Amazing Child Actor Performances of the Past 100 Years

Mina Mohammad Khani played a young girl in this Iranian film about the confluence of imagination and reality in the life of a first-grader who tries to find her way home from school after her mother has failed to pick her up.

After making her acting debut on the soap opera “Another World,” 12-year-old Lindsay Lohan starred in her first feature-length film “The Parent Trap.” the reboot about estranged twins. She earned critical acclaim and several young artist awards. Lohan has churned out hits such as “Freaky Friday” and “Mean Girls,” and has appeared on television series “Glee” and “Anger Management.”

Haley Joel Osment is famous for delivering the line “I see dead people” in the thriller “The Sixth Sense” when he was 11. Before that film, Osment played the son of Forrest Gump in the movie of the same name. Osment also has appeared in television series “Thunder Alley,” “The Jeff Foxworthy Show,” and “Murphy Brown.”

Rory Culkin, from the acting Culkin family, played younger versions of his siblings in films before he broke through in the role of single-mom Laura Linney’s son in “You Can Count on Me.” Culkin also appeared in M. Night Shyamalan’s film “Signs” and on the TV shows “The Twilight Zone” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

Jamie Bell’s star turn as a boy who keeps his passion for dancing secret in “Billy Elliott” parallels his actual story. Bell won the role over 2,000 other boys in England and went on to win Best Male Performance at the BAFTA awards. Known for his versatility, Bell has appeared in the Elton John biopic “Rocketman,” “Flags of Our Fathers,” and “King Kong.”