10 Child stars who grew up to become good role models

Bernice Ng

05 Oct 2015

updated the 6 October 2015 à 22:22

1/10
Christina Aguilera
Christina, along with Justin Timberlake were both on the Mickey Mouse Club in their early teens. Considering she had a physically and emotionally abusive father who left her family when she was 6, she turned out to be an independent, strong-willed and immensely talented lady, with a strong love for her children and a good work ethic.
2/10
Elijah Wood
Before he got the role of Frodo Baggins in the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, Elijah was an adorable little boy who loved acting. He started acting at a young age and earned massive success. Nonetheless, he remained grounded, and has grown up to be a humble young man.
3/10
Emma Watson
Emma Watson, or better known as Hermoine Granger, was just a simple British girl with bushy brown hair. Now she is an intelligent, beautiful and down-to-earth young woman, overflowing with limitless potential and talent. Despite growing up in the sights of millions of people, she didn't let it get to her head.
4/10
Hilary Duff
Most loved for her role as Lizzie McGuire, a typical teenage girl who was relatable through her struggles growing up, finding herself, and dealing with love, friends and school. She grew up to not only act in more movies, but is now a mother and wife and will be kickstarting her music career again. Things could have been a lot worse.
5/10
Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake started out with Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears on the Mickey Mouse Club, before he was part of NSYNC in the 90s and became a teenage heartthrob - even with his funny-looking ramen hair. Now, an actor and singer/ songwriter, he didn't stray too far away from the good path even though he had a lot of fame thrusted upon him while growing up.
6/10
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio was a cute kid, and even when he was 10, you could tell he was talented beyond measure. He acted in movies like 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' with Johnny Depp, and he portrayed the role of a mentally-disabled child so well, you could have been fooled. And since then, he has starred in amazing movies like Titanic, The Great Gatsby and the The Wolf of Wall Street, and yet he has kept himself sane and scandal-free.
7/10
Mara Wilson
More commonly known as Matilda, Mara Wilson has now grown up to be a very intelligent and respectable young lady, with strong opinions and a fountain of knowledge that you sometimes don't expect from actors. She was in a Twitter war with E.L James, the author of 50 Shades of Grey, calling her out on the emotional and phyiscal abuse that was romanticized in her books, and also the inaccuracy of BDSM practices. She certainly is well-read. Good job, Matilda.
8/10
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is a happy father and husband, who gained popularity from well-loved sitcom, How I Met Your Mother as Barney Stinson, a charismatic and well-dressed playboy with daddy issues.
From a child actor to today, there's nothing stopping him from receiving many more awards for his laudable performances.
He was cute back then when he was a kid, and he grew up cute too. Without major incidents and scandals and arrests, and a happy marriage and two beautiful children, Neil's life is perfect, and that's all thanks to being grounded growing up.
9/10
Ryan Gosling
Ryan Gosling has been hot all his life, and like a few people on this list, he was in the Mickey Mouse Club as well. He was very close to Justin Timberlake in the past, and while he acted as a child through his teens, he began to get into serious acting.
Even though it took him awhile to gain recognition, it's safe to say that he's on quite a high pedestal now.
With starring roles in films like Crazy, Stupid, Love where he charmed everyone with his demeanour and dreamy eyes, it's safe to say that he will get many more leading roles to come.
10/10
Raven Symoné
Raven Symoné got famous from The Cosby Show, where she landed a role when she was just three years old as Cosby's step-granddaughter. Since then, she grew up to be the star of the hilarious Disney sitcom, That's So Raven, where she played a teenage psychic who can see the future, followed by Cheetah Girls, where she had a main role as a city girl who dreamed to be a superstar, along with her 3 friends.
She is a very positive, informed and opinionated young lady, and also came out as lebsian very unashamedly a few years ago, lending another strong voice to the youth of the LGBTQ+ community.

From Emma Watson to Neil Patrick Harris and Hilary Duff, these child stars are definitely doing something good in their lives.

We’re all very familiar with child stars who’ve gone down the unpleasant route, where fame got to their heads and pressured them to go grow up way too fast. One thing led to another and let’s just say, a lot of it didn’t end too.

We’re talking about stars like Lindsay Lohan, who has since recovered from and stayed away from her previous vices, and Macaulay Culkin who was unnecessarily demonized for smoking marijuana, and Amanda Bynes who recently literally lost it, but is now making slow recovery.

There are these 10 stars however, who have gone from childhood stardom, to typically troublesome teen years and straight into their successful adulthood without any major incident. And as a plus, don’t these throwback photos of Emma Watson and Christina Aguilera look incredibly cute?

Bernice Ng

Photos: Getty Images

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