What These Child Stars Look Like Today

You probably first remember Lindsay Lohan in the dual role of Hallie Parker and Annie James in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap. After that film's success, she really hit it big in the early 2000s. In 2003, she starred alongside Jamie Lee Curtis in Freaky Friday before starring in both Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and the oft-quoted Mean Girls in 2004. In 2007, after a string of TV appearances and video shorts, she made her way back to film. That year she starred in Chapter 27, Georgia Rule, and I Know Who Killed Me.

Unfortunately, that year was also the first time the former child star was arrested for driving under the influence. With mandatory court appearances and house arrest to contend with, Lohan's career stalled. She spent the next few years partying until she decided she "needed to grow up" and moved to London. She said it was the best thing she's ever done.

After moving to Dubai and acting in the British comedy Sick Note, she opened several beach clubs, strangely starred in a commercial for Lawyer.com, and announced a new MTV reality show. Clearly, she's been keeping busy. Unfortunately, in September 2018, she made headlines for posting a disturbing Instagram Live video, in which she followed a refugee family around, urging them to allow their two sons to stay at her hotel, and subsequently got knocked down by a concerned mother. Needless to say, people have been worried about Lohan's mental health.

No, he isn't dead. After starring in Home Alone in 1990, Macaulay Culkin became arguably the most famous child star ever. Starring in everything from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and My Girl to playing the ultra-wealthy kid in Richie Rich and the partially animated bookworm in The Pagemaster, Culkin was everywhere. He even played a violent and pretty much legit evil kid in The Good Son. Oh, and he was in Michael Jackson's music video for "Black or White," after which the two became close friends and Culkin became the godfather to Jackson's kids. 

Then he kind of just disappeared, resurfacing briefly in the early 2000s with a role in Saved! From 2005 to 2010, he primarily voiced characters on Robot Chicken, and, beginning in 2013, he put his focus on his band The Pizza Underground. You may have also heard the drug rumors, seen that weird photo inception incident with Ryan Gosling, or watched the video short he did in 2015, where he played grown-up Kevin McAllister suffering from the trauma of being left home alone. Culkin later signed on to star in Seth Green's Changeland.

Drew Barrymore's successful career has spanned so many decades, it's easy to forget she started as a child star. In 1982, she stole hearts as the adorable little sister in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial before then playing Charlie — the little girl with pyrokinesis — in 1984's Firestarter. She then followed these films up with the 1985 horror film Cat's Eye. 

Still, Barrymore dealt with her share of child star troubles, including drugs and alcohol, but she kept working while in and out of treatment. With more than 20 credited roles between 1985 and 1995, it was her role in 1996's Scream that served as her second breakout gig. From rom-coms like Never Been Kissed and The Wedding Singer to Donnie Darko and Charlie's Angels, Barrymore stayed busy. 

Now clean and sober, Barrymore has said that her battle with addiction has made her a better mom. In 2017, she starred in the horror-comedy series The Santa Clarita Diet, for which she also served as an executive producer.

After playing Vada in My Girl and My Girl 2, you probably saw child star Anna Chlumsky in a lot of places, but you may not remember them. While her role as Vada was by far her most memorable part of her youth, Chlumsky later appeared in many TV movies and series between 1994 and 2012, including Early Edition, 30 Rock, Law & Order (twice, each time as a different character), Covert Affairs, and White Collar. She also acted in productions on and off Broadway through 2015. 

But it was landing the role of Amy Brookheimer in Veep alongside Julia Louis-Dreyfus starting in 2012 that gave Chlumsky her second big break. Chlumsky's performance garnered her six Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. In fact, it is a scene in which Chlumsky's character goes off on Louis-Dreyfus' character that many call the greatest Veep scene ever.

Whether you know her best as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family, Kat in Casper, or young Roberta in Now and Then, it's safe to say the '90s were kind to child star Christina Ricci. And her career certainly didn't stop there. Ricci is one of the few stars who has consistently worked ever since her big break, with multiple acting credits nearly every single year since 1993. 

From her roles in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 200 Cigarettes, Sleepy Hollow, Prozac Nation, and Black Snake Moan, to her TV appearances on shows such as Ally McBeal, Grey's Anatomy, and The Good Wife, among others, Ricci has been busy. She was also one of the stars of the short-lived Pan Am, before playing the title character Lizzie Borden in the 2015 mini-series The Lizzie Borden Chronicles. 

In 2015, she starred as Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald on Z: The Beginning of Everything (which she also executive produced), and, in 2018, she appeared in the movie Distorted. While she hasn't stopped acting, Ricci has said that since she got married and had a baby, her most important role now is a mom, and she's a completely different person than she was before she had her son.

If you didn't grow up in the '90s, chances are you may not know who Edward Furlong even is. The child star's big breakout was in 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day where he played John Connor, the son of Linda Hamilton's character Sarah Connor. Together with Arnold Schwarzenegger, they work to save themselves (and the world) from an evil cyborg. And it made Edward Furlong a certified '90s heartthrob. He was in all the girls' magazines at the time — you know, Teen Beat, Bop, and the like. 

Furlong followed T2 with mostly smaller movie roles and appeared in Aerosmith's music video for "Livin' on the Edge." Then, in 1998, he starred as Danny Vinyard in American History X alongside Edward Norton and, in 1999, as Hawk in Detroit Rock City. Poised to make a comeback, he found himself hospitalized in 2001 of a suspected overdose. Drug abuse, arrests, and restraining orders defined the next several years while he occasionally took on smaller acting projects. A pivotal role in 2011's The Green Hornet could have been a turning point, but he once again found himself in jail. He's still acting, however. Here's hoping he can get out of his own way.

Remember the days before DVRs and on-demand television when you actually had to watch commercials? If so, you probably remember Hallie Eisenberg as the Pepsi girl from the '90s. The younger sister of actor Jesse Eisenberg, Hallie used her Pepsi success to nab roles in Bicentennial Man and How to Eat Fried Worms. But after a small role in 2010's Holy Rollers, alongside her older brother, the child star seemingly retired from acting. If her Instagram account is any indication, she's leading a pretty normal life these days and is relishing being an aunt to Jesse's son.

As one half of "The Two Coreys" of the '80s and '90s, Corey Feldman — alongside the other Corey (Haim) — was a huge star. While Feldman appeared in several TV series in the late '70s and early '80s, his role of Tommy in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, followed by his role as "Mouth" in The Goonies, set him up for superstardom. 

He went on to appear in more than 30 movies and TV shows in the '80s and '90s, including seven during those years with Haim. But by the 2000s, Feldman was relegated to mostly small parts until starring alongside Haim in the reality show The Two Coreys, which was canceled before the end of the second season. Once again back to bit parts, Feldman returned into the spotlight after Haim's death when he spoke out about alleged sexual abuse he and Haim suffered at Hollywood parties. He later opened up about an alleged pedophile ring in Hollywood, which, he claimed, put his life in danger.

In 2016, the former child star appeared on the TODAY show to promote an album — a performance that was dubbed "bizarre." Just a few weeks later, Feldman and his band returned to the show to defend the performance saying they were "not letting the bullies get to us." In 2017, the band set out on a summer tour, proving that they really weren't about to let anyone hold them back.

Even if you don't know her name, you definitely know her face. Depending on where you first saw her, Tina Majorino may be best known as the young Enola (alongside Kevin Costner) in Waterworld, the adorable Toni (alongside the titular seal) in Andre, or as little Molly (alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Ray Liotta) in Corrina, Corrina. Regardless, the early '90s were good to this child star. But it wasn't until her 2004 role as the glamour shot-taking, handicraft-wielding Deb in Napoleon Dynamite that fans were left asking, "Where have I seen her before?" and then, "Whatever happened to the girl that played Deb?" 

True fans will know that between her child-actor blockbusters and her appearance as Deb, Majorino was in an assortment of TV movies and, after her Dynamite fame, she played Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie on Veronica Mars from 2004 to 2007. Along the way she continued to make multi-episode appearances on other TV shows like The Deep End, Big Love, Bones, and True Blood. But it was perhaps her run on Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Heather Brooks that thrust her back into the spotlight. She later reprised her role as Mac on the Veronica Mars movie and appeared in the short-lived TNT series Legends and the CBS show Scorpion.

Long before Ariana Grande was teaching us that god is a woman and to say, "Thank U, Next" to our exes, before she got engaged to that that dude from Saturday Night Live, and before she and that actor broke up, the ponytailed songstress was a full-fledged Nickelodeon star. Grande appeared as flighty Cat Valentine first in Victorious and then in the crossover hit Sam & Cat, opposite iCarly star Jennette McCurdy.

But Grande, though thankful for the role, wasn't exactly thrilled at continuing on playing the ditzy character. The now-former child star told People, "For a long time I was attached to a character that was nothing like myself. It was a little frustrating." Thankfully, just a few years later, she would relaunch her career as a sassy mini Mariah-in-training with a slew of hits to her name.

Unfortunately, the devastating 2017 terrorist attack at her show in Manchester, England threw her for a loop. But Grande showed wisdom far beyond her years in the aftermath, using her experiences to create her album Sweetener. "When you're handed a challenge, instead of sitting there and complaining about it, why not try to make something beautiful?" she explained to Time.

For readers of a certain age, there was no show more important to their adolescence than Kenan & Kel. And while Kel Mitchell continued to appear on Nickelodeon in his adult life with the hit show Game Shakers, his buddy Kenan Thompson took an entirely different route. 

He first started his career on Nick's ensemble show All That at just 15 years old, before graduating to his own show, Kenan & Kel, at age 18. He stayed until 2000, and in 2003, he joined SNL. The former child star admitted to feeling like an outsider at first, but he soon became one of the sketch comedy's MVPs. In fact, he's the longest-running cast member at the time of this writing, as noted by Vanity Fair in a 2018 profile of the beloved comedian.

As for his rumored estranged friendship from Mitchell, in a 2018 radio interview with Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club, Thompson set the record straight, making it clear that the two never had any real beef.

The world first fell in love with Miranda Cosgrove as the plucky Summer in School of Rock. The child star later starred on a couple of heavy-hitter Nickelodeon shows — first as the meddling little sister on Drake & Josh and then as the titular Internet celebrity on iCarly. Cosgrove also managed to juggle lending her voice to movies like the Despicable Me franchise and having a successful music career. 

However, when asked by Seventeen about her favorite thing to do, Cosgrove shared that it was acting in iCarly. "It's so much fun and I love getting the script every week and not really knowing what insane thing I'm going to be doing. It's just like an adventure every episode," she explained.

In 2017, with the show wrapped, Cosgrove admitted to Collider that she and co-star Jennette McCurdy had watched old episodes of iCarly to bask in how dorky they both were. The only thing Cosgrove would change, if she could, would be some of the ridiculous outfits she wore on the show. 

Harry Potter himself may have starred in a movie about a farting corpse, but one would be hard pressed to find a child star transformation more shocking than Ross Lynch's. The actor went from Disney sweetheart in the hit show Austin & Ally to notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in My Friend Dahmer. In an interview with GQ, he admitted that he hadn't sought out the material. However, while working with Disney, he always wanted to do something "independent" and "maybe a little darker."

Lynch's performance gained widespread critical acclaim, but that doesn't mean his Disney character Austin Moon is completely behind him. When questioned by GQ about whether he'd ever revisit his most famous TV role, the Teen Beach Movie actor, who later starred as Harvey Kinkle in Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, suggested that he maybe would in the future. "While on set, we did always joke that we'd love to have an HBO revival where we're like 30 years old, and do a season that's completely R-rated. I think there's a market for that, honestly. And I honestly would totally be down for that!" he enthused.

Poor Shia LaBeouf is arguably most famous nowadays for putting a bag on his head and proclaiming he was no longer famous. He started his career when he was a little kid, but LaBeouf's breakout role came with the Disney hit Even Stevens. On why he first got into show business, the former child star told Parade back in 2009 that his reasons were purely financial. "I just knew that money was a solution to whatever the hell was going on in my household," he said. "So I went after a job that I thought I could make the most money for a 10-year-old or an 11-year-old boy."

These days, he's a lot more careful with his words, admitting to an Esquire interviewer that he'd practiced their chat with his therapist. In that career-spanning discussion, LaBeouf stated emphatically, "I'm a buffoon. My public outbursts are failures. ... I need to take ownership of my s**t and clean up my side of the street a bit before I can go out there and work again, so I'm trying to stay creative and learn from my mistakes."

Since then, he wrote and starred in the movie Honey Boy, which was reportedly based on his life experiences.

Actress Joey King started her career with a commercial for Life cereal. And, as Backstage noted, she's certainly come a long way since, landing roles in Ramona and Beezus and Crazy, Stupid, Love along the way, but King doesn't take her stint as a child star for granted. Her best advice for youngsters getting in front of the camera for the first time is to "just have fun." The Emmy-nominated actress shared while on In the Envelope: The Actor's Podcast, "Even with a character that's so dark and deep, you think, 'Fun? That's a weird word.' But as an actor, truly, it is so fun to dive into roles that are that deep and require that much concentration."

As King started navigating her late teens and 20s, the roles she's chosen have been varied. She's starred in The Act, Netflix rom-coms The Kissing Booth 1 and 2, and horror movie Slender Man. When questioned by As If magazine about her favorite genre to work in, King replied definitively, "My heart lies with drama. I love all genres, like comedy, but my heart lies in drama and when working in drama I feel most productive."

Some people may remember Drake Bell not just from Drake & Josh, in which he starred alongside Josh Peck for four successful seasons on Nickelodeon, but as one of the child stars of The Amanda Show, which also featured Peck and was headed by Amanda Bynes. It was there that young viewers first got to know wannabe rock star Bell, as he shredded confidently on his guitar as Totally Kyle. But as the Iowa City Press-Citizen noted, Bell was in front of the camera long before Nickelodeon came calling, and he's been playing guitar since the age of 12. That's actually where his heart truly lies, particularly as an adult. He's released four albums total to date and scored a hit with the Latin-inspired "Fuego Lento." 

Bell looks back on his Drake & Josh time fondly, acknowledging, "The entire cast was incredible; the entire crew was great and we're all like a family." Bell, who lent his voice to Spider-Man for Ultimate Spider-Man, added, "I'm still friends (with them) and I still see everybody from the show." As for what his Drake & Josh character would be up to these days, Bell reckons, as he told Forbes, "Drake Parker would definitely still be living at home with his parents."

There are few stars bigger than Hugh Grant to make your film debut opposite, but that's exactly what Nicholas Hoult did in About a Boy, the Nick Hornby adaptation that launched his career. In Hoult's late teens, he had another major breakout moment in the celebrated drama Skins as the scheming Tony. But while the former child star was talent-scouted at just 3 years old, Hoult admitted in an interview with GQ that he could've ended up elsewhere. He recalled, "My best friend and I used to DJ children's birthday parties when we were still in school, which was really fun."

Hoult is modest about his demonstrable acting talent, struggling to explain to the Irish Independent why his career is on a consistent upwards swing. He certainly has no issue getting jobs, starring in Mad Max: Fury Road, portraying author J.R.R. Tolkien in the biopic Tolkien, and playing against type in True History of the Kelly Gang. The British powerhouse is realistic about the nature of his chosen career, however, telling Vogue, "It wasn't easy to transition into working as an adult and being able to select the right roles to ensure I can continue doing what I love."

Even though her career still seems like it's just getting started, Bailee Madison has been around for a while, racking up quite a few roles since her debut in Todd Robinson's Lonely Hearts. There was a time when the Bridge to Terabithia child star worried she wasn't doing enough, but, as Madison explained to Darling magazine, it suits her better to keep her circle small. "I expanded it once, it didn't work out, so I brought it back in. I think that was a part of growing and learning through the years," she explained, noting her mother and sister read scripts before she agrees to do them.

Bailee Madison has had a stunning transformation, and, as Madison gushed to Just Jared, Jr., acting as a producer as well as a performer on A Cowgirl's Story marked an incredibly gratifying experience. "Producing is a very selfless job. It's about taking care of everyone on-set before you, and I think that's why I loved it so much," she acknowledged. Madison relished the challenge, just as she did when she decided to write a young adult novel. As the Good Witch star told Darling, it was about creating a space for herself where there wasn't one before.

For a whole generation of little girls, Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years was their idol. For a whole generation of little boys, she was their No. 1 crush. Although actress Danica McKellar has worked hard over the years to distance herself from her breakout role, she realized as an adult that she and her famous character have more in common than not. As a mathematician and bestselling author of math textbooks, McKellar wants young women to understand that "you don't have to choose between being fabulous and fun and being smart — they go hand in hand," as she told CNBC.

McKellar has also found a comfortable spot for herself at Hallmark, featuring in festive fare like Very, Very Valentine and Coming Home for Christmas. Looking back on The Wonder Years now, McKellar cannot overstate its importance. The former child star explained to Washington Latest, "It's foundational, because I feel that everything has grown from that. Some people ask me if it bothers me when they bring up Winnie [Cooper]. No!"