We all know acting is a competitive field, and, although not everyone will want or be able to spend their childhood training or performing, a striking number of successful actors did get started young. Whether it’s going to stage school, finding the right child acting agency, appearing in adverts, performing on stage, or getting lucky at open casting calls, there are lots of routes into performing that children can take to become professional actors.
Many of our most successful British actors cut their teeth when they were just kids or teenagers, and the UK has a strong reputation for turning out the next generation of screen talent, with young stars frequently recognised internationally.
Let’s delve into the careers of famous child actors, from the cream of the current crop to former child stars who have gone on to seriously great things.
1. Daniel Radcliffe
This list could be populated entirely by alumni from the Harry Potter film franchise of the 2000s, but Daniel Radcliffe is perhaps the most interesting of them all. Playing one of the most beloved characters of all time onscreen for over a decade made him outrageously famous, but Radcliffe has long played with that fame, making bold, brave, or delightfully weird creative choices – from starring in Beckett plays to impersonating Weird Al Yankovic to playing a talking decomposing corpse.
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2. Owen Cooper
Has any other child star experienced such a meteoric rise or such universal acclaim? Owen Cooper’s performance as Jamie in the chilling 2025 TV drama Adolescence was astonishingly believable, and all the more impressive given the show’s sustained one-take shots. He was 13 when he was cast in the part, and he made history as the youngest actor ever to win an Emmy for his performance at only 15 years old. He also netted a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, a National Television Award, a Sky Arts Award, and more. That’s a crowded mantelpiece for any teenager!
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3. Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor was born in Britain to American parents, and she lived here until she was 7 – although her screen career kicked off when the family moved to Los Angeles. She had small roles in There’s One Born Every Minute and Lassie Come Home, but her breakthrough was National Velvet in 1944 at the age of 12. She ultimately became as famous for her expensive tastes and her multiple husbands as she did for her movies, but her acting credits aren’t bad either: Cleopatra, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and a scorching turn in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.
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4. Christian Bale
Christian Bale made his debut onstage in 1984 in The Nerd, opposite Rowan Atkinson, of all people. At the age of just 13, he was cast by Steven Spielberg to play the central part of Jim in Empire of the Sun, an adaptation of J. G. Ballard’s novel about a boy who becomes a prisoner of war in an internment camp in World War II. Bale has spoken about his struggles with experiencing fame at such a young age, but his career continued apace – with the actor achieving lasting infamy as Patrick Bateman in the 2000 movie adaptation of American Psycho and as Batman in Christopher Nolan’s reboot of the franchise.
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5. Keira Knightley
Having got an agent at the tender age of 6, a young Keira Knightley was packing in screen credits throughout her childhood, including in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace when, at age 12, she was cast as Natalie Portman’s double because they looked so alike. But her breakout role was as Jules, the tomboy football player in 2002’s Bend It Like Beckham. From there, she rapidly rose up the ladder toward stardom, via Pirates of the Caribbean, Love Actually, and Pride & Prejudice. But it’s not all rom-coms and blockbusters. Knightley has also been acclaimed in films such as Atonement, A Dangerous Method, and Official Secrets, as well as onstage in The Misanthrope and The Children’s Hour. She’ll return to the stage in 2026 in Robert Icke’s adaptation of The Lives of Others.
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6. Frankie Corio
Some films put a child character front and centre and can only ever be as good as the kid they cast. Luckily for Aftersun, the casting directors found Frankie Corio, who was just 10 years old when she shot the heartbreakingly tender film about a father-daughter holiday with co-star Paul Mescal. On the film’s release in 2022, Corio was universally lauded for her “wonderfully authentic presence,” as Sight and Sound put it, calling it a debut “full of vitality, subtlety, and promise.” A role in The Education of Jane Cumming followed in 2026, and there are surely more great things in Corio’s future.
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7. Julie Andrews
One of the most appealing actors of all time, national treasure Julie Andrews began her career performing with her parents. Billed as “Britain’s youngest singing star,” she toured the postwar variety circuit, soon winning attention for her incredible soprano voice that stretched over four octaves. When she made her West End debut in 1947, the papers dubbed her a “12-year-old singing prodigy.” The following year, she was the youngest ever solo performer at the Royal Variety Performance. Her career stepped up a gear when she was cast in The Boy Friend on Broadway in 1954, which led to her originating the part of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady onstage. Despite being replaced by Audrey Hepburn in the film version, Hollywood soon beckoned, and Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music made her a household name.
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8. Millie Bobby Brown
When Stranger Things launched on Netflix in 2016, it was an instant hit – and immediately made a name for its most enigmatic young star, Millie Bobby Brown. She was only 11 when filming began, but she gave a performance of rare intensity. She stayed with the series through five seasons, all while branching into modelling, starring in and producing the Enola Holmes movies, launching her own beauty line, and becoming the youngest ever person on Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World list at only 14.
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9. Charlotte Mellington
Remember the endless discourse around Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights? Among the nay-sayers were those who claimed that the best thing about the film were its young stars – and they may have been right. Fourteen-year-old Charlotte Mellington had only a small amount of screen time, but she made a big impression with an eager, ardent performance as young Cathy. A veteran of Matilda the Musical – a stage show that helps launch a lot of young actors in the UK – her career is off to a flying start.
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10. Jonathan Bailey
How’s this for an adorable mental image: When he was just 7 years old, in 1995, a little Jonathan Bailey played Tiny Tim in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of A Christmas Carol. By the following year, he was cast in Les Miserables on the West End. Bailey continued working all through his childhood and teenage years, winning an Evening Standard outstanding newcomer award in 2011 for his role in David Hare’s play South Downs before coming to the nation’s attention in the hit crime drama Broadchurch in 2013 and going global with roles in Bridgerton and Wicked.
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