shadowkat | Day #18 of the 30 Day Film Challenge

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Day #18 of the 30 Day Film Challenge.

A film that stars a favorite actor/actress (it said your favorite, but I changed it to a favorite - because I don't have one favorite. And it varies.)

Now, I've got to pick one...

Ah three actors for the price of on..I'll watch Christian Bale in anything, although I do love Michael Caine and Hugh Jackman, but Bale is by far the most versatile actor I've ever seen.

Watch on YouTube

Oh here's his first film, which blew me away..

Watch on YouTube

Christian Bale is the rare actor who has managed to jump from child star to adult star and still have a wide variety of roles, and be acclaimed. A feat that few others have managed.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

yourlibrarian

That's true about Christian Bale -- versatile actor with a very enviable adult career. I suspect that child actors who did movies were in a much better position than those who did TV for various reasons. Of course some did both, but until the last 20 years there was a much bigger division between film and TV actors.

I'd have to say my favorite actors are Emma Thompson, Charlize Theron, and Jessica Chastain, though with the latter two a lot of that has to do with the roles they tend to choose, or in Theron's case, create for themselves.

From:

shadowkat

It depended on the actors. Ron Howard actually started as a child actor in film, then jumped to television, then became a director - because he preferred it and had the connections. But Margaret O'Brien - an excellent child actress - never transferred well to adult. Nor did Shirly Temple. There's a whole slew who don't. Tatum O'Neal never quite did. Jodie Foster is among the few of that group. Molly Ringwald didn't - although she was more post-adolescent.

It's really hard. I can think of only a handful - Elizabeth Taylor, Jodie Foster, Roddy McDowl, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Christian Bale...now it's even harder for the kids to break through to adult roles. They often don't age well. (See the actor from the Sixth Sense, Macauley Caulkin, Ralphie from Christmas Story, etc.) Winona Ryder has struggled.

I have too many favorite actors to list them. Hence "a favorite" actor as opposed to "the favorite" actor.

I do however, love all the ones you listed. Actually Thompson and Theron both have that in common - they've both created roles for themselves. Thompson was stuck behind Branagh, until she leaped free and created her own roles. (She produced Sense & Sensibility and Howards End). Chastain - also to some degree has done that.

From:

yourlibrarian

True, Ron Howard is a big exception to that. Plus, there are doubtless many other kids who went on to careers in other professions who we just don't know about. I think Winona Ryder could have had a continually successful career but her own issues stopped that. However, I also think that, just like a year or so ago there were articles about how Jennifer Lawrence was overexposed, I think that Ryder suffered from that too, which is why there was more of a backlash against her.

From:

shadowkat

Ryder also got typecast - and had troubles breaking out of that. And being female, she struggled more than some of her male contemporaries, where looks don't matter quite as much.

I'm trying to remember the name of the actress who was similar to Ryder, who played in the Adams Family, and played Ryder's sister in the Cher film, who also disappeared from acting as she aged.