These Hollywood stars were once child actors

When it comes to child actors, there are some whose roles as youngsters are the highlight of their acting career. It is not uncommon for child actors to grow up and either choose a different path or be unsuccessful as an adult actor. On the flip side, there are those child actors who go on to be wildly successful adult actors, and whose roles as children pale in comparison to the roles of their adult careers. In such cases, it can be easy to forget someone was a child actor in the first place!

Check out this gallery for some actors who were surprisingly also child actors.

Jodie Foster

Academy Award-winning actress Jodie Foster is best known for her roles in ‘The Accused’ (1988) and ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991).

Christian Bale

Christian Bale is, of course, primarily associated with his role as Batman in the 'Dark Knight' trilogy. More recently. he starred in the 2019 sports drama 'Ford v Ferrari.'

Ethan Hawke

Prolific actor Ethan Hawke is best known for movies such as 'Reality Bites' (1994), 'Training Day' (2001), and 'Boyhood' (2014).

Laurence Fishburne

With more than 100 acting credits under his belt, Laurence Fishburne is one of the industry's more prolific actors. It helps that he started young.

Jake Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal is best known for his leading role in ‘Donnie Darko’ (2001), in which he starred alongside his sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal. More recently he played Mysterio in ‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’ (2019).

Alyson Hannigan

The actress who played Lily on 'How I Met Your Mother' and who delivered the "and one time at band camp" line in 'American Pie' (1999) had her first big-screen role long before either of these appearances (also long before her 'Buffy' days).

Elisabeth Moss

Elisabeth Moss is known for her roles in the likes of 'Mad Men' and 'The Handmaid's Tale.' She is another one with a list of acting credits as long as her arm.

Keri Russell

Keri Russell rose to fame in her early twenties when she starred in the series 'Felicity.' More recently, she starred in the spy thriller series 'The Americans.'

Seth Green

Seth Green is known by most as Dr. Evil's son Scott Evil from the 'Austin Powers' movie series. However, his acting career actually began years before those movies came out.

Hayden Panettiere

Hayden Panettiere may be best known for her role as Claire Bennett on the NBC series 'Heroes,' but she is another actress with a huge list of acting credits to her name.

Katherine Heigl

Katherine Heigl’s breakout role was as Dr. Izzie Stevens on ‘Grey’s Anatomy.' She also starred in films such as ‘Knocked Up’ (2007) and ‘27 Dresses’ (2008).

Jennifer Love Hewitt

As an adult, Jennifer Love Hewitt has forged a successful career in both acting and music.

Ashley Benson

Before she was Hanna Marin on the teen drama series 'Pretty Little Liars,' Ashley Benson had a career as a teenage soap star.

Naya Rivera

The late Naya Rivera was best known for playing the role of cheerleader Santana Lopez on the Fox musical comedy series 'Glee.' She landed the role in 2009.