When Child Stars Grow Up

Hilary Duff

The Child: Another Disney kid, Duff’s big break came with TV series Lizzie McGuire – which actually came after her movie debut, Casper Meets Wendy.

The Adult: Duff’s had a rocky ride to adulthood in the critical stakes, having been nominated for five Golden Raspberry Awards. She’s just given birth to her first child, which we imagine will involve a break from acting for a while.

Henry Thomas

The Child: Another Spielberg beneficiary, Thomas was plucked from obscurity to play the young lead in ET: The Extra-Terrestrial . He went on to play a young Norman Bates in the less-lauded Psycho IV: The Awakening.

The Adult: Thomas has worked consistently since his ET days, appearing in everything from Gangs Of New York to Dear John . Never as the lead, mind.

Neil Patrick Harris

The Child: Debuted in Whoopi Goldberg movie Clara’s Heart in 1988 before taking on the title role as Doogie Howser in the comedy-drama series.

The Adult: Now best recognisable as a womaniser in TV sitcom How I Met Your Mother , Harris has been slowly cracking the big screen with appearances in The Muppets, American Reunion and The Smurfs. Also performed at the Oscars.

Chlo Grace Moretz

The Child: Played an adorable moppet in The Amityville Horror remake and stuck to genre stuff with The Eye before kicking ass as Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass . Was JGL’s sage younger sister in (500) Days Of Summer.

The Adult: On the cusp of adulthood at the grand old age of 15, Moretz is returning for another round of Hit-Girl mayhem with Kick-Ass 2, and continues her worrying trend of reboots (note: Let Me In ) with Carrie .

Jeff Bridges

The Child: Entered the fray aged nine alongside dad Lloyd and brother Beau in TV show Sea Hunt.

The Adult: One of our most prolific and still-thrilling actors. Bridges has a name for himself now as a laidback dude (see: The Big Lebowski ), but his career’s a treasure trove of wonders: The Last Picture Show, Thunderbolt And Lightfoot, Tron, The Fabulous Baker Boys, True Grit…

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

The Child: Be-curtained in Third Rock From The Sun , a student in dog pic Beethoven and ‘Young Norman’ in A River Runs Through It. His teen contributions included getting his face smooshed in Halloween: H20 and getting loved up in 10 Things I Hate About You.

The Adult: Genre-hopping like a genre-loving flea, JGL’s done action (Inception, Looper ), comic books ( Dark Knight Rises ) and tragi-comedy ( 50/50, 500 Days Of Summer ). One of our favourites.

Kirsten Dunst

The Child: Was directed by Woody Allen in her film debut (short film Oedipus Wrecks ) before terrifying and thrilling in equal measure as seriously messed-up young vampire Claudia in Interview With The Vampire.

The Adult: Went through a non-car-wreck teen phase (gold star results : Bring It On, The Virgin Suicides, Drop Dead Gorgeous ) before emerging with the mature likes of Melancholia and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.

River Phoenix

The Child: Made his debut in Joe Dante’s sci-fi fantasy Explorers in 1985 before making one of his most famous films, Stand By Me . Went on to star as Young Indy in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.

The Adult:
Made the phenomenal My Own Private Idaho in 1991, then tragically died on 31 October 1993 of a cocaine and heroin overdose.

Anna Chlumsky

The Child: Most recognisable for her role as Vada Sultenfuss in My Girl , which she filmed when she was just 11 years old. She also made sequel My Girl 2 and Trading Mom.

The Adult: Jumped back into the spotlight via scathing political comedy In The Loop . Now mostly appears in TV shows like White Collar , Covert Affairs and Army Wives.

Ron Howard

The Child: Made his first uncredited on-screen appearance aged just two (Frontier Woman ) before landing a gig on The Andy Griffith Show aged six. Went on to appear in Happy Days for six years.

The Adult: One of Hollywood’s biggest directors, with two Oscars under his belt. Top credits include Frost/Nixon, A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13 (and yes, Willow and Splash ).

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.