THEN AND NOW: Child actors who starred in classic holiday movies
Some child actors from famous holiday movies took a break from Hollywood.
Others, like Thomas Brodie-Sangster of "Love Actually," have continued to land starring roles.
Peter Billingsley from "A Christmas Story" now works behind the scenes as a producer.
Classic movies like "Miracle on 34th Street," "Love Actually," and "It's A Wonderful Life" make for cozy rewatches every holiday season.
Many of these films featured young actors who went on to become Hollywood stars, while others left acting altogether.
Here's what eight child stars of holiday movies are doing now.
Macaulay Culkin is best known as the mischief-making protagonist in the "Home Alone" movies.
The "Home Alone" movies, which came out in the 1990s, are holiday classics. Culkin was 10 when the first movie premiered.
He starred in other '90s movies, such as "My Girl" and "Richie Rich."
He took a break from acting in 1994, but he returned to the screen sporadically from 2003. In 2021, he appeared in "American Horror Story" and became a dad.
Macaulay wrote an autobiography, co-founded a pizza-themed Velvet Underground tribute band called The Pizza Underground with which he toured before they split up in 2018, and hosted a podcast called Bunny Ears.
He has continued acting as well — among his roles, he played Michael Alig in "Party Monster" in 2003, and he did voiceover work for "Robot Chicken." He also appeared in "American Horror Story."
He welcomed a son, Dakota Song Culkin, in April 2021 with Brenda Song. In November 2021, Culkin made a surprise catwalk appearance at the Gucci Love Parade show on Hollywood Boulevard.
In December, Culkin was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Mara Wilson starred in the 1994 remake of the holiday classic "Miracle on 34th Street."
Wilson was just 6 years old when she made her on-screen debut in "Mrs. Doubtfire" in 1993. She went on to play the titular character in "Matilda" in 1996.
Wilson took a break from acting to focus on a career as an author and journalist, but she continues to do voiceover work and make cameos.
Wilson published a memoir in 2016 called "Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame," wrote a play called "Sheeple," and has had bylines in various publications. In April, she released a new short-form audiobook memoir on Scribd, "Good Girls Don't," in which she details her experiences with early fame.
"I don't think you can be a child star without there being some kind of lasting damage," she told The Guardian in May.
In 2021, she wrote an essay for The New York Times about the dangers of being a child star. As Business Insider's Zac Ntim reported, she wrote about her experiences of being sexualized by the media as a child, and she voiced her support for Britney Spears following FX's popular "Framing Britney Spears" documentary.
In terms of acting, she has lent her voice to characters in "BoJack Horseman" and "Big Hero 6: The Series."
Peter Billingsley played Ralphie Parker in the holiday classic "A Christmas Story" in 1983.
Young Ralphie asked Santa for an "official Red Ryder carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time." Billingsley was just 12 years old when he played the role.
Billingsley has continued to act but mostly works behind the scenes as a producer.
Billingsley has worked as a producer on "Iron Man," "Four Christmases," and "The Break-Up," as well as having small on-screen roles too, and he directed the romantic comedy "Couples Retreat." He also produced the Broadway adaptation of "A Christmas Story" in 2012.
From 2015 and 2021, he executive produced the Netflix animated series "F Is for Family." In 2022, he reprised his famous role of Ralphie in "A Christmas Story Christmas," which he also produced.
In "Love Actually," Thomas Brodie-Sangster played Liam Neeson's young stepson, Sam, who was madly in love with a girl at school.
Brodie-Sangster reprised the role for charity in the mini-sequel "Red Nose Day Actually" in 2017.
Fans may recognize him now from "Game of Thrones," the "Maze Runner" movies, or "The Queen's Gambit."
Brodie-Sangster voiced Ferb Fletcher in Disney's "Phineas and Ferb," played Jojen Reed in seasons three and four of "Game of Thrones," and played Newt in the "Maze Runner" movies.
In 2020, he starred as chess prodigy Benny Watts in "The Queen's Gambit" miniseries on Netflix and the audio series "Unsinkable" alongside John Malkovich and Brian Cox. He most recently appeared in the TV miniseries "Pistol," "Sleep No More," and the Hulu series "The Artful Dodger."
Taylor Momsen played Cindy Lou Who in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."
Momsen was 7 years old when she held the role. She went on to star in "Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams," "Hansel & Gretel," and "Saving Shiloh."
After rising to fame as Jenny Humphrey in "Gossip Girl," she pivoted to focus on music with her rock band, The Pretty Reckless.
The Pretty Reckless has released four studio albums, and Momsen hasn't acted since "Gossip Girl" ended in 2012.
Johnny Galecki starred in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" in 1989.
When he was 14, he starred in the movie as Rusty, the son of Clark and Ellen Griswold, played by Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo.
A few years later, Galecki became known as David Healy on "Roseanne," a role he held from 1992 to 1997.
He has since enjoyed a successful TV career.
He reprised his "Roseanne" role in the series reboot and eventual spinoff "The Conners."
He also starred as Leonard Hofstadter in "The Big Bang Theory" from 2006 to 2019. For his work on the show, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 2011 and a Golden Globe in 2012, among other awards.
He played Henry in the 2019 movie "A Dog's Journey."
Karolyn Grimes played Zuzu Bailey in the holiday classic "It's A Wonderful Life" in 1946.
Grimes played actor James Stewart's daughter. She was 6 years old when she held the role.
Grimes quit acting in the 1950s, but she still makes appearances at "It's A Wonderful Life" screenings.
Grimes published "Zuzu Bailey's It's A Wonderful Life Cookbook: Recipes and Anecdotes Inspired by America's Favorite Movie" in 2000.
In an interview with iNews in 2022, Grimes revealed that she didn't actually sit down to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" until she was 40 years old.
"I had seven kids, and I lived in the car and the laundry room and the kitchen," she said. "And quite frankly it wasn't a big deal to sit down and watch myself on TV. I had gone past that years and years before. When I left Hollywood, I left all that out there too. I decided I wanted to live in the real world, and that wasn't a part of it."
Daniel Tay starred alongside Will Ferrell in the 2003 holiday classic "Elf."
Tay played Buddy the Elf's brother, Michael. He was 12 years old when he starred in the film.
After a few other movie roles and some voiceover work, Tay left acting and earned a degree in economics from Yale.
According to his LinkedIn page, Tay worked as a tutor and a research associate at Columbia University Irving Medical Center before enrolling in medical school at Cornell.
His last acting job was voiceover work for an episode of the web series "AniMat's Classic Reviews" in 2017.
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