By Jai Pannu | November 03, 2025
Soleil brought a ray of sunshine to 1980s television thanks to her work on Punky Brewster, The Wonder Years and Saved by the Bell.
As Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. His career started long ago as Mikey in the cult classic, The Goonies.
Gilbert is a child star of the 70s who stared in such classics as Little House on the Prairie, where she played the role of Laura Ingalls for nine years.
Corey much, like Sean above, got a big leg up in his 80s child acting career when he got cast in The Goonies.
Danica is also a child actor of the 80s and shared screen time with Soleil on The Wonder Years where she played Winnie Cooper for a staggering five years.
Tracey has been acting since the tender age of 7, but only got her big break when she was 16 and landed her role as Carol Seaver on Growing Pains.
Cast as the title character on Webster, Emmanuel stuck with the show for five years, after which his career took a slightly aimless wind through various acting jobs.
Joey is a genius. He starred on Gimme a Break! for four years and later on Blossom for another five years.
Ricky is firmly a child star of the 70s having gotten his big break costarring alongside Jon Voight and Faye Dunaway in The Champ.
His wholesome work on The Wonder Years and The Princess Bride have faded into the background due to his more recent altercations.
Kirk had a tough time finding his footing in his early days in Hollywood, finally finding firm ground in 1985 when he joined Growing Pains.
Getting his start on Different Strokes where he spent eight years and moving onto appearances on The Jeffersons, The Facts of Life and Silver Spoons.
Bonet had gotten her start as Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show and later A Different World
Lewis tried to find her place popping up on several iconic shows such as The Golden Girls, Growing Pains and Roseanne.
From his childhood roles in Testament and Witness, to his later roles surrounded by stars in films such as Inception, The Reverant and 2022's Babylon.
Jerry falls into that category of actor who is remembered for one thing and one thing only, and in his case it is being the fat kid in Stand by Me.
Quan had a quite the start to his child acting career, staring as Harrison Ford's sidekick Short Round in the seminal Indiana Jones movie.
Pintauro might have had a swimming star on Who's the Boss?, but like many who had to hide in the closet in the 80s and 90s.
Thomas is best known for this starring role in E.T, where he shared the silver screen with Drew Barrymore.
While somewhat overshadowed by her brother Jason Bateman known for his starring roles in Arrested Development and Ozark in their childhood.
Alyssa came from the crop of Who's the Boss? kids of the late-80s. From there she spent time working on Charmed in the 90s.
Another Crosby Show graduate, Warner played Theo Huxtable on the show for six years, even earning an Emmy nomination for the role.
Judging by the varied outcomes of child stardom, it might be said that Brice got off easy after having spent five years staring in Mr. Belvedere in the late 80s.
He followed in Wil Wheaton's footsteps appearing on Star Trek, and several notable movies such as Mikey, Blank Check and Father Hood.
What most people don't know is that he was unwillingly pushed into the role by his parents. He later found himself in the role of Wesley on Stark Trek.