9. Zachary Gordon
This might seem like a weird choice for this list. Zachary Gordon? What has he done to make it on here? The Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies and a couple episodes of How I Met Your Mother? Well, yeah. But to be completely fair, he owns those Wimpy Kid movies. And I’m impressed by his skills at comedy. I think it’s rare that you find a child actor who is actually funny, and not just an outgoing ham. I feel like as he ages, he will be able to transition into teen films and then eventually adult roles, rather than just getting left behind like a lot of famous kids. He just seems like a charming guy with a good sense of humor, and hopefully that will take him a long way.
8. Thomas Horn
Fun fact, when the casting team for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was looking for a pre-teen to play their Oskar, they found Thomas Horn on an episode of children’s Jeopardy. Where better to find someone to play a fiercely intelligent, socially awkward kid than the place where real life intelligent, awkward kids mingle? At the end of the day, I’m not sure exactly how much of his performance was acting and how much was just him being himself. But that doesn’t change the fact that he emotes incredibly well for an untrained actor and drums up sympathy for a character that does have the potential to be unlikeable. I think if he continues on in acting, he’ll do great things. That said, he’ll probably succeed at whatever he does – he seems like a hard-working, intellectual kid with a rich future ahead of him.
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