What happens to the children who played the kids in Christmas movies? Some have gone on to have long acting careers, while others were typecast as the kid from that one movie. Here are actors who were kids in Christmas movies and are now adults!
1) Macaulay Culkin – Home Alone
Macaulay Culkin was the little boy who was left home alone in the 1990 hit film Home Alone. Macaulay, who played 8-year-old Kevin McCallister, is now 30 years old. His last movie was Party Monster, which came out in 2003. He has been in a handful of TV shows and music videos since then, but he is currently working on a documentary about his time as a child actor.
Macaulay Culkin began acting at age 4 and starred in Home Alone when he was 8 years old. He had an extensive acting career that has spanned over three decades and includes roles on television and Broadway theater as well as voice work for animated films .
2) Joseph Gordon-Levitt – 3rd Rock from the Sun
Joseph Gordon-Levitt was one of the only adults to star in a Christmas movie when he played Tommy Solomon on 3rd Rock from the Sun. Tommy had an epic meltdown over his sister Sally’s (Jane Curtin) engagement and was so angry that he changed his name to Dick. While Joseph is no longer acting, he does have a lot of other projects going on including singing, playing drums, producing and directing. He recently directed Don Jon which received some really good reviews from critics.
There are quite a few actors who starred as children in Christmas movies who are now grown up and famous with their own careers.
3) Christina Ricci – The Addams Family
In 1990, Christina Ricci starred as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family. She played the daughter of a family who lived with all the things that scared you like spiders and rotting corpses. It has been 23 years since this movie came out and she’s grown up to be an actress, model and producer. These days, she’s best known for her roles on Pan Am, American Horror Story and Z: The Beginning of Everything. You might have seen her most recently in the Netflix Original Series
4) Anna Chlumsky – My Girl
Anna Chlumsky, now 30, played Vada Sultenfuss in the 1991 movie My Girl. What you may not know is that she has also appeared in several other Christmas movies, including Elf, and A Madea’s Family Christmas. Anna’s most recent role was on the TV series Veep where she plays Amy Brookheimer. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Conor Bagley (age 27), and their daughter Eliza Rose (born October 5, 2015).
5) Mara Wilson – Mrs. Doubtfire
Mara Wilson, who played Matilda in the movie Matilda, played the role of Natalie Hillard in the 1993 movie Mrs. Doubtfire. She has continued to work as an actress and writer, and recently published a memoir entitled Where Am I Now? which documents her experiences as an adult after starring in one of the most iconic Christmas movies of all time.
Christmas is a time for reuniting with family, appreciating what we have and sharing stories from our pasts. For some people, these stories are about that one magical day when they were on screen as a child actor in one of our favorite holiday movies. We want to take this opportunity to reminisce on the actors who were kids in Christmas movies and are adults now because that’s how time and aging works.
6) Josh Peck – Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Josh Peck played the Grinch in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas and he’s now 29 years old.
Josh Peck is 29 years old. He played the Grinch in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and he was just 12 years old when it came out!
It was released on November 17th, 2000 and it turns out that Josh didn’t even like his costume because it made him feel claustrophobic.
At the time of filming, he was 12 years old which means that right now he’s almost 29 (time and aging work very well together).
7) Jamie Lee Curtis – Halloween
Jamie Lee Curtis, who played Laurie Strode in the 1978 horror film Halloween, also played Chrissy Snow in the 1985 Christmas flick Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. In Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Chrissy Snow is a woman who enlists Pee-Wee Herman to help find her husband. The two scour the country side and eventually find him at a diner. Curtis has said that she was almost fired from the movie for being too old to play a kid. But, after meeting with Reubens, she was given permission to keep playing Chrissy Snow.
8) Freddie Prinze Jr. – I Know What You Did Last Summer
Freddie Prinze Jr. was the first actor to star in the I Know What You Did Last Summer movie. While he may have been a kid when it came out, he’s now an adult and has starred in many other movies including 24 and She’s All That. Freddie also has his own production company called Freddie Films. He is also married to Sarah Michelle Gellar, who was also in I Know What You Did Last Summer. If you’re wondering what happened to Matthew Lillard from Scream, he’s currently starring on Graceland with Aaron Tveit from NBC’s Smash. Just because someone stars in one Christmas movie doesn’t mean they can’t grow up and do something different!
