Top 12 Current Child Actors

Hello loyal readers, and welcome to another edition of Dustin's Dirty Dozen. This week I celebrate the movie "Ender's Game" finally coming to a theater near me by giving you the top 12 current child actors. In case you all were wondering, the reason I am celebrating "Ender's Game" so late in the game is because movies take about a month or two longer to get to my theater than yours. Now that we have that straight, the rules of this list entail that the actor must have been born in 1996 or later. There isn't much to it other than that. I will say that searching for pictures of all these actors in succession made me feel like I might have been looked at as a pedophile, but I assure that I have never been on one of those lists. So, here's hoping that I am still allowed around my friend's kids at the end of this.

12) Jake Cherry

We start with a kid that was lucky enough to star along side Ben Stiller in "Night at the Museum," (one and two), and cursed with having to be touched by Nicholas Cage in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." This kid showed some definite skill in both movies (whether they were good or not) by being himself, and not letting the cameras get to him. Don't believe that you have seen a movie where the cameras get to the children? Try the the sequels to "The Mummy." Even if you take away his ability to be professional, you still have to laugh at the kid out-acting Nicholas Cage.

11) Isabelle Fuhrman

"Orphan" may have been another failed attempt at making scary children the center piece of a movie (stop trying to be "The Omen"), but Isabelle Fuhrman did extremely well with her role. She must have impressed somebody, because later she got a minor role in "The Hunger Games" as Clove. While it was a supporting role, and her goal was simply to be Esther with throwing knives, she was still great. Not very much speaking from her (if any) as Clove, but she gets to work on her mime a little more by doing a great job with body language/facial expressions. I am looking forward to seeing this young star in more roles, where hopefully she can speak a little more (using her skills as a voice actor).

10) Jimmy Bennett

Another "Orphan" child star, hopefully I can escape this trend before people think I actually liked that movie. Anyways, grown ups and children alike (especially geeks) should be extremely jealous of this kid's childhood. He got to act alongside Bruce Willis in "Hostage" and Ryan Reynolds in "The Amityville Horror." Even bigger than that, he got to play a young James T. Kirk and send a classic car over a cliff side. While the movies I have mentioned so far range mostly from bad to okay (The Amityville Horror excluded of course), he hasn't been bad in any role. He has fun with it, and in the end seems more like a kid than most of the actors on this list.

9) Noah Ringer

Okay, "Avatar: The Last Airbender" fans, put down your torches and pitchforks, I am not saying that the movie was good. Actually, you know what I take that back, I didn't mind the movie even if it was directed by M. Night "what a twist" Shyamalan. Come at me. Something you fans have to admit to is that Noah Ringer didn't do that bad in his role. He did even better in his role for "Cowboys and Aliens" (which was a truly bad film) where he played Emmett Taggart. With a track record like this I can only hope that he gets more chances to redeem his career with good movies so he is not plagued with the Colin Farrell curse (being a good actor and being dragged down by shitty movies). 

8) Kaitlyn Dever

She didn't have a very prominent role in "J. Edgar" (thank whatever powers at be for that), So I have to gauge her by the performance in "Bad Teacher." Turns out she was pretty awesome as the brown nose, socially retarded type, so I guess we get to be treated to a female version of Michael Cera when she comes of age (which isn't a bad thing). She doesn't have too much (besides the two aforementioned films) that I have seen, but if the work she put into Sasha Abernathy is a sign of things to come, consider me interested.  

7) Elle Fanning

You all think that the Fanning family is trying to be a downgraded version of the Baldwins or the Wayans? If so I am completely okay with that, because both sisters are amazing actors. Take away "Twilight" saga from Dakota and your left with "The Runaways," take away "Super 8" from Elle and you are left with "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." My point is the two have obviously done some bad movies but they have also done some outstanding work, and I can't wait to see where their respective careers take them. It seems that the two are dead set on separating their careers (only acting in separate scenes of a movie, never alongside each other), which is good since it allows their careers to flourish without clinging to the coat tails of another. We'll see if baby sister can live up to her sibling in the years to come, but right now she is doing a fantastic job.

6) Willow Shields

Yes, Primrose Everdeen made the list. Why is she up here for such a minor role? Because she put forth so much effort into her scenes that it is hard to ignore that she might be the next big, dedicated actress. I liked this movie (as I've said before), and the great part about them (at least for the purposes of this list) is that it gives us a chance to see what the actors of tomorrow have to bring to the table. This girl has much to bring, especially when she completely sells a break down and gives a more commanding performance than most anyone would at her age. With three more movies unrelated to the series coming out with her playing a role, it seems that we are going to see if this young girl will impress us even more than she already has.

5) Jonah Bobo

If you have not seen "Crazy, Stupid, Love" (either from you not hearing about it or you being too manly to see a chick flick) I formally request that you give it a shot. It was a great romantic comedy and Jonah Bobo's character was one of the best parts of it. He could have been just another kid in a movie, but he turned out to be more than that. He made himself THE kid in the movie. A lot of the story line was centered around him,and he completely nailed any part that he was trying to portray. Whether he is proclaiming his love in front of the entire school, threatening David Lindhagen to stay away from his mother, or being caught masturbating, he sells it. You can see him as younger brother in Zathura if you want; that movie is just okay, but this movie was a great time to be had.

4) Nathan Gamble

Nathan Gamble has a bit of a habit in his career and as young of an actor as he is I don't know if that is a bad thing. I don't think anyone is going to scream out "Hey that's Jim Gordon's kid! From the "Dark Knight!" nor are they going to scream out "That's Owen Wilson's kid from "Marley and Me!" when they see him in a future role. He is cursed with one of those faces that makes it easy for you to implant the face of your kid on him. So he is forced into these tough-situation movies where the child is constantly put in either physical or emotional danger. "The Mist" is a great example of this, but here is the twist: It gives a chance to know him as more of a character and less as a filler. When we get to see him play a character with more of a prominent role, we finally get to see what he brings to the proceedings as an actor. Turns out he is great. Even if he is forced into whining through out half the movie, he sells the whining. I haven't seen "The Hole," and I didn't grow enough "tweenage" ovaries to see "Dolphin Tale," but when it comes to "The Mist" the kid has some chops.

3) Abigail Breslin

The great thing about Abigail Breslin is that she has filled her resume with outstanding movies, whether "Ender's Game" will continue that trend is yet to be determined but so far so good. "Little Miss Sunshine" showed us that she had the ability, and "Zombieland" showed us that she had the skill. I don't know if it is the age difference, but if she can continue through the rest of her career playing equally different roles, she might one day become a chameleon (something every actor should strive to be). In "Little Miss Sunshine" she plays Olive Hoover, a young, eccentric girl destined to be cast aside by the judges of a beauty pageant, but set to win even it means dealing with her severely dysfunctional family. Years later, she pulls a one-eighty in "Zombieland" by playing little sister to Emma Stone. A young, forced-to-grow-up-too-fast kid in post apocalyptic, zombie filled America. We'll see if "Ender's Game" can prove to be another in this strong list of amazing films or if it will be a black mark on her record.

2) Asa Butterfield

Much like the actor above Asa Butterfield has filled his filmography with instant classics. He is a lot of the reason why I am so antsy to see "Ender's Game" (you know, besides the fact that it is based off of book that I love, Harrison Ford/Ben Kingsley will be in it, and to see if there will be any hidden anti-gay undertone's in it due to Orson Scott Card's reputation). Asa Butterfield has proven himself time and time again that he is ready for his big budget blockbuster, and it is good to see he's gotten it. He did an amazing job with "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," "Hugo," and "Son of Rambow," so I give him the same hope that I gave Abigail. Please don't let "Ender's Game" ruin this kid's reputation.

1) Chloe Grace Moretz

It is hard to imagine a bigger and more talented child star than Chloe Grace Moretz in today's market.  She has been in movies where she was able to be a little more free with her cursing like "Kick Ass," and she has been in movies alongside acting legends like Johnny Depp in "Dark Shadows." She has done more in her life time than anyone else on this list. Not all of them have been major hits but she has done the best with the material provided. Furthermore, she has become a great role model for girls her age (at least better than most other child stars) by not yet reaching the level of social depravity that seems to frequent many famous children, but even more so from her roles. She play's these self confident, boisterous roles that can give not only young women something to aspire to be more like but anyone her age. I haven't had a chance to see "Carrie" yet (for the same reason I haven't seen "Ender's Game") but I am positive she will play her role well, and hope that we are graced with more astounding movies from her. 

Honorable Mention) Madison Pettis

She was good in "The Gameplan," even if that movie was bad. I haven't seen enough of her movies to make a fair assumption on her skills as of today but I guess we will see.

Dishonorable Mention) Jaden Smith

I use this category only in the circumstance that I won't follow up the current list of best movies with a list of worst movies. I save it for something truly bad, and use it only in the rarest of occasions. A moment where something is so bad that I can't help mentioning it in the hopes that it will either set the record straight or warn my readers against ever seeing whatever I am about to complain about.

So, here we have one of the most unfortunate offspring from the Smith clan, and we get a very real look at how great acting is not genetic. Will smith has given us some of the best performances of our life time and has etched himself in the marble of brilliant actors. His son has shown us that nepotism has no place in the acting field, and it is strange that he shows us this more and more the older he gets. I find it weird that his best role was in "The Pursuit of Happyness" where he was barely old enough to speak, and now he does "After Earth" where he can legally have a learner's permit but he can't seem to drive himself to an acting class. In "After Earth" we get sold on the possibility of Will and Jaden acting in a movie together, but we get treated to a movie plagued by Jaden failing to grasp what fear looks like on a human face. Will sells his role as being hurt and fearless, but I guess that's all we get. I hope this wasn't some attempt at foreshadowing that Jaden will be taking up his father's reigns, because if this is what we have to look forward to, we (as the viewers) are screwed.

Next time on Dustin's Dirty Dozen: Top 12 "Justice League" and "Justice League: Unlimited" episodes. I think we are all under the impression that the upcoming "Batman/Superman" movie is going to be bad. I am going to take you back to a time where DC released great material.