Child actor
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The term child actor is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion the latter is also called a former child actor. Closely associated is teen actor, an actor who reached popularity as a teenager.
In some countries child actors in the performing arts – television, film or stage – are prohibited from doing certain things.Template:Fact In these countries a child actor may not
- (1) risk his or her physical well being (no dangerous stunts),
- (2) be exposed to morally compromising situations,
- (3) be nude or partially nude,
- (4) engage in overt sexual acts.
Compulsory education laws mandate that the education of child actor not be disrupted while the child is working. Whether a child actor is enrolled in public school, private school or home school, the child does schoolwork under the supervision of a set teacher while on the set.
Finally, the hours a child actor may work are limited. Generally, stricter time limits imposed for younger actors. A very young infant might be allowed "under the lights" only a few minutes a day. It is common in television production for the role of a young child to be portrayed by identical twins to reduce each child's time on set. When a child turns 18, the legal limits on work time are lifted.
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Regulation of child actors
The activities of child actors are regulated by the governing labor union, if any, and state and federal laws. Being a minor, a child actor must secure a work permit before accepting any paid performing work.
Limitations imposed by laws are not uniform across the states or beyond national boundaries. Longer work hours or risky stunts, prohibited in California, for example, might be permitted to a project filming in British Columbia. Some projects film in remote locations specifically to evade regulations intended to protect the child actor.
Issues involving child actors
Ownership of earnings
Using children in motion pictures has been criticized as exploitation, particularly since some prominent child actors never got to see the money they earned. Jackie Coogan became a millionaire while still a child but almost all of his money was used by his parents.Some have defended this saying that the child directly benefited from the lifestyle the earnings made possible or that the child would not have achieved stardom without a significant investment of time and effort by the parents. Others argue that it is unfair for the child to have to support the family when the parents are capable, as this tends to invert the parent child relationship.
In 1939, California weighed in on this controversy by enacting the original Coogan Law, amended at various times since, which requires a portion of the earnings of a child actor to be preserved in a special savings account called a blocked trust.
Competitive pressure
Some people also criticize the parents of child actors for allowing their children to work, believing that more “normal” activities should be the staple during the childhood years. Others observe that competition is present in all areas of a child’s life—from sports to student newspaper to orchestra and band—and believe that the work ethic instilled, or the talent developed accrues to the child’s benefit.
The child actor may experience unique and negative pressures when working under tight production schedules. Large projects which depend for their success on the ability of the child to deliver an effective performance add to the pressure.
Inappropriate behavior
In the United States, despite the ban of nudity involving juvenile performers that exists in other countries, child actresses have appeared nude in several motion pictures. For example, Brooke Shields (or a body double of comparable age) appeared nude in Pretty Baby (1978), a film in which the 12-year-old actress plays a prostitute about whom a much older painter becomes obsessed. Two years later, Shields appeared partially nude alongside child actor Christopher Atkins, with whom, as a castaway from a shipwreck, she set up housekeeping, in Blue Lagoon (1980).
However, some studios have taken measures to protect child actors from exposure to inappropriate behavior. For example, The Guardian reported that "Child stars will be protected from nudity, swearing, smoking and drinking under a groundbreaking new policy that places the welfare, safety and education of performing children at the forefront of Disney's productions" (September 24, 2004).
Troubled adulthood?
However, the notion that child actors are more likely to develop into troubled adults should be regarded as a myth.
Many child actors have had successful careers into adulthood including Ron Howard, Roddy McDowall, Tommy Rettig, Bill Mumy, Alyssa Milano, Jodie Foster, Kurt Russell, Van Dyke Parks, Dean Stockwell, Mickey Dolenz, Keith Coogan, Christian Bale, and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Others transition to non-acting careers. Peter Ostrum, for example, is now a successful large-animal veterinarian after a starring role in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
While tragic and well publicized examples certainly exist where a child actor falls into self-destructive behavior (for example, Macaulay Culkin), scientific studies have shown that child actors are at no greater risk than the population at large of growing into unhappy or dysfunctional adults. One study Template:Ref concluded
- the present findings also indicate that the environment of the entertainment industry is not necessarily toxic to normal development. Instead, the results support the well-established theory that good parenting serves as a buffer for life stress.
References
- Template:Note Lisa Rapport, Ph.D. The Relationships Between Professional Experience, Parenting History, and Adult Adjustment, Wayne State University