Acting talent (even if it is from nature) requires many years of “polishing” and refinement. They know how to show on the screen (or on stage) any emotions - joy, love, stormy delight, boredom, despair, grief or even hopelessness - because they themselves, as a rule, once experienced them in life.
But sometimes a child appears on the screen who conveys the same emotions to the auditorium as his adult colleagues, but does it even more reliably - so that we believe his every word, every gesture, look, turn of his head ... How is he does? How does this little man know what endless pain is, what is emptiness in the soul, what is hope in a seemingly hopeless situation? How does he understand what exactly and how to show? Maybe children understand their feelings better than us - already slightly “stubborn” adults?
Let's remember 10 little actors who hit us with their non-childish play.
10. Henry Thomas
When Steven Spielberg picked up the cast for the film “Alien” (1982), 10-year-old Henry Thomas came to try his hand at casting for the role of a boy Elliot, who accidentally made friends with a funny alien. According to the scenario, Elliot’s parents do not really pay attention to him, so the boy, of course, suffers from loneliness and restlessness.
At the casting, Henry, who was asked to portray sadness, so accurately fulfilled the task that Spielberg himself could not hold back his tears. Henry Thomas got this role and played it brilliantly (and very emotionally), despite the fact that during the entire filming process, in fact, he interacted with the doll.
9. Kirsten Dunst
At 11 years old, young Kirsten Dunst almost beat the already famous actors Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in the movie "Interview with the Vampire" (1994). She happened to play the role of Claudia - an adult vampire, forever "stuck" in the body of a little girl (and also experiencing far from childish feelings for Louis - the one who made her once a vampire).
Kirsten not only coped with the role - she perfectly conveyed with her play the confusion and suffering of the “old soul” in a young body. By the way, Brad Pitt then said that talking with Kirsten was much more interesting than with many of her older colleagues.
Many remember the grown-up (17-year-old) Dunst in the drama “Virgin Suicides” in the role of Lux Lisbon, played by the young actress very reliably and piercingly. In total, until his adulthood, Kirsten Dunst starred in 4 dozens of films, having tried herself in a variety of roles and earned many commendable reviews from critics.
8. Daniel Radcliffe
Few people know that even before his starring role as a “boy with a scar,” Daniel Radcliffe had acting experience. At 10, he played the young David Copperfield in the drama of the same name. But, of course, the main "width and depth" of his talent was revealed precisely in the role of the growing (and gaining wisdom of life) Harry Potter.
Agree, it is now impossible to imagine any other actor in his place. Dan entered this image so organically (not at all inferior in skill to his adult colleagues, including the famous Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith) that now he has to constantly prove to the whole world that he, in fact, is not “life-long Harry Potter ”, and a very diverse actor. And this, by the way, he succeeds very brilliantly.
7. Macaulay Culkin
Of course, we all remember this funny blond-haired kid from the movie “Home Alone”. He, in fact, did not play - he WAS an ordinary boy of not a timid dozen, who fell into a non-standard situation and very successfully (with a huge, typically childish, fantasy) solving the problems that arose along the way. Kevin-Macaulay was then only 9 years old, but he became the idol of millions of viewers.
But the film “The Good Son”, where Macaulay's acting talent showed one more of his fine lines - dramatic - unfortunately, few will remember. In this picture, he played Mark - a teenager with obvious mental disabilities, a sociopath and a sadist. He enjoys mocking animals, then trying to kill his little cousin, and then his own mother.
Of course, it was very difficult for the viewer to perceive the mischievous “Kevin from“ Alone at Home ”in this - completely opposite - role. Moreover, the 12-year-old Macaulay played it too reliably. And then there were a few more roles (almost not remembered by the viewer), drugs, alcohol, early marriage (at 17) and an early divorce ... And the career of Macaulay Culkin, as a result, went downhill.
6. Jodie Foster
Twice "Oscar-winner", Jodie Foster, began acting in commercials and TV shows from the age of three, and in big movies - from 10. At 14, she was first nominated for an Oscar for her role as a teenage prostitute Iris in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver.
Anticipating a flurry of serious accusations in advance of bringing such a young actress to such a specific role, Scorsese first asked Jody to undergo a series of psychological tests to make sure that she could actually withstand the moral stress associated with playing the role of Iris.
Foster successfully passed all the tests, and then frankly and very sincerely played her character, revealing the simplicity and complexity of his personality. From this moment on, Jodie Foster was open all the way to a serious movie.
5. Emma Watson
The one and only Hermione Granger - that’s the only way they perceived the young actress Emma Watson for a long time. A funny big-eyed girl (who knew how to be very serious), behaved very confidently at the casting for this role, which surprised and subdued the producers and director Chris Columbus. Emma was then only 9 years old.
Filming showed that the choice was perfect. Just like in the case of Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe, the character (Hermione) and his performer (Emma Watson) approached each other like a key to a castle.
In "Potterian", both the comic and dramatic talents of the young actress appeared. Not surprisingly, after this eight-episode saga, Emma Watson gets a variety of roles often and regularly (and, I must say, perfectly copes with them).
4. Hayley Joel Osment
The small actor Haley Joel Osment began acting in films at the age of 6, but became world famous after the release of the film The Sixth Sense (1999). The role of Cole Syrah - "the boy who sees ghosts" - brought the 11-year-old Haley an Oscar nomination. His masterful play (especially the child’s wise and deep look) amazed both his colleagues on the set, and the audience, and then film critics.
A year later, in 2000, Haley again showed the depth of his dramatic talent by playing the seventh grader Trevor Mackini, who came up with his own theory of how to make our world a better place, in the drama “Pay Another”.
And in 2001, in “Artificial Intelligence”, he almost outplayed Jude Law himself, so touchingly, piercingly and realistically, playing the role of an android boy looking for true motherly love, that critics predicted Haley Joel Osment a great future in a big movie. Alas, in 2006, Haley got drunk and driving with drugs in his pocket, and then grew fat, losing his children's charm, after which his film career came to a standstill ...
3. Leonardo DiCaprio
Now also the “Oscar-bearer" ("Finally!" And "Thank God!") Leonardo DiCaprio first appeared in front of the cameras at 2.5 years old. Until the age of 14, he managed to star in 30 commercials and (in episodic roles) in several series, including well-known ones, for example, Santa Barbara, New Adventures of Lassie, etc.
But the first notable role (noted by critics very, very positively) he played only 16 years old - in the film "The Life of this guy" (1991) with Robert de Niro and Ellen Barkin. As de Niro himself later told, the guy hit him with his game - truly authentic and professional.
And a year later, Leo got the role of Arnie Grape (a mentally retarded teenager) in the drama "What Eats Gilbert Grape?" with johnny depp. DiCaprio entered the role so organically that many viewers thought that the director really took on the role of a boy with serious developmental disabilities. Now we are all aware that Leo is able to play anyone and anything, even a stool.
2. Dakota Fanning
A predisposition to the acting profession manifested itself in little Dakota Fanning as early as 4 years old (at this age she was sent to a children's theater studio). And at the age of 6, the girl already played the first serious role in her film career.
In the film “I Am Sam” (2001), Dakota got the role of Lucy Diamond Dawson - the daughter of mentally retarded Sam, who loves his baby very much but cannot take good care of her. Dakota did such a good job with the role of Lucy, looking after her own dad, with the seriousness of an adult, that the film can not be watched without tears.
And at the age of 12, Dakota Fanning caused a storm of scandal, stunningly playing Luellen - a girl from a dysfunctional family, who by all means wished to get to the concert of her beloved singer Elvis Presley and raped by the friend who had taken advantage of this. After the release of this film (Harassed, 2007), some particularly impressionable viewers and critics demanded that Dakota's mother be deprived of parental rights for allowing her daughter to star in “this” without an understudy. Dakota herself reasonably replied that "this is just a movie, this is an acting game."
1. Natalie Portman
Another Oscar winner Natalie Portman (then Natalie Hershlag) also dreamed of becoming an actress from early childhood. She spent every school vacation at the theater camp.
And then one day (at the age of 13) Natalie woke up famous - the film “Luc” (1994) was released on the screens of Luc Besson, in which she played the young killer Matilda. (By the way, almost 2 thousand applicants have tried for this role, but the serious and out-of-date decisive Portman has bypassed them all). In the frame, Matilda, who accidentally survived the murder of her entire family as drug baron minions, smokes, learns to shoot, tries to "build her eyes" to her killer Leon, who shens her, even kills. (Hmm ... How do you like such a role for a 12-year-old girl?) Nevertheless, Natalie dealt with her by 10 points out of 10, striking with her talent both the entire film crew and, a little later, film critics and viewers (and by road to a great film career).