These child stars went on to become fantastic character actors

Why not start with one of Cohen’s clients (and also one of his costars in “The Goonies”) in Quan. For years, he was best remembered for playing Short Round in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” a character who was a tinge annoying. Quan didn’t act for much of his adulthood, but then popped up in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” He was really good, and it felt like a nice thing for Quan after all those years away from acting. Then he went and won Outstanding Supporting Actor for that movie (the only valid win for it, as far as we’re concerned) and completely rekindled his career.

“I Am Sam” is now best remembered for two things. One, a joke from “Tropic Thunder” we will not be quoting. Two, being the first time Fanning, a young child at the time, got attention. She did the child star thing for a bit, but more in a “prestige” way than most. Playing Cherie Currie in “The Runaways” felt like a classic “I’m done with kid roles now” move, but she still fell by the wayside a bit. When we saw her as Squeaky in “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood” our thought was, “Okay, she’s got some interesting character work skills in her repertoire.” Now she’s popped up in “The Watchers” and “Ripley.” Also, she’s still in her early thirties. There’s plenty of career left ahead of her.

If we mention one Fanning sister, we should mention the other. In a way, Elle rolling around kind of gave Hollywood an effective Dakota replacement, which impacted both of their careers. Elle has done less eclectic work, but she’s also had the most significant role the two sisters have had. “The Great” wasn’t a big show for Hulu, but the bizarre dramedy about Catherine the Great got a lot of critical love, especially Fanning as Catherine. Fanning even got an Emmy nomination for the show.

Radcliffe seems like he kind of rules. Playing Harry Potter made his wealthy enough he could do whatever he wanted. His costar Emma Watson went the movie star route (which didn’t quite take) and Rupert Grint just kind of fell off the radar. Radcliffe, though, seems to just do whatever he feels like. Also, fortunately, he picks fun projects and is good in them. Who else would do an anthology series trifle on TBS like “Miracle Workers?” Or play “Weird Al” Yankovic in the fake biopic of the parody artist? That’s pure Radcliffe.

Maybe it feels weird to include a guy who was in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, but let’s be honest. We didn’t include former child star Elijah Wood on this list, but did include Astin, for a reason. Samwise Gamgee is a supporting, character role in “Lord of the Rings.” His whole thing is being Frodo’s best buddy. Also, let’s not forget his turn as Bob in “Stranger Things,” or his role on “Perry Mason.”

Another notable child star who didn’t make this list? Macaulay Culkin, who basically gave up acting, with only a smattering of adult roles to his name. Chlumsky, though, has had a better career in adulthood in our opinion. Yes, she was in “My Girl” and “My Girl 2.” She then had a limited career in adolescence and adulthood, but then “Veep” rolled around. Chlumsky was one of the standouts in a cast littered with them. For playing Amy Brookheimer, Chlumsky was nominated for six Emmys.

Gomez was on “Barney” and had her own Disney show. She had a music career and had to deal with not just the tabloids, but the tabloids in the internet era. For many, though, she’s best, maybe solely, known for playing Mabel on Hulu’s hit “Only Murders in the Building.” She’s spent seasons holding her own with Martin Short and Steve Martin. Also, she didn’t pick up that obnoxious Disney Channel acting style, which is the real coup.

If you are of a certain age, Gosselaar will forever be Zack Morris. For a while, it seemed like that’s all he would end up doing, spending his early adulthood on “Saved by the Bell: The College Years” and making made-for-TV movies set in that universe. His film career tanked after “Dead Man on Campus,” his one chance at movie stardom. Fortunately, procedural television came calling. He was in 87 episodes of “NYPD Blue” and starred in 40 episodes of “Franklin & Bash.” Also, he was fun in the “Saved by the Bell” reboot when Zack would show up.

Harris seemed destined to forever be Doogie Howser, or at least “Neil Patrick Harris, the guy who played Doogie Howser.” In fact, the first time most encountered him in adulthood was in “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” where he played a raunchy, ridiculous version of himself. Soon thereafter, he appeared in “How I Met Your Mother” as Barney. Not only did that become a hit sitcom, but Barney was the breakout star. Harris has been popping up regularly, mostly in comedy but occasionally in drama, ever since.

Krakowski is now beloved for her turns in Tina Fey’s hilarious sitcoms “30 Rock” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” She actually had a career as a child actor back in the 1980s, though she was a teenager when she really started working. In addition to appearing on 107 episodes of the soap opera “Search for Tomorrow,” Krakowski was Cousin Vicki in the first “National Lampoon’s Vacation” movie. She also got a bit lucky, as Krakowski was in the running to be in the infamous horror movie “Sleepaway Camp,” which may have been hard to bounce back from.

Lyonne has made no bones about it, because she doesn’t really make bones about anything. She has said that she basically stopped acting waiting for her parents to die. That, along with getting clean from drugs, helped give her a better approach to life, and to her career. The fruit of that is we’ve gotten shows like “Russian Doll” and “Poker Face,” which she is great in. Lyonne even got to host “Saturday Night Live,” which was probably a dream come true for a New York kid who seemed like she may not make it as a New York adult.

Moretz is still figuring out her adult career, but she’s shown promise. She was a legitimate child star, doing action films and also performing well in comedies, including her memorable guest appearances on “30 Rock.” In adulthood, her biggest success is voicing Wednesday in those “The Addams Family” movies. She’s starring in somewhat-obscure drama films these days, and she tried a TV show, but then the strike happened and it was canceled. Moretz still shows acting skills. Maybe it’s time to accept more supporting roles.

In his heyday, no child actor was a bigger star than Osment. From the second “I see dead people” hit in “The Sixth Sense,” he was a star. Then he stepped away for several years. Now, he’s a delightful comedic presence in supporting, usually tertiary, roles. He also doesn’t seem bitter at all. Osment will pop up as Slow Joey in “Comedy Bang! Bang!” or do a couple “What We Do in the Shadows” episodes. He’s working, and he’s seemingly having fun doing so.

By many accounts, Savage is no Kevin Arnold. When the career section of your Wikipedia page has a “misconduct allegations” subheading with multiple entries, it’s not ideal. That being said, in addition to playing Kevin Arnold on “The Wonder Years,” he was good on “Friends from College” and was great on “The Grinder.”

Steinfeld was fantastic as a kid in the Coen Brothers’ “True Grit.” She acted some, but also had a music career. Would she keep acting? Well, while still a teenager, Steinfeld was stellar in “The Edge of Seventeen,” and then she tipped into adult acting. She made “Bumblebee” a viable movie. She played Emily Dickinson in the historical fiction of Apple TV+’s “Dickinson.” Steinfeld may end up swallowed up by the MCU, but that feels like less of a risk now, which is good for us. She’s a good actor. We want to see her doing strong character work.

Arguably, the greatest character actors are the best sketch-comedy performers. It’s hard to argue Thompson is anything other than an all-time sketch performer. As a kid, he rose to fame on “All That,” the Nickelodeon sketch show. This paved the way for “Kenan & Kel,” and also for “Good Burger.” Nobody from “All That” ever really had much adult success…except for Thompson. He moved from the children’s sketch show to the foremost sketch show there is, “Saturday Night Live.” Thompson has been on “SNL” for over 20 seasons. Nobody else has been on more than 14. He’s the longest-tenured “SNL” cast member ever. Thompson is a sketch icon, and in that way, an excellent character actor.