Edition 35: Overnight sensation? Not really
In a lot of cases with child actors people and the media call them overnight successes, that they did one thing and it made them successful right away. Even though that’s true in some cases like Natalie Portman who became a recognised actress overnight with the movie Léon it’s not true for a lot of other child actors.
It can be funny sometimes if you look at filmographies and it turns out that you’ve seen them in movies before without even realising it. I’m not counting tiny guest spots on TV shows right now; if I did that I could be going on forever seeing that’s pretty much how every actor gets started.
The first time I really had that was when I was looking at the filmography of Jena Malone. Granted, she’s not really a superstar but she still gets a fair amount of movies done. At some point I did check out her filmography because I didn’t really know her, turns out I have a on DVD with the woman; Contact in this case which she made when she was twelve years old. Her role in that movie is better known for a difficult special effect (It’s extensively mentioned in the extras; Jena is running towards a mirror but you can’t see the camera. In 1997 that was a lot more difficult than it would be these days.). She plays the younger version of Jodie Foster in the movie.
Another case like this is Hilary Duff, though I had seen her on Lizzie McGuire before seeing the movie Human Nature. Human Nature is a movie by Studio Canal, a European studio, in which she plays the younger version of Patricia Arquette. It did take some time before the movie was released which is clearly shown by the fact that Hilary looks a fair amount younger than on Lizzie McGuire. I didn’t even recognise her in the part.
Most recent example would be Miley Cyrus; people in general think that Hannah Montana is her first acting job. Well it isn’t, I only saw part of the movie Big Fish before every hearing of Miley Cyrus but it turns out she’s in it. Granted she only says two words in her whole appearance but she’s still there. She’s not even on the cast list as Miley but as Destiny Cyrus, I guess she was still a bit behind on her growth back then seeing she was playing an eight year old when she was ten.
For another Disney star, Vanessa Hudgens, it’s known that before doing High School Musical she was in the flopped Thunderbirds movie. Not that many people realise that she was in the critically acclaimed Thirteen; which launched Evan Rachel Wood’s career. I sure hadn’t a clue that she was in it before her name was known to everyone.
Even Dakota Fanning played the young version of Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama before anyone really had heard of her as a child actor. It just shows that real overnight sensations are extremely rare though some studios are now trying to create some. Like New Line which is trying to launch Dakota Blue Richards through the Golden Compass movies.
So the next time if you think you see an overnight sensation you might want to check out the rest of their filmography, it might turn out that you’ve seen them before.
Written by bvang
