Chloë Grace Moretz was 13 when she stole the show as the ultra-violent vigilante, Hit-Girl. Her character delivers a staggering amount of profanity and graphic violence, all core to the film's R-rated appeal. The irony was that, due to that rating, Moretz herself was too young to legally watch her own performance in theaters. | © Lionsgate Films
Christian Bale was only 13 years old when he led Steven Spielberg's war epic, Empire of the Sun. His character, Jim, endures the brutal realities of a Japanese internment camp during WWII. Carrying such a physically and emotionally grueling film required a maturity that far exceeded his young age. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
Dominique Swain was just 14 when she took on the role of Dolores Haze, the infamous nymphet at the center of Lolita. While an adult body double was used for the more explicit moments, the core performance rested on Swain's shoulders. The entire film hinges on her character's predatory relationship with a much older man, making it a profoundly heavy subject for a teenager to carry. | © MGM
Audiences knew Macaulay Culkin best as the mischievous but good-hearted Kevin McCallister. At just 12 years old, he took a sharp turn playing a cold, manipulative child psychopath in The Good Son. Shifting from a holiday icon to a figure of pure evil was a stark and jarring transition for such a young actor. | © 20th Century Studios
Natalie Portman was only 11 when she debuted as Mathilda, a child who forms a complex bond with a hitman. Her character is shown smoking, handling guns, and expressing a romantic infatuation with the much older Léon. The role required a pre-teen to navigate a world of extreme violence and morally ambiguous relationships, which felt unsettlingly mature for her age. | © Columbia Pictures
Dakota Fanning was 16 when she stepped into the role of rocker Cherie Currie, who was about the same age during the events depicted. The film, however, delves deeply into the adult world of heavy drug use and sexual exploration within the music industry. Portraying that level of gritty, self-destructive decadence was a heavy lift for a teenager, even one as talented as Fanning. | © Summit Entertainment
Sally Field delivered a warm performance as Forrest Gump's endlessly supportive mother. The casting hit a small snag, however, because Field is only ten years older than her on-screen son, Tom Hanks. While she played older with a grey wig, that narrow real-life age gap sometimes made the maternal relationship feel a bit off. | © Paramount Pictures
Dafne Keen was only 12 when she took on the role of Laura, a ferocious clone of Wolverine. In the comics, this character is typically depicted as a young adult, but the film presented her as a pre-teen. This made the film's relentless, R-rated violence involving her character feel particularly jarring and intense for such a young actor. | © 20th Century Studios
Kirsten Dunst was just 11 years old when she played Claudia, a child vampire trapped in an adult's tragic reality. Her role included sharing an on-screen kiss with Brad Pitt, who was 30 at the time. Dunst herself later recalled how awkward and unsettling the experience felt for her as a child, highlighting the strange demand of the role. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
Angelina Jolie was famously cast as Olympias, the mother of Colin Farrell's Alexander the Great. The real issue wasn't her acting, but the simple math: Jolie is only one year older than Farrell in real life. Despite wigs and makeup, that tiny age gap made their mother-son dynamic incredibly hard for audiences to believe. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
At 42, Ryan Gosling took on the role of the iconic Ken doll, who has technically been on shelves since 1961. His performance is hilarious and committed, but it does highlight a funny generational gap. He's playing a doll who should be in his sixties as a perpetually youthful himbo, which makes the casting an amusing, if slightly ironic, choice. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
Claire Danes was 16 years old when she played Juliet opposite Leonardo DiCaprio's 21-year-old Romeo. The role required a nude scene in the famous balcony sequence, which was filmed using a body double. Even so, the performance involved portraying a profound, tragic love that felt like a tremendous emotional burden for a teenager. | © 20th Century Fox
Jodie Foster was only 12 when she took on the role of Iris, a child prostitute in Martin Scorsese's gritty drama. While her older sister acted as a body double for certain scenes, the core performance was still Foster's. Portraying such a psychologically damaged and exploited character required a maturity that starkly contrasted with her actual age. | © Columbia Pictures
Following Pretty Baby, Shields was cast as Emmeline in The Blue Lagoon at age 14. The film's plot revolves around two shipwrecked adolescents discovering their sexuality. It featured extensive nudity, again placing the underage actress in a highly sexualized, adult-oriented scenario. | © Columbia Pictures
Brooke Shields was just 11 years old when she portrayed Violet, a child living in a brothel. Her character's story involves her mother arranging the auction of her virginity. The film's explicit subject matter and the sexualization of such a young actor made the role profoundly troubling for many viewers. | © Paramount Pictures
We often praise actors for stretching their range, but sometimes a role demands a maturity that an actor’s age just can’t meet. Whether it’s child stars facing adult themes or casting that defies basic math, these performances leave us with a lingering sense of unease. Here are 15 actors who were too young for their characters.
