Good kids in entertainment

That word “good” may have some negative overtones, but it is still convenient to talk about people who are pursuing their dreams and talents in positive ways. Below is an excerpt from a Back Stage blog:

Where Are All the Good Kids?

It’s always a pleasure to interview child actors and their parents for our annual Spotlight on Young Performers. Most of the child actors we meet are bright and courteous, and the parents work hard to provide the best for their children.

It’s such a contrast to the stereotypical child-stars-gone-wrong stories we hear about almost every day. The tabloid travails of Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears, Lindsay Lohan, the Olsen twins, Brad Renfro, Mischa Barton, Gary Coleman, Danny Bonaduce, et al., feed the impression that all child actors are destined for lives of addiction, depression, and even early death.

The truth is that most child actors grow up just fine — even happy and successful. Of course, the entertainment industry is full of stars and behind-the-scenes pros who began as child actors: Jodie Foster, Natalie Portman, Brooke Shields, Ron Howard, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Connelly, and Christopher Walken to name a few. There’s also Peter Billingsley (Ralphie from A Christmas Story), executive producer of the upcoming superhero flick Iron Man and other films, and writer-director Sarah Polley (The Sweet Hereafter), who was nominated for a best adapted screenplay Oscar this year for Away From Her.

And what of those who’ve gone on to success in fields beyond show business? Shirley Temple Black — arguably the most popular child star of all time — has served as a delegate to the United Nations, was ambassador to Czechoslovakia and Ghana, and was the first female U.S. chief of protocol. California state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Los Angeles) — an outspoken advocate for the civil rights of children, women, and gays and lesbians — was once best known as Zelda Gilroy on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. And let’s not forget Little House on the Prairie’s Melissa Gilbert, former national president of the Screen Actors Guild.

Many child stars go directly from early stardom into classrooms at Yale (Foster, Claire Danes, Kellie Martin), Harvard (Kuehl, Portman), Princeton (Shields), Columbia (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anna Paquin, Julia Stiles), and Stanford (Connelly, Picket Fences‘ Justin Shenkarow).

Danica McKellar, best known as girl-next-door Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years, not only graduated from UCLA with a degree in mathematics but also co-authored a paper proving an original math theorem (the Chayes-McKellar-Winn theorem). Dubbed a math “superstar” by The New York Times, she penned Math Doesn’t Suck, a best-selling nonfiction book that encourages girls to cultivate an interest in mathematics. Blossom’s Mayim Bialik is also a UCLA alumna with a doctorate in neuroscience.

>> Continued on BlogStage.

| 03.30.08 | Share This