Many of us grow up looking way different from our younger selves. For those who grew up watching TV shows or films, you’ll notice the significant changes many of your favourite children actors have experienced.
Of course, a lot of us remain curious about how our favourite child actors have changed over the years and what they’re currently doing nowadays. Here are some male celebrities who’ve all grown up completely different from their younger days.
1. Asa Butterfield
The 24-year-old actor wasn’t keen on acting until he was seven years old, when he joined an acting club. A few years later, he would start acting in movies and television shows with the most notable one called “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas”. Butterfield had to stay away from home for 3 months and was very homesick. Being a kid, that was probably the saddest part of his childhood days.
But now, Butterfield is all grown up and has been involved in several well-known projects such as Netflix’s “Sex Education”. Now that he’s a young adult, Butterfield is more comfortable talking about sex, and other grown up topics.
2. Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Joseph Gordon-Levitt was one of the prominent child actors from the 1990s. The 40-year-old actor was one of the main characters in the popular 90s sitcom “3rd Rock from the Sun” and briefly appeared as a gay character in an episode of “That 70’s Show”. He also acted as one of Micheal Myers’ unfortunate victims in “Halloween H20: 20 Years Later” and even voice acted in Disney’s “Treasure Planet” in 2002.
As an adult, Levitt began starring in bigger movies and is now one of the most handsome actors in Hollywood. He has starred in Christopher Nolan’s movies such as “Inception” and “The Dark Knight Rises” as well as “Don Jon” which co-stars Scarlett Johansson.
3. Nathan Kress
🎵 "You are the dawn of a new day that is breaking… a masterpiece still in the making… the blue in an ocean of grey." 🎵 And just like that, 3 became 4 ❤ Evie Elise Kress, born 3/20/21 at 5:31pm. 6 lbs, 4 ounces of light and life. Our hearts are going like this 💥🎆🧨🎉🍾🎇 pic.twitter.com/ASITpvbg0Q
— Nathan Kress (@NathanKress) March 23, 2021
Famously known for acting in “iCarly” as Freddie Benson, Kress has since appeared in numerous other shows. He used to be a voice actor for the cartoon “Shuriken School” and took a short role in Disney Channel’s “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody”.
Years later, he would voice act as the younger version of Luke’s friend in “Star Wars: Rebels”. He was even one of the main characters in the found-footage movie “Into the Storm”. Fast forward to 2017, the 28-year-old star is now a father, just ten years after he acted in “iCarly”. He recently had his second child. Moreover, fans should prepare themselves for a nostalgic trip, as Kress is coming back for an “iCarly” reboot sometime this year.
4. Chandler Riggs
Anyone who’s familiar with “The Walking Dead” TV series will probably know Rick Grimes’ son Carl, played by Chandler Riggs. The actor spent most of his younger days playing Carl in the popular long-running post-apocalyptic series.
Being all grown-up, Riggs still takes most of his time acting in “The Walking Dead” where his character has started to mature. Other than “The Walking Dead”, Riggs has a recurring role in the ongoing series “A Million Little Things”.
5. Josh Hutcherson
Known for playing various movie roles in the 2000s, Hutcherson’s presence in Hollywood wasn’t really obscured. He has starred in numerous main roles in movies like “Zathura”, “RV”, “Bridge to Terabithia”, and “Journey to the Center of the Earth”. Since then Hutcherson has also been in one of the biggest movie franchise when he took on his most infamous character Peeta Mellark in the “Hunger Games” franchise.
6. Luke Benward
You may remember Luke Benward from the 2008 Disney Channel original movie “Minutemen”. He’s also starred in other films like “How To Eat Fried Worms” and “Mostly Ghostly”. He may have taken a short break since 2019, but the actor is back in the drama-thriller “Wildcat”, starring opposite Georgina Campbell and Mido Hamada.
7. Jeremy Sumpter
To quote Buzzfeed, if you didn’t have a crush on Peter Pan were you even a ’00s kid? Jeremy Sumpter played the titular character in the live-action version of “Peter Pan”. Since then, the 32-year-old actor has ventured into more mature films such as “Soul Surfer”, “Excision”, “Animal” and “The Culling”. Interestingly enough, he also co-starred with Nathan Kress in “Into the Storm” as a young cameraman. Currently, Sumpter doesn’t really have much going on for him.
8. Malcolm David Kelley
If you were an avid follower of “Lost”, you may remember Walt Lloyd from the earlier episodes. He’s a young kid and the estranged son of Micheal Dawson. Lloyd also possesses paranormal abilities like telepathy and astral projection. Moreover, the character was played by Malcolm David Kelley, who had to be written off from the series due to the actor growing up.
The actor would grow up to play in more short roles on television such as “Bones” and “Blindspot”. One of his most recent movies is the critically acclaimed “Detroit”, that stars John Boyega and Will Poulter. In the present day, Kelley hasn’t been acting since 2017 and is now focusing on his music career, where he’s paired up with his “Gigantic” co-star Tony Oller. Together, they both form the American pop duo MKTO, which started back in 2010.
9. Frankie Muniz
“Malcolm in the Middle” dominated the early 2000s sitcoms. You’ll also probably remember child actor Frankie Muniz, who played the titular character and has acted in numerous movies as a child such as “My Dog Skip”, “Big Fat Liar”, and “Agent Cody Banks”.
Unfortunately, the actor faced some health issues at one point and was contemplating changing careers. Muniz later become a full-time race car driver but stopped upon suffering from severe injuries in 2009. He and partner Paige Price welcomed their first child – a boy named Mauz Mosley Muniz on 22nd March this year. Needless to say, he’s busy being a dad at the moment.
10. Henry Thomas
“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” came out in 1982 and is regarded as one of the best films of all time. It also featured some great acting from child actor Henry Thomas who was only getting started on his acting career. He would continue acting in numerous films and TV shows after his first critically acclaimed film.
Currently, the 49-year-old is still active in the filming industry and has shown no signs of stopping. Thomas has been in numerous horror movies or TV series like “Ouija: Origin of Evil”, “Gerald’s Game”, “The Haunting of Hill House”, and the recent “The Haunting of Bly Manor“. In 2019, Thomas reprised his role as grown-up Elliot from “E.T” for a Superbowl ad. Of course, it was a heartfelt moment for many adults who got to see their childhood star all grown-up.
