8 Child Actors Who We Wish Had Stayed Kids

Growing up is a trap.

By Brydie Lee Kennedy /

Have you ever been watching a movie that you enjoyed when you were younger, and and then wondered what happened to the cute kid in the starring role? Have you ever paused the film and googled that kid, only to discover that they were just arrested for driving drunk/public urination/assorted fashion crimes? Have you ever backed away from your iPhone in horror because, if that adorable child who you remember seeing in the cinema is now an actual adult trainwreck, then that means you are a thousand years old? Come on. You have. The tragedy of those sweet little kids is that they, just like us non-Hollywood mortals, must eventually grow up. Time's kind of a drag that way. And while some of these children grow up to be just as, or more, entertaining as they were in the youth (Mara Wilson, who played Matilda, is a pretty boss Twitter-follow and have you seen Neville Longbottom lately?), a lot of them serve as pretty visceral reminders that getting older is the absolute worst. Here are a few stars we wish we could've frozen in time.