There are plenty of child stars who are still on the radar today, having grown into bona fide movie and/or television stars. And there are others who decided to take a different path, moving on to work behind the camera, or in different industries altogether, becoming lawyers or other types of businessmen.
Some top child stars have become today's biggest movie stars – think Robert Downey Jr. and Ryan Gosling, musical sensations like Justin Timberlake, or TV stars as adults like Neil Patrick Harris. Childhood fame doesn't always end there.
Kieran Culkin: Succession
It's hard to reconcile the inappropriate, slimy and entitled rich boy Roman Roy on this HBO drama with the little kid who appeared alongside his big brother Macaulay in the movie Home Alone. But alas, that is indeed the same Kieran Culkin.
He has had a string of minor roles since enjoying success as a child star in that film and others around the early '90s. But Culkin has now hit his stride with a starring role in Succession, an award-winning series about a wealthy media conglomerate owned by the powerful Roy family, of which he plays the youngest playboy son.
Ashley Johnson: Blindspot
This NBC series just aired its finale in late July, ending after a successful five seasons. While Blindspot centered around a Jane Doe who shows up in a duffle bag in the middle of Times Square with no recollection of who she is or how she got there, Johnson's character, the brilliant head of the FBI's Forensic Science Unit and an extremely talented science, coding, and hacking mind, was integral to the stories.
Viewers might not even have recognized Johnson as the curly-haired little girl who played Chrissy Seaver on the early '90s sitcom Growing Pains.
Cole Sprouse: Riverdale
Of course, no list of child stars currently appearing in successful TV series could be complete without Sprouse, who became famous for two main roles: his leading role opposite Adam Sandler in the 1999 film Big Daddy and as Ross' son Ben on Friends.
Sprouse and his twin brother Dylan then went on to star together in the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Now a fully-grown man at 27 years old, Sprouse is playing Jughead Jones in Riverdale, The CW's dark take on the Archie Comics' universe.
Molly Ringwald: Riverdale
Also in Riverdale, Ringwald plays Archie Andrews' mother Mary, who moved away to pursue her career after separating from his father, but is now back living with her 18-year-old son and working as a lawyer.
A member of the group of actors from the '80s known as the Brat Pack, Ringwald starred in a series of coming-of-age films that decade, most notably Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink, making her a huge teen icon.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar: Mixed-ish
Despite being in a number of popular (and not so popular) series over the last few decades, Gosselaar remains best known for his breakout role as the handsome, charming, but troublemaking Zack Morris on '90s teen sitcom Saved by the Bell.
Since then, he has had roles on NYPD Blue, Franklin & Bash, Pitch, and Passage. Now, he plays Rainbow Johnson's father in Mixed-ish, the prequel series to the hugely popular sitcom Black-ish.
Freddie Highmore: The Good Doctor
The Good Doctor is about a young doctor who suffers from autism with savant syndrome, and his everyday dealings in the hospital where he works as he deals with both his stressful job and trauma from his troubled childhood.
Highmore, who plays the main character, is just 28 but he has been acting for more than 20 years, starring in the comedy film Women Talking Dirty when he was just six years old. His most known roles, however, were in 2004's Finding Neverland at age 12 and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when he was just 13.
Raven Symone: Raven's Home
Viewers who saw Symone as the adorable and precocious Olivia on The Cosby Show way back in the early '90s might have guessed she would have grown into an equally fierce, outspoken, and independent young woman.
Now 34, the girl who played Denise Huxtable's stepdaughter has enjoyed tremendous success, including having her own show on Disney Channel called That's So Raven in the early' 00s. But her latest is a spin-off series called Raven's Home, a family sitcom in which she stars as a divorced mom of pre-teen twins who is living with her childhood friend and her son. Symone also appears in a recurring role on Black-ish as lead character Dre's younger sister.
Bryton James: The Young and The Restless
James has played the role of Devon Hamilton on the long-running CBS soap opera since 2004, when he was just 18 years old. And he continues in the role, having even taken home a Daytime Emmy for Best Supporting Actor this year for it.
But he had a role on television even before then as a child actor: he played the long, curly-haired Richie Crawford on the '90s sitcom Family Matters, appearing in more than 200 episodes as Harriet Winslow's nephew, who moves in with the family along with his mother after his father's death. Originally played by twin babies, the character was advanced to age three by season two after which James, then credited as Bryton McClure, took over the role. Fun fact: the late Naya Rivera played a neighbor who had a crush on Richie.
Malcolm Jamal-Warner: The Resident
While his biggest role to date was that of Theo, the only Huxtable son on The Cosby Show, Jamal-Warner has continued racking up impressive supporting roles on his resume since then.
Now 49, he started on The Cosby Show when he was just 14. He has appeared on a number of series since then, including American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, Suits, and Sneaky Pete. But his latest has been in a recurring role as Dr. AJ Austin on medical drama The Resident, which has been renewed for a fourth season.
Anna Chlumsky: Veep
The sad young girl who cried reading her poem called "Weeping Willow" about her friend who died, and that opened her mouth to reveal that she was eating "see food" (get it?), in the 1991 film My Girl was none other than Chlumsky.
While Veep ended its long run on HBO in 2019, Chlumsky is worth mentioning because she's a child actor no one had really heard from for some time. But then she hit the jackpot with a supporting role on a hit political drama, and proved she still has talent by earning six Emmy nominations.