Quick Links Ariana Richards Edward Furlong Jake Lloyd Alexa Vega Mara Wilson Jonathan Taylor Thomas

Many child actors go on to bigger and better roles as they age. They continue to hone it and either replay the same role or expand to grow, as we see with Daniel Radcliffe from Harry Potter.

  • Ariana Richards

  • Edward Furlong

  • Jake Lloyd

  • Alexa Vega

  • Mara Wilson

  • Jonathan Taylor Thomas

While some young actors have the bad luck to be typecast into the same role again, others just stop showing up in movies altogether. Whether due to their situation or because they just couldn’t get a break, there are some actors that will forever remain in our memories as great actors, never to be seen again.

There are many childhood actors fans hope to get a big break and return to acting. These are just a few of them.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

6 Ariana Richards

     Universal Pictures

Ariana Richards is most well-known for her role as Lex Murphy in Jurassic Park. For those that haven’t rewatched the movies in a while, this is the granddaughter of the founder of the park, John Hammond.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

In addition to Jurassic Park, Ariana has been in a few other movies, including Battledogs as Donna Voorhees in 2013 and The Princess Stallion as Sarah Stewart in 1997.

However, she hasn’t really starred in anything else as notable since Jurassic Park.With her playing the perfect little girl being chased by dinosaurs, she probably would have been perfect for many other movies.

But Ariana isn’t regretting being a forgotten childhood star. Instead, she decided to focus on her art career and has since become a successful artist, focusing on landscapes, and figures in the impressionist style.

5 Edward Furlong

Edward Furlong played John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991. He also played in other big movies like Pet Sematary II, American History X, The Crow: Wicked Prayer, and Terminator: Dark Fate.

Edward was steadily in acting until 2019 and played a variety of roles. But unfortunately, none of these roles gave him the reputation or fame that he got as a child. He was 12 when he played John Conner and was seen as a young actor with a lot of natural talent. When he put his mind to it when he really wanted to, he excelled.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have a great home life and ended up dating his tutor and manager from the set of Terminator 2, who made no effort to land him good roles. He also became addicted to several substances, which made it near impossible to get him back into acting. Even though the Terminator series was revamped in 2019, he lost the chance to play John Connor, and instead was just given a side role.

Dedicated fans are waiting for him to get back on track and overcome his addictions so he can fully show off his talents.

4 Jake Lloyd

     LucasFilms

Jake Lloyd, who also goes by the name of Jake Broadbent, is the actor for the child version of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. While that wasn’t his only role, it was the one that really gave him stardom. He was even awarded the Young Artist Award for Best Supporting Actor from the movie.

Unfortunately, that stardom came with a price. When Star Wars: Episode I first came out, Jake was only 10 years old. He faced a lot of bullying for his role, with classmates always pretending to swing lightsabers and following him around making the noises.

The bullying became so bad that Jake eventually destroyed all of his memorabilia from the movie. He tried to act a little more in Die With Me and Madison in 2000 but ended up retiring.

It seems as if it may be too late for him to return to acting, as he now struggles with mental health issues. It is sad that such a great actor wasn’t able to advance his career due to young bullies.

3 Alexa Vega

     Dimension Films

Also known as Alexa PenaVega, this childhood actress was best known for her role as Carmen Cortez in the Spy Kids series. Technically, she wasn’t a forgotten child star like Key Huy Quan, as she has been listed as an actress in almost 100 movies, TV shows, and commercials.

However, almost no one recognizes her as the child star from Spy Kids, and the movies and shows she has been in haven’t been big hits like you’d expect from such a talent.

Some of the other roles she has played are Party Girl in Mother’s Day, Sharon in The Mine, Dorothy Gale in Dorothy Ice Bucket Fail, Summer Rivera in Love in the Limelight, and Carlota in The Casagrandes.

2 Mara Wilson

     TriStar Pictures

Many people will know Mara Wilson as Matilda from Matilda. She also played in big movies like Mrs. Doubtfire, and A Miracle on 34th Street.

Though she really wanted to become an actress when she was young, her parents were reluctant. They eventually allowed her to join some bigger movies where she revealed herself to be a talented young actress.

She pushed through Matilda despite her mother passing away from breast cancer, and even went on to act in a few more roles, but she eventually decided to retire.

Now, she mostly focuses on being a writer. She doesn’t have a desire or drive to continue acting, in part due to the industry.

When she does act, it is mostly voice acting, or with a team she trusts and respects. Though she has no desire to keep acting, some fans are still waiting for her to change her mind with a new movie that will push her into stardom.

1 Jonathan Taylor Thomas

     Walt Disney Studios

Jonathan Taylor Thomas is well-known for a couple of roles, such as the voice of young Simba in The Lion King and Randy Taylor in Home Improvement. He’s played in a couple of TV shows and movies since then, though mostly as side characters, and hasn’t acted in anything since 2015.

In fact, Jonathan has barely shown up in years. 2021 was the first time he’d been caught by paparazzi in almost eight years, so no one is sure what is going on with his life, or what he is doing. He wanted to take a break from acting to actually move forward with his life, as he had been acting since he was eight and hadn’t had a chance to go to school, make friends, or travel. It isn’t clear if he plans to stay away from acting for good, or if he will come back after pursuing a few more things on his bucket list.