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[MrOogieBoogie]

Be it film or television.

Not really a performance, per se, but Henry Thomas's audition for E.T. was great:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzUZheS7cXY

 

[Dabanton]

Beasts Of The Southern Wild

Quvenzhané Wallis

Absolutely amazing performance.

 

[Dilly]

I found Cid in Looper quite good.

 

[arab]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF7i2n5NXLo

.

sorry, no. that movie was terrible.

christian bale in empire of the sun

 

[Dabanton]

sorry, no. that movie was terrible.

christian bale in empire of the sun

Haha no. It's was fantastic.

 

[Kenka]

Be it film or television.

Not really a performance, per se, but Henry Thomas's audition for E.T. was great:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzUZheS7cXY

Your System Shock avatar is creppy x_X

 

[Prez]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om2DX1E8WZE

 

[Platy]

Anyone with less than 1 year old.

Those babies always give the best baby performance

 

[Dr.Acula]

How about Ryan O'Neal getting the performance of a lifetime out of his daughter, Tatum, in Paper Moon? He pretty much destroyed her innocence though. By what a performance!

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

Your System Shock avatar is creppy x_X

You just noticed it?

 

[Weapxn]

Beasts Of The Southern Wild

Quvenzhané Wallis



Absolutely amazing performance.

Everything I have heard about this movie is phenomenal. I really need to see it.

 

[RustyNails]

Haley Joel Osment in Sixth Sense was pretty good.

Also, Jamal/Salim younger versions in Slumdog Millionaire were amazing. The fact that they were really slum kids is even more amazing.

 

[Jenov]

Haley Joel Osment was a pretty awesome kid actor

 

[NumberTwo]

Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire was pretty remarkable IMO.

 

[Kenka]

You just noticed it?

Well, never hit me really before.

Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire was pretty remarkable IMO.

I am biased since I fell in love with her in that movie but I second that.

 

[mclem]

Haley Joel Osment and Christina Ricci are the obvious choices.

I'd also add - from Television - Caitlin Blackwood (Young Amelia Pond from Doctor Who), but biggest of all:

Ramona Marquez. The rest of the Outnumbered kids too, but especially her.

 

[Kafarabo]

is it okay to say a child actor is sexy when she was under 18 in the movie but is over 18 now?

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

is it okay to say a child actor is sexy when she was under 18 in the movie but is over 18 now?

Natalie Portman, am i rite

 

[Jenov]

Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire was pretty remarkable IMO.

Oh, yah that was a good one too!


Also worth mentioning:

Natalie Portman in the Professional, excellent job.

I think Haley Osment wins it based on age, depth of performance + successful works (AI, Pay it Forward, The Sixth Sense).

 

[Meus Renaissance]

That kid from Looper was the best child actor I've ever seen

 

[Santiako]

All the kids in Super 8 were pretty good.

 

[revolverjgw]

The only child actor I ever found endearing was that girl from Stuart Gordon's Dolls

edit- actually Tatum O'Neal was good in Paper Moon

 

[sphinx]

Haley Joel Osment in Artificial Intelligence is one of the most impressive things I have seen from a minor in a major hollywood movie.

It was... scary and unsettling to think that such a small, young person can do that.

the moment the mother activates the child robot, how he changes, the moment he sits at the table for the first time and laughs, it really is a masterful performance.

 

[Megadragon15]

Jackie Coogan in The Kid.

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

The kids from A Separation, The 400 Blows, Los Olvidados, Forbidden Games, The Piano, Bicycle Thieves, The Decalogue, Cinema Paradiso, Days of Heaven, Ivan's Childhood, Pan's Labyrinth, Chop Shop, The Exorcist (not all of it though). Maybe The Sixth Sense (uncertain on that one).

I don't think E.T. qualifies. I'd say the kid from Angela's Ashes, but it's been so many years since I watched it that I don't remember it that well.

Also, not the kids from Terminator 2, The Descendants, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Hugo neither.

 

[bengraven]

None.

Because despite their impressive performance, the second we see them again we automatically hate them and wish they'd go away.

Our generation hates child actors.

 

[The Technomancer]

Haley Joel Osment in Artificial Intelligence is one of the most impressive things I have seen from a minor in a major hollywood movie.

It was... scary and unsettling to think that such a small, young person can do that.

the moment the mother activates the child robot, how he changes, the moment he sits at the table for the first time and laughs, it really is a masterful performance.

Actually...yeah, probably this

 

[highrider]

The blonde young kid in Master and Commander was pretty awesome I thought. Also that kid from About a Boy was great.

 

[sphinx]

Actually...yeah, probably this

Spoilers for A.I.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYgWHwMm9Uo

Spoiler

kid being abandoned in the forest

EDIT: I don't think this is the best scene in the movie but the look in the kids eyes at 1:45, it's stunning how much power and conviction he has in them, definitely one of a kind talent.

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

None.

Because despite their impressive performance, the second we see them again we automatically hate them and wish they'd go away.

Our generation hates child actors.

You need to watch some movies with good kid actors in them. Sure I am one who is usually annoyed by kids in movies many times, but that doesn't mean there aren't some really great ones.

 

[DD]

Dakota Fanning in War of the Words was incredible.

Haley Joel Osment in Artificial Intelligence is one of the most impressive things I have seen from a minor in a major hollywood movie.

It was... scary and unsettling to think that such a small, young person can do that.

the moment the mother activates the child robot, how he changes, the moment he sits at the table for the first time and laughs, it really is a masterful performance.

Indeed!

 

[FreeMufasa]

Will smiths son in pursuit of happyness.

 

[Jenov]

Spoilers for A.I.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYgWHwMm9Uo

Spoiler

kid being abandoned in the forest

Ah god, can't watch that, heartbreaking

 

[subrock]

The graph in my mind has a y axis labeled "possibility of great acting performance" and an x axis labeled "age" and a line that looks like (x+18)^2

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Turned the film from a good one into a great one. Main reason people still talk about the film with such passion

 

[Dirtyshubb]

Kirsten Dunst in Interview with the vampire, her best role to date in my eyes and an absolute fantastic performance.

 

[Jenov]

Turned the film from a good one into a great one. Main reason people still talk about the film with such passion

ROFL

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

Turned the film from a good one into a great one. Main reason people still talk about the film with such passion

lol.

 

[TOP SHOTTA]

Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire was pretty remarkable IMO.

Kirsten Dunst in Interview with the vampire, her best role to date in my eyes and an absolute fantastic performance.

Yup. Best ever. By far, in my opinion.

Runners up are:

HJO in Sixth Sense AND A.I., actually. He was great

Newt, from Aliens

 

[Nappuccino]

Max Records in Where the Wild Things Are.

 

[Easystride]

Nikolay Burlyaev - Ivan's Childood

 

[Souldriver]

Dakota Fanning in War of the Words was incredible.

Indeed!

Yes. Gaf seems to hate her and her performance with a passion. But she did fantastic. Screaming and freaking out like any little girl would do, and it was totally believable and natural.

 

[LQX]

Oh, yah that was a good one too!


Also worth mentioning:

Natalie Portman in the Professional, excellent job.

I think Haley Osment wins it based on age, depth of performance + successful works (AI, Pay it Forward, The Sixth Sense).

Ugh, wish I was 20 again. Had the biggest crush on her.

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

Nikolay Burlyaev - Ivan's Childood

Yep, I mentioned this one too

I forgot to mention the kids from Come and See.

 

[Platy]

Turned the film from a good one into a great one. Main reason people still talk about the film with such passion

Still a better actor than Hayden Christensen

 

[confuziz]

sorry, no. that movie was terrible.

christian bale in empire of the sun

HOLY SHIT. I watched this movie a few years ago and I didn't know it was Bale..

Mind blown.

 

[Cipherr]

Kirsten Dunst in Interview with the vampire, her best role to date in my eyes and an absolute fantastic performance.

Came to post Dunst in Vampire, she was amazing in that. Osment in A.I and Sixth Sense also, followed closely by Christina Ricci in the early Adams Family movies.

 

[delta25]

Tatum O'Neal - Paper Moon. There's a reason she won an academy award.

 

[Anemone]

I've been constantly impressed with the kid who plays Geofrey in Game of Thrones. The rest of the kids on that show are very capable as well.

 

[Nappuccino]

I've been constantly impressed with the kid who plays Geofrey in Game of Thrones. The rest of the kids on that show are very capable as well.

Yeah. Every one of the kids (minus the guy who plays Jon Snow) seem to be fantastic actors. The guy who plays Jon Snow just... seems to be playing himself going by interviews.