!
Mayim Bialik
Mayim Bialik is another child star who took on some darker roles. You can see some of her earlier work in the horror movie Pumpkinhead as well as a variety of TV shows.
She continued to act through the ’90s, mostly in kids’ shows like Hey Arnold! and Recess. One of her more popular roles in recent years was her standing character throughout The Big Bang Theory, and she recently stepped in as a host for Jeopardy.
Dakota Fanning
At just five years old, Dakota Fanning began her acting career as a guest actor on several shows, including ER and CSI. She gained notice in I Am Sam in 2001, and Uptown Girls and The Cat in the Hat in 2003.
Thanks to her talent and dedication, Fanning seamlessly made the transition from child star to award-winning actress. She’s still extremely active, especially when she and her sister Elle started their production company, Lewellen Pictures, in 2021.
Freddie Highmore
British actor Freddie Highmore got his big break in 2004 at the age of nine when he played Peter in the heartbreaking Finding Neverland. The role won him many award nominations and led to him playing Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
As a child and teen, most of his roles were in children’s movies. Of course, as he grew up, so did his roles. From 2013 to 2017, he played Norman Bates Bates Motel. Since 2017, he’s played autistic surgical resident Dr. Shaun Murphy in The Good Doctor.
Ariel Winter
Although she had quite a few guest appearances in shows before Modern Family, Ariel Winter is probably best known for the role she landed in 2009 at the age of 11 — Alex Dumphy.
Modern Family sadly came to an end in 2020, but Winter has been keeping busy, mostly doing voice acting for a variety of animated shows and video games. She’s also spoken out about the difficulty of maturing physically in the public eye.
Taylor Momsen
Taylor Momsen entered the entertainment business at just two years old when her parents signed her up with Ford Modeling. Her first major screen role was as the incredibly sweet and memorable Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas in 2000.
Her next biggest role was as Jenny Humphrey in Gossip Girl. In 2011, however, Momsen decided to quit acting and dedicate her time to her true passion — music. Since 2009, she’s been the frontwoman of the band The Pretty Reckless.
