- Early in cinematic history, adults performed as children despite the lack of authenticity. At the age of 24, Mary Pickford played the title role of a 10-year-old in "The Poor Little Rich Girl" (1917), Lillian Gish played a child in "Broken Blossoms" (1919) at 23, and Richard Barthelmess played the role of a young boy in "Tol'able David" (1921) at 26. But then Shirley Temple broke onto the scene and became the first widely successful child actor. She got her start in the movies at the age of 3 and lit up the big screen in the 1930s with her charm and talent. She was renowned for her maturity and preparedness in the work setting and became the youngest person ever to be presented with an Oscar at 6 years old.
- Child actors are hired to play children in films, TV and stage productions. They are employed in the same manner as all other actors and are contractually obligated to fulfill their professional duties in order to be compensated. There are certain tasks a child actor is legally forbidden to do, such as dangerous stunts, morally compromising situations, nudity and overt sexual acts.
- There are three subsets to the entertainment industry that child actors are employed in--movies, TV and theater. The age range usually stretches from infancy to the teenage years, but teen actors differs from child actors in that they are more on the cusp of adulthood. Child actors are still young and their roles reflect that.
- There are several stipulations applied to child actors in order for them to be employed by a movie studio, TV network or theater company. The most important is that a child actor's work cannot interfere with his or her education in any way. They must still meet the education requirements that all other children are held to, so tutors are often employed. Many parents are criticized for encouraging their kids to be actors since it disrupts the "normal" childhood process.
- Most people don't realize that even though child actors make a substantial amount of money for the work they do, they aren't in control of that money until after they turn 18 years old. Their parents or guardians are responsible for their financial well being and control how much of that money the child actually sees and saves. The Olsen twins in particular are famous for their success as child actors, but they both have freely admitted to not seeing a dime of their earnings until their eighteenth birthdays.
