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 see 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) taking 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 some child, some annoying little girl; some sassy-kid-hussy from hell… I don’t know what she looked like and I didn’t know all that 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.
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!)