10 Brilliant Performances By Child Actors 18 Or Younger

10 Brilliant Performances By Child Actors 18 Or Younger

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Child actors can often steal a scene or a whole movie if the right actor is cast. These under-18 kid actors surprised everyone with their skills.

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10 Brilliant Performances By Child Actors 18 Or Younger

Talent can appear early in life and come in small packages. What young aspiring artist hasn’t been told, “You are too inexperienced to make it / You’ll just be buried under the big-name leads / You will peak too soon?” Well, these brilliant child actors (many of whom had/have successful careers as adults, too) proved them wrong.

From comedy and horror to drama and Western, and from old to recent films, child actors have shone in every genre and era imaginable. Here are 10 that are considered exceptional and even outshined their adult co-stars.

10 Heather O’Rourke – Poltergeist (1982)

10 Brilliant Performances By Child Actors 18 Or Younger

Starting on a sad note, O’Rourke died very young, in 1988, at the age of 12. Nevertheless, she reprised the role of Carol Anne Freeling in Poltergeist three times – the first one when she was just six years old and the last time being in the same year as her death.

Heather portrayed the youngest child of the Freeling family. One night, she starts “talking” with the TV set that is inexplicably transmitting static. A series of bizarre events follows, as a hand emerges from the TV the following night and Carol Anne offers a chilling announcement: “They’re here.”

9 Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit (2010)

10 Brilliant Performances By Child Actors 18 Or Younger

Although she was not a household name like the other actors in this Western film at the time, she was definitely the center of attention. Steinfeld played 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross (Steinfeld was also 14 at the time). With her co-stars being Josh Brolin, Jeff Bridges, and Matt Damon, she could have been outshone, but her raw talent and devotion captured critics and audiences.

The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, among them Best Supporting Actress for Steinfeld. She also won the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer.

8 Christina Ricci – The Addams Family (1991)

10 Brilliant Performances By Child Actors 18 Or Younger

One of the lighter entries on the list, Christina Ricci played the acerbic, sarcastic, but humorous character of Wednesday Addams to a brilliant comedic effect. The Addams family is comprised of a collection of eccentric individuals, to say the least. Ricci was only 11 when she successfully delivered the complex and dark brilliance that is Wednesday Addams in her second-ever performance.

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She is the perfect definition of the mischievous and creepy child here, perfectly exemplified in some of her lines: “This is my costume. I’m a homicidal maniac. They look just like everybody else.”

7 Haley Joel Osment – The Sixth Sense (1999)

10 Brilliant Performances By Child Actors 18 Or Younger

The now-iconic film that was, to many, the early peak of M. Knight Shyamalan’s career featured Osment as young Cole Sear, a traumatized young boy who is helped by child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis). Osment was great in delivering both the lines and the emotions of the terrified boy who can see and hear the dead, but cannot understand why he has been burdened with this gift (or curse).

Malcolm helps him see his ability from a different perspective and use it for the better. Osment was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

6 Ahn Seo-Hyun – Okja (2017)

10 Brilliant Performances By Child Actors 18 Or Younger

Ahn Seo-Hyun portrays Mija, a young South Korean girl who finds herself and her pet “super pig,” Okja, in the midst of a battle between the conglomerate Mirando Corporation and the Animal Liberation Front. Mirando created super pigs through genetic modification and sent them to farms around the world to see who would raise the best pig. Now, years later they have come to reclaim Okja and proclaim her the best super pig, but she has become an irreplaceable friend for Mija.

Mirando’s plans are intercepted by the AFL, but they too have their own agenda. Okja was the movie Bong Joon-Ho directed right before Parasite that made history by being the first non-English-speaking film to win Best Picture. It is also one of the best Netflix Originals out there.

5 Saoirse Ronan – Atonement (2007)

10 Brilliant Performances By Child Actors 18 Or Younger

Atonement, a milestone of a period drama, was based on Ian McEwan’s novel of the same name and Saoirse Ronan shone in it. Most people will be familiar with her from her roles in Little Women and Lady Bird, but this film is often considered her breakthrough role and got her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She plays Briony, a young girl whose misguided lies and decisions in her late childhood will affect the trajectory of the lives of three people she holds dear in catastrophic ways.

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4 Isabelle Fuhrman – Orphan (2009)

10 Brilliant Performances By Child Actors 18 Or Younger

Fuhrman definitely stole the show in this one. In Orphan, she portrays Esther, an orphan girl from Russia, whose first adoptive family died in a mysterious fire. The Colemans are immediately captivated by her kindness, talent, and charm and, motivated by the tragedy of their lost baby, decide to adopt her.

However, she very quickly starts shedding parts of her charming persona and revealing the anger and evil she’s been hiding underneath. The Colemans start having the same bad luck as others that crossed Esther’s path.

3 Ellen Page – Hard Candy (2005)

10 Brilliant Performances By Child Actors 18 Or Younger

Ellen Page was 18 when she played 14-year-old Hayley in Hard Candy. Page hadn’t had any major roles up until this point and this was her time to shine, and her performance was simply captivating. The movie basically has only two characters and a cameo by Sandra Oh.

In the film, Page plays a girl that goes out for a date with quite an older man that she met online. She appears fascinated by him and eager to go back to his place, but a while after they arrive, her true motives are revealed. As the line blurs when it comes to who trapped whom and who is dominant in the situation, more and more disturbing details come to light.

2 Alex Hibbert – Moonlight (2016)

10 Brilliant Performances By Child Actors 18 Or Younger

This movie was a first in many aspects and broke a lot of barriers. It was the first movie with an all Black cast and the first LGBTQ+-centered movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film follows the protagonist Chiron, from childhood to adulthood, as he faces obstacles and discrimination in life, due to his race, sexuality, and class.

The movie starts out pessimistic but invites hope and healing, as Chiron fixes the broken relationships in his life and moves on to a better future. Hibbert played Chiron in his childhood when everyone called him “Little.” He was nominated for a Critics Choice Award for Best Young Actor (among others).

1 Linda Blair – The Exorcist (1973)

The Exorcist is an iconic film, in part, due to Linda Blair’s performance as the possessed 12-year-old girl, Regan MacNeil. Blair was 14 at the time and her performance was simply top-notch, a brilliant study into the demonic and the sinister, so much that certain detractors called it blasphemous.

For this role, she received a Golden Globe and a People’s Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/brilliant-performances-child-actors-18-younger/

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