The Child Actor Syndrome
BY KARDELEN KALA (TRIN/PREP)
kala@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
Recently, I saw a movie called The Fall starring Lee Pace (also known as the Piemaker from the sadly short-lived Pushing Daisies) and a six-year-old Romanian girl called Catinca Untaru, who may be the most talented child actor I have ever seen. Her enviable, seemingly effortless talent got me thinking about child actors. It seems to me that there are two types of child actors.
The first type is the stereotype; it's what you think when you hear "child actor." He or she is a star as long as childish good looks last, that is to say, until puberty. When the career crumbles, often all that's left is alcohol, drugs, and general self-destructive behavior. Macauley Caulkin is a prime example of this type of child actor, as well as Haley Joel Osment, the Olsen Twins, Lindsay Lohan, River Phoenix, and Drew Barrymore. The initial success, followed by a spectacular descent into hard drugs, seems to be the norm in the world of child acting. Fortunately though, this is not always the case, which brings us to the second type of child actors, which appears to be equally common.
The children belonging to this category start acting because they display promising talent. They are given real, deep, and challenging parts that are not based on how cute they look. They consider their craft an artform from an early age, and many may take a break from acting to finish high school and even complete a university education. They usually last in the industry, a shining example being the beloved Jodie Foster. She is in good company as well; many credible actors ranging from Leonardo DiCaprio to Elijah Wood to Natalie Portman started out as child actors. Others include Dakota Fanning and her sister Elle, as well as Abigail Breslin, Saoirse Ronan, who was the life and soul of Atonement, and Jaden Smith.
And my wish for this six-year old (or rather, as The Fall was released in 2006, ten-year old) Romanian girl is that she will belong to the second category and not the first. She is a very cute child, but with undeniable talent. I hope that she has loving parents who will direct her choices wisely, rather than acting like a pair of vultures. In the meantime, everyone should watch the movie The Fall, as it is hauntingly impressive.