In my article “How to Make Friends With Directors,” I pointed out how beneficial it is for an actor to continue to study actors’ performances in older, classic films. You should become a walking film library. Not only will it make you a better actor, you’ll rediscover why you’ve chosen this profession in the first place.
The same is true with child actors. I love working with young actors because they’ll do anything for you. Very young kids don’t have a sense of embarrassment like adults do because their egos aren’t fully formed yet, so they are truly honest and unselfconscious. They have a keen sense of imagination that seems to wane only as they become adults and “life’s realities” push through and tend to squash their creativity. Some kids are truly touched with a magical gift, but it all goes back to “play” and how willing you are to go with it and not have your ego start building a wall of protection around you to stop you from taking leaps and risks.
Child actors should be watching movies and studying performances. They’ll get inspiration from seeing these good actors in their purest form—as kids. Adult actors try so hard to get back the innocence and mindset they had when they were young. That is what all actors try to do: be natural and honest and childlike in their discovery.
Check out a few of these kids’ performances in some of their first movies.
Dakota Fanning in “I Am Sam” with Sean Penn. Her father is a developmentally disabled man who has been trying to raise her ever since her mother abandoned her when she was born. As she gets older, she is actually smarter and more capable than her father. A powerful performance by a very young Fanning.
Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore in “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.” I cast this movie and we read hundreds of kids for both of these parts, but it was these two who came in and were so unaffected and not trying to be anything but themselves and purely honest. They stole our hearts.
Freddie Highmore in “Finding Neverland.” You probably know English actor Highmore from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” or “Bates Motel,” but he will simply break your heart in this movie; he’s so open and honest.
Leonardo DiCaprio in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” and “This Boy’s Life.” You can see why DiCaprio has become the superstar he is now by his young teenage performances.
Who are some of the actors that you like now? Rent their older movies and study them and the trajectory of their careers. Look at some of the solid movie stars of our time and see what they did when they were just starting out. Sean Penn, Tobey Maguire, George Clooney, Julia Roberts: What makes them superstars? What qualities do they possess?
Check out my list of “Greatest Movie Performances By Child Actors” on marciliroff.com and let me know who else I should add!
Like this advice? Check out more of Marci Liroff's articles!
Known for her work in film and television, producer and casting director Marci Liroff has worked with some of the most successful directors in the world such as Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Mark Waters, Christopher Nolan, Brad Bird, and Herbert Ross. While working at Fenton-Feinberg Casting, she, along with Mike Fenton, cast such films as “A Christmas Story," “Poltergeist," “E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial," “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," and “Blade Runner." After establishing her own casting company in 1983, Liroff cast “Footloose," “St. Elmo's Fire," “Pretty in Pink," “The Iron Giant," “The Spitfire Grill," “Untamed Heart," “Freaky Friday," “Mean Girls," “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” “Vampire Academy,” and the upcoming “The Sublime and Beautiful,” which she produced as well.
Liroff is also an acting coach, and her three-night Audition Bootcamp has empowered actors to view the audition process in a new light. The class spawned an online course available at Udemy entitled "How To Audition For Film and Television: Audition Bootcamp".
Visit Liroff online at marciliroff.com, follow her on Twitter @marciliroff and Facebook, and watch her advice videos on YouTube. You can also read her blog.
