Worst Child Performances List

I did a list a while back of my favorite child performances but there have been a lot of bad child performances too. The following is a list of the worst performances by an actor under the age of 18 or actors playing characters that are supposed to be under the age of 18:

Hopefully the kid from Shane shows up, i thought he was horrendous.

OMG, I thought I was the only one who hated Brandon De Wilde in Shane...I don't feel so bad about including him on the list now.

He was the only thing i hated about the movie. His emotional scenes with Shane were really tough to sit through. And i'm usually more forgiving to a bad child performance than an adult one but that kid was unbearable.

The lad in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith who innocently asks "Master Skywalker, there are too many of them – what are we going to do?" He actually sounds a bit like Ray Winstone. What can you say? George Lucas obviously didn't let him have another crack at it, which I think is a bit disappointing.

75.

Dakota Fanning, The War of the Worlds



My general distaste for the actress didn't exactly help me to enjoy this really annoying and whiny performance that made me actually want to punch a little girl in the face.

74.

Olivia Hack, The Brady Bunch Movie



For my money, the weakest performance in the movie.

Agreed on Fanning in War of the Worlds. So annoying.

73.

Mason Gamble, Dennis the Menace



Loved Walter Matthau as Mr. Wilson, but Mason Gamble just didn't convince as the little hellion created in Hank Ketchum's comic strip.

haha haven't thought about that film since i was 9 years old or something. Matthau was great as Mr.Wilson, if i'm honest Gamble didn't bother me that much though.

72.

Anna Ferris, Scary Movie



The fact that she was way too old for the role was just the beginning of the problems with this movie.

Oh god, Dakota Fanning was annoying as hell in that film, good choice!

Scary Movie is a guilty pleasure of mine. Pretty sure she is supposed to be bad and i don't think of it as a child performance since it is supposed to be making fun of people being way too old to play teenagers in movies, the characters actually make an incredibly unsubtle joke about it.

71.

Cole and Dylan Sprouse, Big Daddy



I really liked Adam Sandler in this movie, but these twins were kind of annoying and they really seemed to have trouble speaking.

The Sprouse brothers are bad in everything. I remember reading that John Travoltas favourite Friends character was Ben which is really baffling to me.

I always forget that these were the same kids who played Ben on Friends.

It was actually only Cole, not sure why Dylan wasn't involved.

70.

Levi L. Knebel, Country



This story of a struggling farm family was solid for the most part, but Knebel's performance as the Ivy's oldest son was dull and unconvincing.

Your complaint kind of contradicts the aim of the thread, does it not? She was 24 when she did Scary Movie, that's a stretch to call her a child actor and to even include her on this list.

Yeah yeah, I know it's your list and you'll do whatever you please, but I'm entitled to do the same.

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I won't jump ahead this time, but I have a few in mind. I love Gideon's countdown threads!