I Love a Good Child Actor

I was wondering to myself, why I love to watch good dramatic performances by kids. It’s hypnotic when they can move you. They’re extremely interesting to watch. In fact, I may even enjoy watching a good child actor more than a good adult actor. And when I say child, I mean very young; like under 13.

    

So, I was thinking, “why?”

    

I think it is awe. Admiration. Appreciation. Gifted child actors are usually extremely intelligent and often possess wisdom beyond their years. That makes them a bit of an anomaly. If you’ve ever seen interviews with very young child actors you will observe immediately, their intellect as manifest by how articulate and well-spoken they are -- their vocabulary. They’ll be like, eight; using the word “significant.” I was –- well, anyway.

    

What I do hate is a child actor who can’t act. It’s terrible to watch, really.

    

Um, I’m trying to think of our young child motion picture actors. Are there any? Is there even one? Where’s our Dakota Fanning? I think we don’t have one. Do we? (BTW, Fanning’s days as “child” are numbered. I think she’s like 14, now).

    

I’m not counting annoying kids who show up in comedies for the purpose of (i) being nuisances, or (ii) who take up space as the requisite placeholder child that a film might need.

    

I was cleaning the other day. And Are We There Yet? (or one of those Ice Cube flicks) was on. I wasn’t paying attention to the movie but I heard bits and pieces of it. But there was a child, some annoying little girl, some sassy-kid-hussy from hell… I don’t know what she looked like or what was going on in the story. I just knew I wanted to throw her out of an 89th floor window or smash her skull against the wall, breaking it into 4,769 teensy pieces. [annoying kid example]

    

I’m talking about -– do I dare say –- kids who have significant screen time in dramatic roles, someone like Jurnee Smollett, one of our child actresses of yesteryear.

    

Is Will Smith’s son, nine year-old Jaden Smith, our black motion picture child actor to be reckoned with? Not today. Among other things, Jaden Smith doesn’t have a body of work yet.

    

Shout out to all the talented, black, motion picture, child actors out there; we know you exist. And some of you are working. But there are so few opportunities. This is because the grownups have made it so.

    

Our kids… with great potential and talent… who are not seeing opportunities…

    

I weep for them.

    

(The photo above: Ten year-old Tatum O'Neal - who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1973 - 34 years ago!)

Comments

[Kimi]

I think the kids on Everybody Hates Chris have potential to be great child actors if they continue to get good roles (or roles at all! Only the kid playing Chris has been in a major motion picture & don't think the flick did well).

Those kids in the Ice Cube "Are We There Yet" series ARE annoying LOL. the girl in particular.

Altho she doesn't have a body of work yet either, I'm looking forward to see what/how Will Smith's daughter Willow will do in his new flick which I think comes out in December. I definitely think Jaden has potential & is lucky to have parents who own their own production company who can pick & choose the perfect roles for him if they decide to keep him working.

I hate to pick on the kids lol but you know another TV kid who's a pretty bad actor is the girl who plays Lizzie on Lincoln Heights. I've only seen her on Bernie Mac before (by the way, what happened to those kids? Especially Vanessa!) & the girl playing Lizzie is just unbelievable & boring, but maybe some of it is the writing. Luckily the show overall is good.

[Shion]

Hey Black,forgive me for straying from the subject but there is a great site you ought to check out if you haven't already...www.notstarring.com
It names the actors who were first considered for some of the grestest movie roles in history. For instance, Samuel L. Jackson was chosen for the part of Morpheus in the Matrix before Laurence Fishburne.This is a great site if you are a movie buff.
Shion

[theblackactor.com]

@ Shion

Ohhhhhh. That sounds like a very interesting site. Ima check it out right now.

I guess I need a name. i've been using "theblackactor.com". LOL.

Thanks for sharing that piece of information, Shion! :)

[Annewbie to the Board]

I've been searching ALL over for an article/BLOG, relating to this subject! THANK YOU f/writing it!
I agree w/you 100% concerning the lack of HIGH QUALITY roles for African-American kids (or ANY non-Caucasian culture for that matter). Don't get me wrong---I appreciate the Abigail Breslins,Haley Joel Osments & Annasophia Robbs of this business---they are VERY talented (sorry Dakota,but you're just not my *cup of tea*),however,when I look at the ratio of both HQ roles & Oscar-related recognition in terms of Caucasian kids to non-CC,I can't help but think there's an obvious imbalance. I'm not sure if it's due to the lack of material being written by writers of color,or if HQ/"Oscar Caliber" type scripts featuring kids of color ARE being written,but just not optioned by big studios (who don't seem to have much faith in ANY non-CC child actor,but Raven). It's not that kids of color aren't as 'capable' of giving "Oscar-Worthy" performances---they're just not given the MATERIAL (as often) to work with like young Caucasian actors are. Even Sundance doesn't feature a lot of films with children of color in LEAD roles---not just *co-starring/token* ones. I would LOVE to see an AA kid get an Oscar nom someday. Hollywood just needs to get ON THE BALL & join the 21st Century.... Looking at Oscar's history dealing w/young nominees (under 18) is truly sobering. Only ONE actress of non-CC descent under 18---"Whale Rider"'s Keisha Castle-Hughes(who is Maori)---has ever been nominated. That is pathetic .While I truly appreciate seeing young black actresses such as Keke Palmer (who,BTW whipped D. Fanning @ the Young Artists Awards last Spring) & the terrific Shereeka Epps gain some recognition,I would love to see GOOD roles for kids of color be expanded beyond their "cultural boundaries" (EX: Black children playing the"troubled/struggling *ghetto kid*" or the *wiseacre WASP*.). Hopefully,with this new generation of young talent,we'll see some progress in terms of seeing more kids of color book more lead work in films w/ SUBSTANCE.... Families of Diverse races of today are facing a variety of complex issues & problems that Hollywood has yet to (or done very little to) address in Motion Pictures: Divorce,Death of a parent/sibling,suicide,homosexuality,child abduction,etc.. It would be a nice change of pace to see a film featuring an African-American child (in a middle-class setting) that dealt with more of these issues. I mean,come on,how many "Ordinary People" or "Kramer Vs. Kramer" type films have been featured as a part of Black Cinema? Not many. And how many of these types of films feature AA CHILDREN in the LEAD role(s)? How about zilch. That,IMO,is something that needs to change. I mean,the closest *we* have come so far to seeing those issues addressed is in a few of Tyler Perry's films. However,given the negativity thrust upon him by many a cranky critic,the hope of him receiving any *play* from the (Oscars) Academy is grim (not to mention children in his films are not the LEAD actors).....I believe only after young African-American/non-CC kids begin to be acknowledged by Hollywood writers as more than just smart-a** "props" & HUMAN BEINGS with fears,hopes,dreams & concerns that the Hollywood *field* of cinema will finally be leveled.

[theblackactor.com]

@ Newbie

Welcome to theblackactor.com Newbie, and I'm pleased you stopped by and gave us your thoughts on this article.

It is very unfortunate. :(