Original subtitles

Every year, over 20,000 child actors audition for roles in Hollywood.

Ninety-five percent of them don't book a single job.

SHOWBIZ KIDS

It was just one of those things.

I didn't know what a regular kid was because I didn't have any friends.

'Cause there were certain limitations.

I didn't know there was another world out there for children.

And the life of a child was not my life.

As of 1920, I started to work.

I was born in 1918, so I went to work at two.

I didn't realize it was so special.

I thought every parent had worked as a child for their parents.

I had put that together.

I was a piece of cake as far as a director was concerned.

Anything they told me to do I did without any fuss.

I had three big feature films, were very successful.

So I went on with my career for quite a while.

We had employees, we had a chauffeur, and we had maids,

we had a cook, and this was because we couldn't function as a star

without those accoutrements.

They even had a doll made for me.

They featured me as the million dollar child star.

Every film was going to be a million dollars.

But my father discovered that he would not be cut into the profits,

so my father got furious.

So he quit. He broke the contract. And my career was over at seven.

My name is Marc Slater, I'm reading for the role of Proud Peacock.

Born to a family of all my heroes in the veil of the great spirit.

With the kids, I feel like the rings around Saturn.

I feel like he and I, at this point, we're on this outer ring.

Your physical appearance and your parents...

For every hundred auditions, you're going to get one.

So if we're on the outer ring of Saturn, how long is it

before we get to the second ring closer with the call back ring ?

This is the callback ring of kids that have done this or that.

Let me get this straight. It goes audition, callback, booked,

and the planet is the job, you got it.

Marc and Melanie have come to Los Angeles from Orlando

to audition for pilot season.

Marc had expressed interest that he wanted to be an actor.

He watched movies, and he was always trying to portray that character.

And so when he portrayed that, he would do really good imitating.

Imitation was amazing. So...

You have the stage moms, you know,

and I don't ever want to be one of those

because you see them, and they have told me that I was a bad mother

because I let him go to karate. I let him spar.

They said, "This is the money maker. Don't let him..."

I'm horrified.

I'll be right here.

Acting scared the hell out of me.

I pissed my pants the first time I was on stage just outright.

Then as I was sitting in the wings waiting for my pants to dry,

I thought, it's not so bad. I don't think I'll do that again.

I grew up in South Texas, sort of in a rural community.

Being an actor wasn't really on the radar.

There weren't a lot of guys going off to Hollywood in my neighborhood.

The only kind of show business was like rodeo show business.

My piano teacher was the musical director for the local theater.

She got me involved in acting, and I thought it was great

because it took me out of piano lessons.

I thought like I could do this. I could do this acting thing.

Momma ? Did our Daddy love us ?

I was acting, and I was reading lines

but I still didn't really have an idea of what I was doing.

And nothing about the film industry. We didn't know what was right

and you hear all sorts of horror stories of course.

Hollywood tales.

Breaking news from Los Angeles where '80s heartthrob Corey Haim

has died from an apparent overdose.

Troubled pop singer, Britney Spears, has been carried out of her home

on a stretcher and taken to hospital.

Shia Lebeouf, taken out of a Broadway theater in handcuffs.

Lindsay Lohan spent her first night in jail Tuesday

on charges of parole violation relating to a 2007 DUI conviction.

It's 90 days in jail. The court's also going to order...

My parents knew nothing about the business.

It kind of scared them, I think. You hear all these horror stories.

Hey, I'm Cameron Boyce from "Jessie," and you're watching Disney Channel.

I was actually gonna ask if I could cuss 'cause I was like...

But like for a Disney kid... I know, it's HBO. Fuck, right.

But from a Disney kid, I'm thinking about that.

I'm like, should I ?

Didn't anyone ever teach you to knock ?

I did knock. You did not hear it.

After this, knock harder.

I hated it, to be honest. I hated working.

I hated going on set.

I was 11 years old. I was a little girl that wanted to play with dolls.

I always wanted to be in show business.

I used to watch "Sanford and Son," and I wanted to be on television.

I told my mom that I was gonna be an actor on TV.

I did the first commercial that was ever made where it goes, "Butter".

Tastes good. You are butter.

Parkay.

- Did you do that ? - No, it was the Parkay.

The songs, the stories that I would make up

and the performing that I would do, people wanted to watch you perform.

It wasn't you holding your family captive on holidays to see the show

that you made up about it. That was when I put that together

and I went to my mom and I told her that I wanted to act.

And one and two and three and four.

Quietly. Five and six. Seven and eight.

One and two, three and four,

five and six, and seven and eight. You're on the little toe on this foot.

Quietly. Other foot.

I'm Demi.

I'm originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

And I moved to New York when I was three years old.

Good afternoon, Times Square. How is everybody ?

Early on, I knew that she wanted to perform.

Before I started acting, I wanted to be a pop star.

Before I started singing, I wanted to be a ballerina or a gymnast.

What was the first thing you booked ?

The first big thing was "School of Rock".

I was in it for 10 months if you include the rehearsals and stuff.

It was a lot of fun. And I made a lot of friends.

She left "School of Rock," and two days later, she booked "Lion King".

How long were you in Lion King ?

Six, just six months.

And then she left to do the Epix show, so...

I've been on the street for 30 years. And I'm still here.

So she's been really busy for the past couple years. Like nonstop.

I was three years old when I started performing.

I would perform every holiday for my family.

I would gather my cousins and construct different plays

and play something on the piano for Christmas.

It was always some kind of holiday show.

My grandmother made sure I was in dance class, tap dance, ballet,

pottery, piano lessons, singing lessons.

My Saturdays and my after school

were full of learning different skill sets for the arts.

My mom wanted to be an actor and wanted to be a model

and she didn't get a lot of support from my grandmother.

In my opinion, she went maybe a little too far

encouraging me to go into the industry that she wanted to go into.

It was never my idea. I don't know a 7 year old who wants to go to work.

Somebody's a child star when they're really good at juggling

and hackie sacks and weird skill that you had to master by yourself.

Everyone's like, "How do you know how to do all this weird stuff?"

Because I spent a lot of time alone on set.

Doing school in a trailer, being alone in hotel rooms.

You're very much isolated most of the time

and it's a very fulfilling but lonely experience.

It's a lot of time alone.

Usually, you audition for an agency, you get an agent, you take lessons...

But my mom taught me. She was an actress and an acting coach.

Also a manager. She does everything.

Don't you look wonderful, Willis ?

- But why the sunglasses ? - So nobody recognizes me.

I started with commercials. I got a lot of different roles.

Would you rather be black and live to be a hundred

or white and live to be 50 ?

And you weren't really a child there, you were more of a mini adult.

My mom was a real mom. I could do kids' stuff.

I got to play little league baseball and played Pop Warner football,

even though I was working.

I was able to be a regular child,

and most other actors were not able to do that.

Most child actors don't get a chance to be regular children.

There was a sort of snobbery in our family about acting

and about the right way to go about it

and the right way to present yourself in that we weren't going to be

the cutesy like child stars, we were serious.

We were gonna do this right. It was about doing great work.

Working with great people, we were kind of snobs.

I came from a family of artists. I grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina.

And my father ran a regional theater. Still runs the theater there.

My name is Cobweb. This is Maude. We're fairies.

I'm not Maude. I'm Motts Ladybug.

It was just kind of normal. It's just something that I did.

'Cause everyone did it.

Look what you girls have been up to.

There was a part of me that just really wanted to play,

and it was really apparent early on

that you would get in trouble if you wanted to play.

It would be very disappointing to people if I didn't want to do this

because I was talented.

At a very young age I connected to something and was able

to communicate through this medium in a way that,

if I didn't want to pursue it, the vibe was, what a waste.

I can' believe you won't do it, you won't pursue this. You're so good at it.

And so I didn't feel like I could stop because I was good.

So I just did it.

If you get cast, I think they're gonna let these chefs,

they're gonna try to make your dish, and then you get to be the judge of...

- Today ? - I don't think that's today.

That's gonna be on the show if I get it.

Jeff, my husband, sat down, we had a conversation,

and I'm like, "Can we do this?". Last year, it was easier

because he had a better job, he just changed companies.

This year, we've had to go into savings.

I think it'll be easier for us if we make it than if we don't.

We're spending a lot of money, we're working hard,

we're both doing the equivalent of two jobs in some ways.

- I want to take a picture over here. - What a day !

Good. Okay.

- So how did it go ? - Great.

I spent nearly every day after school driving into Hollywood for auditions

and going to the agency and all that stuff.

I'm the oldest of three kids.

I'm the only one who was put into show business.

I was a successful commercial actor, really good at taking directions.

- How's business ? - Not bad for a bounty hunter.

Chewbacca, Princess Leia, new driver action figures, each sold separately.

I had been cast in a commercial, and what they wanted me to do

was take a big bite of this brownie and then sing the song.

I was doing what I was told to do, but there was brownie in my teeth.

And this director kept yelling at me about it.

I was like eight or nine years old. This guy's just yelling at me.

It's super abusive. But I'm nine or eight or whatever.

I can't express that I didn't know how to do that.

What I ended up doing is getting through the day, finishing the job,

and then saying to my mom, "I don't want to do commercials anymore."

"I want to do movies." So I stopped going on commercial auditions,

and I started going on theatrical auditions.

- I am Landen Dawson. - Hi, my name is Natalie Parker.

Kaylee Rollins.

Hi !

Hello, my name is Tam.

- I am eight years old. - I'm four.

- I'm 10 years old. - My age range is six to eight.

Reading the role of Alex.

What do you think you're doing ?

What do we look like, fricken Charlie Brown ?

Juiciest, freshest tomatoes made in our bottle.

Julie and those kids have been harassing me at lunch every dang day,

and I hit her.

That may be, but instigators will not be tolerated.

- I'm suspending her for a week. - He can't do that. I'll miss band.

My mom and my brothers set up this kind of like mock audition for me

and then told me at the end,

"Okay, you were very good, but you didn't get the part."

I said, "That's okay, I could just go on another one."

I was born and raised in Burbank, California.

Growing up there meant that you were going to see other kids

going to auditions the same way you did.

It was like the way that other kids did youth soccer.

Or Girl Scouts. I was a Girl Scout, and I went on auditions.

It felt kind of normal, and I don't think my parents would've let me do it

if they had ever thought that I would be cast in movies.

They would have wanted to keep it very small,

like putting away money for college,

have some fun with it, but nothing really that big.

So I was a dancer originally.

At six years old, I was taking dance classes.

We had like a little recital at the end of the year,

and that recital was the thing that led my parents to go,

"Oh, he might be able to do that. He seems like he's having fun."

I was the only kid who seemed interested at all.

Everyone else was picking their nose and digging in their butts.

There were plenty of times where you go on a thousand auditions

and you book none of them, and my dad is going,

"Why am I pulling you out of school two hours early"

"just so you can go and fail at this audition ?"

Once I started booking things, it made a little more sense,

sort of became a part of my life. A big part of my life for a long time.

I was not following you. And no, Dad would not let you keep a falcon.

I always say genius skips a generation

'cause my daughter and my mother are incredible actresses,

and I have to work so hard to find it.

I grew up in California mostly. I was born in Russia.

My father was a doctor, my mother was a movie star in the former USSR.

My parents ended up finding a job being a cook and a housekeeper

at this big mansion up off Mulholland.

All these movies stars and big directors were staying there.

My mom was expecting that she would walk into the room with food

and they would be like, "Put the tray down. You should be sitting with us."

And that didn't happen.

My mom pretty early on realized that, in a sense, I was her ticket out.

Being an actress, she tried to teach me what she knew.

I started going to dance class and taking guitar and piano lessons

and acting classes and tried to find me an agent really quickly

and started slowly going on auditions,

but I just wasn't a good actress.

A lot of people just talk about how intimidating the business could be

for them at a young age, and I'm very grateful that I had

the adversity that I had before I got to Hollywood

because I was prepared for all the slick stuff

people were trying to pull.

I've had so many people at a young age try to play me as I were gullible.

I was just like, I'm not the one. I'd survived the streets of Baltimore,

so this was kind of a Disneyland.

There was a belief in Hollywood that children were rubber.

They were flexible.

We were flexible, but not willingly.

It was hard work. I found that I was adaptable.

I had the talent. That was my genius.

People go, "She's a genius".

Well, the only genius was I stayed on my feet.

And my family kept eating.

You start at age three. Seems very normal. I thought everybody worked.

I didn't realize in the Depression that a lot of people weren't.

But I just felt it was a normal kind of thing.

What's going on around here ?

Come here. I'll give you a free ride. You do it again, show this boy.

My mother was smitten with show business.

That's terrific.

In the '50s, after the war, when television got started

they'd just bring kids in and stick them around like plants.

And now back to "Kids Are People Too".

It must be kind of weird for you to watch TV in the afternoon

where they're showing "Happy Days" and also "The Andy Griffith Show".

In some spots, back to back.

- Who are you ? - Opie. Opie Taylor.

Does it bring back those memories of being that young ?

Tremendous memories because the real fun of a situation like that

are the relationships that you develop with the people.

And the things that were going on in between.

The first thing Drew Barrymore ever says to me is,

"How many movies have you been in ?"

And I say, "Just one."

She goes, "Oh, you poor thing. I've been in four."

- How old was she ? - Six.

I understand that you have an alien in this house. Is that true?

I have all the authority to take him, and I gotta tell ya,

I'm gonna take him.

You can't take him.

I'm afraid I have to, son.

You can't take him away ! He's mine !

It's not my choice. The president asked me to come here and get him.

I don't care what the president said, he's my best friend.

And you can't take him away !

Okay, kid, you got the job.

E.T. came along.

E.T. home phone.

It was intimidating on set because there were all these kids there.

Suddenly, you're not like the kid coming in and saying your line.

You're watching other kids do it, and you're watching how they work,

and you say, "Why didn't I do it like that,"

or, "Is that how I'm supposed to do it?"

Pretend there's a tear there, then wipe the tear away from E.T.'s face.

And we'll play it that way. Okay ? Real softly and gently, and no rush.

I felt like I had just robbed a bank.

And I was gonna get caught.

When I was I think 10, I was cast in "The Buddy System",

a pretty big studio picture.

Emily was a struggling mother, raising a kid who already knew too much.

Roger Ebert hated it and hated me which I took super personally

because I didn't know how not to.

As soon as you hear this kid's first few wisecracks

you think, let me out of this theater.

I think I liked it even less than you did.

No, you didn't.

The thing that I think people forget, you're not just talking about an actor,

you're talking about a kid who is giving up their childhood

to be in this thing that you're reviewing.

No individual could be this stupid. This is a very bad film.

I think that just about covers "The Buddy System".

But the next thing after that was "Stand By Me,"

and that kind of changed everything.

When I was cast and all of us met for the very first time,

Rob brought us up to Oregon two weeks before production

and put us in a little drama school

and took the four of us through some technique.

What we were learning to do is get out of our own way,

stop thinking about things and just be kids.

And one of the reasons "Stand By Me" is such a successful film

and one of the reasons it connects with people so honestly

is that Rob cast four kids who very much were the kids we played.

Mara Wilson was completely new. She had not done any theater,

she had not done any film work, she'd done a couple of commercials.

She was like taking a real person and putting her in front of a camera.

I got called for an open call for "Mrs. Doubtfire."

Your name is Mara. What a beautiful name.

You know what my name is ? Ifigenia.

You know what that means ? I don't.

Everything kind of snowballed from there...

Then I got cast on "Melrose Place" and then in "Miracle on 34th Street."

That's a good one.

And eventually, "Matilda".

It all happened very, very quickly, from like five to seven.

I didn't know how I felt about it all, but I was having fun,

so I wanted to keep going.

Don't be phony, be truthful. Be real. Don't be like, oh !

Be real. Act like this is real life.

As funny as it is, I could act, but I couldn't lie.

There was this separation of this is what play is,

this is what lying is, and this is what acting is.

I booked "Jessie" when I was 11.

- Who wants a brownie treat ? - I do ! Lucas !

Four years we did a hundred and something episodes of the show.

Being on set when I was a kid because that's naturally who I am,

I wasn't one of those kids who was causing trouble for anybody,

I wanted to do it right, and I wanted people to be impressed with me.

Hey, give it back !

Or keep her.

No one was scared of me. That's the key, right ?

If a child actor is 13 years old and the crew's scared of him,

and they're like, "Oh, that's the star of the..." No, fuck that shit.

These people were like, "Listen, don't do that, do do that."

Respect these people, ask questions, and be nice, that's what you do.

Because of that, I was so much better off.

So I was just sort of lucky to be in that little bubble of like,

everything's good, everything's fine.

But a lot of other people didn't have that luxury.

- Did you learn your lines ? - Oh, yeah.

Did you know what action or how emotionally you're supposed to feel ?

'Cause she's gonna work with you on it, so...

Hi ! How are you ? Hi, sweetheart. Come on in.

Hi, I'm Marnie. Nice to meet you. Come on in.

So if you wouldn't mind coming back in an hour, that would be great.

Anything everywhere, I just, I don't know.

Maybe I don't belong here.

Okay, let's stop for a second. I'm hearing the words too much.

Do you know what I mean by that ? Like I can hear the writer's words.

- And I want to be able to hear you. - Okay.

Do you like doing this stuff ? Do ya ?

Then why ya yawnin' so much ?

Did you not sleep very well last night ?

- Not really. - No ? Is this interesting to you ?

Sort of or...

Okay, well, that's honest. I like your honesty.

We're going to explore this. But if you don't fall in love with acting,

then you need to talk to mom and say this is not my cup of tea.

This is not something I love doin'.

I've offered plenty of times... "Do you want to stop ? It'll be done."

"No, no, no." And then it's like... He is passionate about what he does.

I've given him the choice. I always am clear with him if anything,

he didn't like anything, or there was something he would be upset about,

he always has the choice to stop.

You're a kid. You don't have to work. Right ?

Do you have to pay your mortgage ? Do you have to pay your rent ? No.

You get to be a kid.

I have to pay my taxes. And understand taxes.

All of this stuff you have to do when you're older

that you don't have to do now. How cool is that ?

If you want to do this, then we have to put in a lot of the work.

Drama may be not my thing. Comedy is my thing,

but I'll still have to try. Try and try. You'll make it.

As long as you're happy, I'm happy. Whatever.

You good ?

Sometimes I'll feel there were gaps in my childhood,

like I never learned how to ride a bike.

Or I remember going back to school and being like,

"What is this kickball game that everybody's playing ?"

I didn't do well in school because I wasn't used to setting my own schedule

because you don't have to develop a work ethic when everybody around you

is telling you what to do, at what time,

when you have people escorting you to hair and makeup, to the set,

telling you they're ready for you.

Yeah, you see here we go this way.

It's gonna be hard for to set your own schedule to do your homework.

I kind of miss only having a four-hour workday.

You go to school for four hours a day, and then you work for the other four.

So I kind of miss that.

How do the kids in school treat you, Henry ?

They... Most of them treat me all right. They treat me normal.

But some, they tease me about E.T. and some other movies.

The school thing was the biggest mix-up for me,

and that was the hardest thing about working as a kid.

They called me Hollywood or E.T.,

but I had been designated as being that guy.

So I was always gonna be that guy. I just didn't realize it at 13.

I thought I cannot be that guy anymore and to just have friends

and go to school and do normal things.

I had to finish my sixth grade year on set.

And seventh grade was the first year that I went into home schooling.

And so that was the beginning of instead of 35 kids in my class...

I have three. And they're all different ages than me.

Like it's just not like...

It's just not a normal experience.

When Demi first started, I made it a point

that she had to go to school and get a proper education.

As of right now, this is something that I'm going to do for like ever.

- Yes, I'm gonna go to college, but... - She can take a little break.

Four year break.

I really think that this is something that's gonna last, so...

What are you gonna do this summer, if you're free ?

I want to go to sleepaway camp because I've never been.

I was gonna go the year I booked "School of Rock,"

but then that didn't happen because I was in "School of Rock".

This might be her first free summer in a while.

If I don't book anything, this might be my first summer

where I'm not doing anything.

It was tough. I was in an adult acting class when I was nine,

and so that started at like 7:00 and didn't end until 11:00 some days.

I needed new acting headshot and the photographer at the end of the shoot

had them put more makeup on me, and people freaked out over the pictures

'cause I looked really grown up. And I always thought

I looked like a monster when they were finished with me

because it's the late '80s, it was like all that crazy makeup

and photographers loved me. I was like this little Lolita.

It was all just so risqué and so bizarre working with a kid.

You'd never get away with it today.

Photo shoots and stuff maybe it's more of a girl thing,

but that stuff was much more traumatizing than filming for me.

I didn't to be in dresses, I didn't want to be in heels.

I was a tomboy. And that stuff was really forced onto me

and onto a lot of girls, and we're starting to reject it now,

but so many people have been pressured into staying in the closet

and conforming to certain gender norms

that are really prevalent in the film industry.

How old were you when you were picked for this picture ?

- I was 14. - Did you know the story ?

Yes. My mother had read the book, and we discussed the story,

and she knew that Mr. Harris and Mr. Kubrick do very artful pictures

and that they are not a quicky film company.

She had quite a bit of faith in them.

Jodie Foster loves her life. Although she has worked since she was three,

she doesn't feel she has missed anything. On the contrary.

I missed all the bad things. I missed all the pimples

and insecurities and, oh, what am I going to do, he doesn't like me.

I missed all the bad things about growing up really.

Do you see yourself as a 12-year-old girl, an actress, a model,

an adult, a kid ?

I see myself as a 12 year old kid that just has maybe more privileges

and has experienced more than another 12-year-old kid.

Leon, I think I'm kind of falling in love with you.

It's the first time for me.

I knew that movie was nothing without the casting of Matilda being perfect.

I don't think Luc Besson fully understood how big a challenge

it was gonna be to find parents who would let

their 11-year-old daughter play this part.

- Hi, Matilda. - Hi, Piggy.

- How are you doin' ? - I've seen better days.

But I've seen worse also.

- Speak up, I can't hear you. - It's a belly button ring.

How else can I say it ? I don't speak no other languages.

And you know what that is ? That is a tongue ring.

It's that dichotomy with art of... Teenagers do have a sexuality.

And there's a part of me that believes we should explore that

in a way that makes them feel less crazy and more in tune with themselves.

Sometimes if it's done right, it can be

a really beautiful exploration of innocence and coming of age.

You need them to be sexual, but you also need them to not be sexual.

You need to push the boundaries while not pushing any boundaries.

And you're navigating this super adult world,

which is just being dangled in front of your face

while being told to stay a kid. That option is gone already.

Kids talk about sex all the time, but I still think it's kind of gross.

I knew about my sexuality when I was about 12.

I'm bisexual. And that was really interesting to navigate as well.

When I started doing better in the industry, yeah,

and I sort of prepubescent and you're put in these situations,

a lot of them are your first experiences, and they're on camera.

You're put into an environment with a lot of adults,

you end up becoming very friendly with a lot of adults,

and your mom can't always be there. Especially in your teenage years

where you're pushing your boundaries, am I a girl, am I a woman yet,

I want to be a woman, but like my mom won't let me kind of thing.

I got myself into some messes with guys for sure, older guys.

When I think now what were they doing with me,

I'm like, geez, what schmucks and what creeps !

But at the time, I just thought, because I'm so special and mature.

I guess I was ! I was like this magical little creature at the time.

It just saddens me that people would want to take advantage of that.

Thank you for signing.

Thank you so much.

After E.T. and two weeks in the theater,

it was kind of a sensation for a few months.

E.T. is a phenomenon, the biggest thing ever to hit the cinema.

That seemed like forever as a kid.

I was in San Antonio, Texas, and people were like,

"Oh my God, it's the kid from E.T." I wasn't set up for that at 10 or 11.

The best way I can describe it is for a long time, to me,

being recognized felt like the way it does when you're in a restaurant

and they sing to you on your birthday.

"Oh God, this is nice, but I don't feel comfortable with this"

"in front of everybody and everybody's gonna know..."

That's kind of how I felt about being recognized.

My experience switched. I stopped being a kid who was an actor

and I became a child star and that fundamentally changed my life.

I was all of a sudden getting letters from people from all over the country.

Those of you who write hate letters, please spell correctly.

I was recognized when I went places for my work.

People wanted me to talk about stuff that I knew nothing about.

I turned into a teen magazine teeny bopper idol kid.

I hated all of that stuff. I didn't like it at all.

It was way outside of my comfort zone, it was not what I wanted to do.

Am I famous ? I don't think, am I famous ?

It created this reality for me where I had to play the role

of the young celebrity.

The adults in my life who should have been protecting me

were like, "This is the dream" and kept pushing me into these places

where I didn't feel safe and I felt really afraid.

You shouldn't have to deal with all the responsibilities

and all of the eyeballs when you're that young.

Everybody has an idea of what they want you to be,

and at that age, you don't even know what the hell you want to be.

It's fucked up to think about your entire adolescent life

is documented for the entire world to see.

That's when you go through your awkward phase,

that's when you go through what am I, I don't know what I want

and everyone is watching you, everyone has something to say,

everyone has an opinion about what you should be doing.

People would not tell the truth, just say whatever they want,

and they're believed by followers.

When you get a like on social media, you get a little hit in your brain.

And it becomes this self-perpetuating, self-reinforcing thing.

You're blogging for the YouTube channel. It's like a family vacation.

But it's not a vacation because we're working.

Just dealing with the pressures of social media alone...

If I had to cultivate my career as a young person under the spotlight

and the way as young people have to cultivate their career today,

I don't know who or what I would have become, honestly.

We're doing the best we can do on the set,

but we also have to do it in public. And we have to live in public.

To get attention from people in public. And one day, it's gone.

And you don't know what to do. That's how you end up

on a shitty reality show because you're like, pay attention to me,

'cause it's the only way I know how to exist.

Can I get my face painted ?

How about we wait 'til the line's a little shorter ?

We are professionals.

We are probably a little more mature than the average kid.

Socially, we probably have more skills.

But we still don't know jack shit about the world.

I understand that you see me in a certain way,

people put you on a pedestal, people think you're really smart

but that's because you're a child actor. They don't actually know you.

You might recognize Mara from... Barbara, can we swap over here ?

Just swap moms. No, come in. Scootch over.

You may recognize Mara from "Mrs. Doubtfire".

It felt very out of control to have everybody know my name

and I didn't feel like I could trust anybody.

That's still a problem I have now. I don't know when people want me

because they think I have connections or they like me

because of an image that they have of me as a child.

Evan, how did it feel to get nominated for a young star award ?

It's wonderful. I was nominated last year, and I had such a fun time,

so I'm really looking forward to going again.

The better I did, the more I felt like who I was wasn't acceptable.

I don't think that anybody did that on purpose,

but suddenly, I felt like I didn't belong to myself anymore.

I was a commodity that needed to be monitored and groomed,

and I had to look a certain way and present myself a certain way.

Straighten your hand up. There you go. Excellent.

My voice just kept getting quieter and quieter.

You don't really know, do you want to be my friend

because you want to be my friend, or because I'm on TV ?

You got to figure that out for yourself.

At 13, you don't have the social skills to sniff out a social climate

or a person who's trying to use you. And I got used.

All of a sudden, all of my cousins who have either ignored me or tormented me

are treating me like I'm a big deal. I knew that it wasn't because of me,

it was because of the movie. I remember kind of resenting that.

It would have been better to be like, "Yay, they finally care that I exist."

But I remember feeling like this is all bullshit.

This isn't about me, this is because I'm famous.

And that was the beginning of not being able to trust anybody.

Professionally, it made me the it kid that every casting director wanted

to get a Henry Thomas type for the next role.

Help, police, murder.

I remember I was getting scripts with straight offers

and we had to listen to an agent. It was just a strange time.

And I also felt like I really didn't know what I was doing still,

but now everybody was acting like I did know everything

about what I was doing.

It's a funny dance when you're a kid because it hits you all at once.

Emotions for me as a kid were so overwhelming and palpable.

That sense of pressure, of you have to perform now.

Hey, Ricey. What's the matter ? Can't sit straight ?

Hey, Ricey, what's the matter ? Can't you str...

Child stars never earned any money at all.

It was just considered taking candy from a baby.

So at 10, I retired, having made from my family between films and vaudeville

two million that I'm sure of and another million that I'm not quite certain of.

Jackie Coogan was a victim of being exploited.

His family exploited him terrifically. He endorsed everything.

I had enumerable outside interests, endorsements

of product and food and clothing.

So I was earning about a million dollars a year, all told.

Coogan had success as a child star and he ran a full course.

But he was destitute and he died broke.

I had money, but not the money I should have had.

My dad should have told us that these people were ripping off his clients,

my dad didn't tell us for three years and he got most of my stuff too.

When they comin' to get you, they don't come by themselves,

they come in a little minivan full of people.

And everyone's doing something different, working a different angle,

and all to get you out of your money in your pocket. That's what it's all about.

The money that I earn from movies goes into a savings account.

But I get my allowance.

But what people don't realize, no matter how little or how much money

that the child makes, that it is the child's money, it's not our money.

I think I felt an enormous pressure on myself like to stay at home

and make that peaceful and have a degree of normalcy.

But there was an ongoing existential "now what" with the family,

my mom was there with me all the time, my dad was still working,

and she basically came with me for the next four years, five years,

on all of my films until I was 17.

I think she resented me for that for years afterwards.

But when you're a kid you don't really think about

what everybody else has to do to accommodate your film career.

We try to keep him halfway normal.

He just wants to be regular.

She was coming at it from a place of ignorance,

of I don't know this world and it's scary to me

and I feel like people are trying to rip us off and possibly hurt us.

So that was her front and her attitude and I don't think

it necessarily did me a lot of favors career wise

because I think she was labeled as difficult to work with

and consequently I was labeled as difficult to work with.

Wait, what ?

A callback !

- But when is it ? - Next week.

You have to prepare this sides with a southern accent

and if the music director asks, please be prepared to rift on the songs.

Everything revolves around her, so I don't work

because I follow her around all day and bring her to auditions,

she needs to be on set and I have to be there,

so we've all sacrificed a lot so she could do what she loves.

I hope she knows that.

Morning, Dad.

People have to sacrifice for you, which I didn't understand as a kid,

but looking back on it now, I go, "Wow, my dad quit his job."

My son is irritated with me 'cause I'm documenting this.

And I'm documenting this because I can.

My mom was letting me skip my last period in school

so I could go to some stupid audition that I didn't book

and when it really hit home for me was when my sister

would come home from school and talk about how her classmates

would just naturally associate her with me

and that's what she was. I hated that and that killed me.

I didn't want her to feel she was in my shadow or that she was lesser than.

So there are things that you think back on and you're like that changed

the entire fabric of my family and the way that we work as a unit.

Especially with my mother, she clinged, she clung to me

during that time, 'cause she wanted to be very protective.

I can't help but think that I'm sure people in my family felt like

she started disappearing with me when my career started taking off.

And I think we all felt it. And I felt a lot of guilt for it

that I never really vocalized or knew how to process.

Then very quickly, whatever struggles I was going through,

I couldn't talk about 'cause I was where

a lot of people in my family wanted to be in...

I think I silenced my voice pretty quick

and I felt like I can't complain about anything.

Mara clearly has a grip on playing a dramatic role,

but nothing could have prepared her for what happened

in the middle of our ET interview when she lost a tooth.

Yes. Oh no.

My mother died during the post production process of "Matilda".

I felt lost and unmoored without her and just kept acting in movies

because it felt like a constant in my life.

The entertainment industry is gonna make a decision about me.

Am I a serious actor who's going to follow a track

that leads to serious work and serious roles ?

Am I an accident that got lucky in one movie ?

My parents put me in a shitty horror movie.

But here nothing is what it seems.

Because they threw a bunch of money at us.

And dangled a trip to Rome for the family.

Wil Wheaton of "Stand By Me" must stand alone against "The Curse".

My mother was being my manager in my life circumstance,

this was all about her needs and not about what was best for me.

I went and worked in a phenomenally abusive environment.

And had a terrible experience. It really hurt my film career.

Our next movie is "Return to the Blue Lagoon".

One of the most ridiculous movies I have ever seen

in a long career of many ridiculous movies.

I felt so horrible after reading bad review after bad review.

It screws you up. You're just becoming a teenager

and this is your first understanding of where your place is in the world,

how people view you, and that put a bad taste in my mouth for acting

and that really convinced me that this wasn't what I was meant to do.

My mother was an amazing actress, but I needed to find myself.

You're in this environment of a circus.

Where everybody understands and everybody's there to accommodate you

because you're all in the same world, you're working together to do something.

Then you leave that and you go back to, in my case,

rural Texas where mostly no one has been on a film set

and you start to get this feeling like, I don't belong here,

I belong there in the circus world.

So everything that fails here I'm just gonna take this back to the circus

and the circus people, they'll be cool to me.

Let's all hug and pretend like we like each other.

My mom really felt like she was doing the right thing most of the time.

But I think where everyone failed, moms, managers, lawyers,

no one ever asked me how I was doing.

My emotional state was equated with how well I was doing.

The better I did in my career, the more they just assumed I was fine.

No one really checked in, especially as things began to ramp up,

and the fame came in, no one asked how are you...

Just a simple question.

The amount of pressure

that young entertainers have to have it all together

and to not be allowed to actually be young.

The kind of detriment that I see that it has

on the psychology of young adults, it's a lot of pressure.

One thing that Jaden and Willow... They don't have to figure it all out.

There's some pitfalls that we can see and go, "Not that."

We really are proud of Willow.

Money, fame, glamour, I have seen people lose sight of that.

Even Will and I have slipped into that.

We had to catch ourselves and Willow's like, "I'm not doing 'Whip My Hair'".

After "Whip My Hair" thing I was plunged into this like black hole.

- And I was like cutting myself. - What ?

I've seen a lot of beautiful young people and children,

I've seen them...

I've seen them just be destroyed.

My parents were always telling me you have to be happy and smiley

and you have to be nice to your fans and it could be hard for me.

I struggled with it because I just wanted to hang out with my friends,

I didn't really want to be signing autographs.

I had some kind of imposter syndrome. But I started picking up on things

and it happened from a young age, I noticed like much older men,

being interested in me and knowing my name, which felt wrong to me.

I remember Googling my own name, which was a terrible thing,

and I saw people talking about Photoshop child porn for me.

It was hard for me sometimes to talk to my family about this

because I felt like I was a burden on them.

My parents tried to protect me from these dangers,

but I could feel them, and I knew that there were times

when they just weren't going to be able to protect me.

Maybe it would be best if you didn't even mention

that I gave you all this ice cream before dinner.

Why don't we just make it our little secret ?

Mr. Horton, you're sneaky.

The thing about that issue when you're young

is you're not able to talk about. That's the biggest problem.

You feel ashamed of yourself so then you keep it a secret.

I was 12 years old and my publicist basically talked me into doing things

that I didn't really want to do. I hadn't had sex before

and he convinced me that this was the right thing to do

and told me like don't tell your parents, and he bought me a bicycle.

He always kept doing things for me that I didn't understand.

He started at 11. He seduced me and he started at 11 years old.

When I told my mom about it, she could look in my eyes and know.

My dad took his side, and that was the bad thing.

When my dad took his side, that crushed me, it ruined me

because then I was on a self-destruction course.

To destroy myself just to hurt him. A lot of parents need to see

that these people are right there ready to trick you.

Trick you away from your kid and that's a bad thing.

In my experience, I know a lot of kids that grew up in the industry

and what surprised me was finding out that pretty much all of the young men

were abused in some way, sexually.

I was at the Golden Globes, I watched a pedophile win, I knew

that he's molested boys in the industry.

And I watched him get up and accept an award and I walked out

and just started sobbing and a bunch of people ran after me and they said,

"What's wrong ?" "I don't know if I can do this anymore."

"I can't keep watching this happen. I don't know how to handle this."

"This has to stop."

After years of claiming sexual abuse,

Corey Feldman is finally being heard by the LAPD.

The number one problem in Hollywood always will be pedophilia.

This morning, Kevin Spacey in a drama of his own.

The star is under fire following allegations of sexual misconduct.

At least 6 men accused Bryan Singer of sexual misconduct

spanning two decades.

Any industry that has that much power and is that competitive...

After a while it starts to become who can take the most abuse.

Somebody's waiting in line to take your place

so you just start to allow yourself to be abused in some form or another.

Every actor is guilty of that. They're lying if they say they're not

because it's just part of the deal and, unfortunately, until things change

there's always gonna be somebody willing to take abuse.

And stay quiet.

It happened to me too.

Women are coming out and talking about things that they've experienced

so that young women and young boys who are coming up in the game

can have more awareness that it's not just a saying,

it is actually a reality.

I put a gizmo watch on him when I go, so he can call me.

If anything happens, you hit one button, I'm in that door.

I'm realistic of what really goes on. Or can go on.

I didn't think that about children back then.

Now, the Me too thing that I had some instances like that

that I had to say, "Absolutely not."

I'm grateful that Willow may not have to come up against that as well

because people are talking...

Shining Time ? What does that mean ?

Do you want me to get off here ?

I had been burned out on acting for a while,

but Hollywood wasn't really interested in me anymore either

because I was pubescent and deeply insecure,

and I was not a cute teenager. I'd been a cute kid

and I hadn't even realized that. I didn't like being told that,

I thought it was condescending.

I would self-sabotage in auditions, I didn't want to go.

I felt so desperately insecure. I would look at the other girls,

which was something that I'd never done before.

I'd never felt particularly great at auditions, but now I was 16

and I was going into rooms where they were expecting

an 11 year old boy to walk through sometimes.

I remember being at several meetings

and sitting in the green room waiting,

and seeing a producer walk out

and try to casually take a look

and go back and then I'd see another producer come out...

And then it'd be five minutes of silence and then a receptionist

would come and say, "I'm sorry, they're not gonna see you today."

And I realized quickly,

they're not looking for teenage me, they were looking for E.T. me.

It's almost as though you had ceased to be alive.

I had the feeling that I was a senior citizen at 15.

And it happened to so many of the children.

They were adorable, they were wanted, loved one day

and almost the very next day, when they were becoming full human beings,

they were told, you are finished.

Congratulations, "Jessie" is nominated.

- You just wrapped up. How was that ? - It was really sad.

It was really hard saying goodbye,

but we're all moving on to bigger and better things, hopefully.

It should be good for all of us, but it's really sad

because we all grew up on that stage.

I started to question everything. When people would go,

"Are you gonna go to college ?" I was like, Oh, shit !

No, I don't know, should I ?

I'm confused. But that's society's plan.

My life was do two jobs at once. School and work.

And now college ? I don't know. Why would I, I've made money.

But that would be good for me, I don't know anything about money.

It's just a spiral of...

What is it that I need to do to prepare myself for the real world

because I wasn't living in it. This is not real.

I really got turned off to the business.

When I was 16, A, I'd moved out of my house. I was emancipated.

My mom emancipated me so I could work adult hours.

You can't say anything about what I do. I have my own money.

I'm gonna move out. I went and got married.

I like full on just kind of went crazy.

You're in kind of a tough time. You don't have a place to stay.

- No. - Where's all your stuff ?

- It's at JFK. In storage. - Really ?

- Yeah, I've got about 15 boxes. - What's in the boxes ?

Candle sticks, books, picture frames.

- A lot of Carltons. - No.

I did feel like I had a bad start in this industry,

and I knew that I wanted to be an artist,

I knew I had a voice and something to say.

After I turned 18 and there were no signs of anything slowing down

and I had done the film "13" when I was 14,

on the verge of becoming a woman, and all eyes were on me

and there was a tremendous amount of pressure

of what I needed to be in order to be successful.

And a lot of it went against who I really was and who I felt I really was.

When I hit my early 20s, I just realized I have no life skills.

I know how to be a really successful actor and do really great work

and that's about it.

And it all came crashing down on me at once and I short circuited,

and I also was left with the question of is this even really who I am

and what I want to do ? And what happens if I walk away ?

Born after the original series went off the air, Wil Wheaton,

the youngest member of the cast of "Star Trek, The Next Generation,"

considers himself without a doubt to be a fan.

The people from "Star Trek" reach out to my agent

and she sent me on the audition and I booked the job.

Sir, I know this might finish me was an acting ensign...

Shut up, Wesley.

What I've said would've been listened to if it came from an adult officer.

Generally, young men were furious that there was another young man

on their science fiction television show.

A hundred million words have been written about that.

It was like being told this thing that you spend all day working on

instead of being a kid, it doesn't matter, and we hate you for it.

Then I turned 18, I was an adult, I could make my own decisions.

And I had this revelation, I don't have to do this if I don't want to.

I don't have to do this thing that means more to my mom

than it does to me, I can go live my life, I can be my own person.

And I just kind of walked away.

- What do you think of that ? - Your mom's going to kill you.

She hasn't been here since I was 6.

I understand why young people who aren't ready for it

and I really don't know of a young kid who is ready for it,

would get resentful and get self-destructive.

And start engaging in dangerous behavior

because they feel so out of control.

I'm lookin' for a job.

Everybody comin' in here askin' me for a job. What am I supposed to do ?

The transition for most kids is you have to transition into adulthood

and hope that you continue to work,

but I made it more difficult on me than it should have been.

When did it start to go sour for you ?

It's when I lost my self-esteem and my dignity inside of myself

and I lost my virtually, I lost myself.

- So how did you respond to it ? - Very negatively, evidentially.

I ended up getting myself in a little bit of trouble.

By using drugs and doing things that I shouldn't have been doing.

We, the jury, in the above entitled action find the defendant,

Todd Anthony Bridges, not guilty of simple assault in violation

of penal code section 240. A lesser included offense

within that charge in count one of the information.

Wasn't there a time where you actually went to his house, Betty ?

You went to his house and you're all dressed in black ?

And you said, "I'm wearing black because ?"

I know you're gonna die. And he nailed me out of his house.

He wouldn't let me in. He actually took furniture

and nailed me out of the house.

I always thought everything was supposed to be fair.

But it just wasn't and that's the thing you learn growing up as a child

that things aren't fair, and it's not going to be.

From TV star to drug addict, it's Dana Plato's last chance.

Just one month ago, former "Different Strokes" star, Dana Plato,

told us she was getting her life back together.

Now she's been hauled back into court with the judge threatening

one more mistake and it's behind bars for good.

Poor Dana. You get people to believe that you just threw your life away.

Yeah, I chose to throw my life away. No one chooses that.

It's a tough journey and Dana had a hard journey.

What can I tell you, Dana, you're controversial, evidently.

Are you sorry that you were a child actress ?

That term really bothers me. I think a child actress is somebody

who will only has it when they're little and cute.

I'm better now than I ever have been.

I get better all the time. The fire's still in there.

- So you enjoy it. - I'm an actress.

I consider myself an actor, not a child star.

That really bothers me a lot. Because I never was young and cute.

I get cuter as I get older maybe. It's something that it burns within.

The day after this interview, Dana died from a drug overdose.

We all had our share of things we went through,

but for Gary it was lot tougher because he was also ill.

Sometimes we didn't think he should be working at the time,

but you can't say what the parents are going to do.

If you cared, you wouldn't have done this.

I couldn't imagine being... He had just had a kidney transplant

and he was back on the set like a day later.

That's why for a while he really resented the show

because he was made to work and he was sick.

The death of a child star, Gary Coleman, who as a boy provided

so much amusement, so many laughs on the hit show, "Different Stokes",

died today.

My phone rang and I found out he had passed away. The interesting part

is realizing that the person they thought would not be here

is actually the last person standing, which is kind of weird.

It's 7:33 now, an autopsy later today will determine the cause of death

of one of Hollywood's rising starts, River Phoenix.

New York Daily News quotes a paramedic who said the actor

collapsed with all of the signs of a cocaine reaction.

It happened outside the Viper Room, a popular West Hollywood night spot.

Seizures on Sunset and Larabee. Please, come here !

Calm down. What's the address where you need us ?

Sunset and Larabee. The Viper Room.

Went out the door

and the paramedics were working on this young man

and I didn't know at the time that it was River.

The media wouldn't let not only River rest,

but they wouldn't let his family rest.

River and I were real close. He was a year and a half older than me,

but he was like an older brother who I looked up to.

- See ya. - Not if I see you first.

I looked up to him as a person, I looked up to him as an actor,

and I just treasured him as a friend.

And then around the time that I was 15 or 16,

he was kind of experimenting with drugs.

And River and I began to drift apart from each other

which really made me sad, but I remember thinking

when he's done with this we'll be friends again.

By the time River died, I hadn't talked to him for a couple of years.

And I couldn't believe it had happened.

And I was and remain so angry at the predatory people around him

who didn't try to help him.

I know addicts are responsible for their own behavior

and I know that it's important

to hold people responsible for the choices that they make,

but we also need help in our lives and we need people to look out for us

and I don't think there was anybody looking out for him.

I think that's one of the pitfalls

of being a kid in the entertainment business.

It's so hard to go from being a kid actor to being an adult artist.

I stopped modelling, I stopped acting,

I went to Europe, I recorded a record...

At that time I really thought it was music

that I will be able to leave my mark on.

The big turning point for me on so many levels,

but especially as an actress, because I had written it all off,

was getting "The Fifth Element."

I was 19, to access a character like Leeloo...

There was no reference point.

She was kind of brand new and came out of nowhere.

So it was like very tricky like who is she and how to find her.

Of course, when I did "The Fifth Element" it suddenly gave me

this feeling of control that I had a talent

and that I knew how to access it in a way.

And not all the time. Sometimes more than others.

That's where you go through your journey of understanding

what scripts speak to you when you just feel like

I can do something with this, it feels natural.

Or on the other hand, wow, this feels so crazy,

it's a challenge. Like now, you get excited by things

that you've never done before.

At the time, it was difficult becoming a teenager and having that confidence.

I had no confidence as a teenager. It was like a fake it 'til you make it.

Luc Besson said to me, Look at it this way,

like your mother is like an expert table maker,

she makes the most amazing tables ever, but you make great chairs.

And I was like, "Yeah. I like that. It's true."

And it was interesting to be able to help me appreciate my mother,

but also separate and appreciate myself, too.

Now with Mara Wilson, you undoubtedly know her

from "Mrs.Doubtfire", "Matilda", many other movies.

She's now revealing the ups and downs of childhood stardom

in her new book, "Where Am I Now ?".

It wasn't really until I was in my 20s and I was doing other things

that I could finally make peace with it.

And eventually, I ended up writing a book about my life.

I'd always known that I wanted to do that.

You're thinking about becoming a screen writer.

Script writer.

You wrote a piece that was picked up in the Huffington Post

about childhood fame...

There's a lot that I still want to do

and I'm not limiting myself into it, but for many reasons,

I probably won't be a screen actor. A big star like that ever again.

And I'm okay with that. I have a very devoted fan group and that's nice.

I haven't done a Disney project in over a year now.

The people who watch me still a lot of times are young.

I still want to be a good example, but at the same time,

right now I'm doing a show about porn.

And I love that shit. That's what I'm supposed to be doing.

I'm an actor and I want to do cool stuff.

So it's a weird balance like when you are trying to break out of something,

but I also feel the responsibility of being an example for these kids.

I take that seriously.

How do I marry what I actually want to be doing

with what people want to see from me and what they expect of me ?

Those two things are not the same.

I was bred to do this.

It was about good work and working with good people.

It's also about talking about something that you believed in

or moving people.

It's one of the reasons why I did films like, "13",

and why my parents allowed me to do films like that

because they understood the value of showing something real

that a lot of people don't want to look at.

That's absolutely carried over into my activism.

I now recognize our first witness. We'll go in this order. Miss Wood.

I'm here today as an artist, survivor, mother and advocate to bring

a human voice to a population of 25 million survivors in the US

who are experiencing inequality under the law

and who need basic civil rights. We need to pass

the sexual assault survivor bill of rights in all 50 states.

We've done this in nine so far and it's our job to make sure

that survivors in the remaining 41 are treated with dignity.

This is called progress and it starts here. Thank you.

I gave up my childhood for this industry and it wasn't my choice.

It is what it is. I really like my life. I have a really good life.

Your friend, Wil Wheaton.

It's my last one. I want you to have it.

Look, everyone, Wil Wheaton is my friend !

I have an amazing family and I am a successful writer,

I'm good at being an actor, it's not my first choice,

it's not what gets me out of bed. But when someone's like,

"We need an actor for this," I'm like, "I can do that."

But when I tried to talk to my parents about it

and tried to express how I felt and my sense of loss

and express my sense

of not having these things that I wanted and needed,

they weren't able to hear it.

After pilot seasons, Marc and Melanie return home to Florida

without booking a job.

As a mother, it makes me feel like did I not do something right ?

Or why didn't I think to do that as far as Marc's career is concerned ?

- She always does everything right. - Thanks.

To you I hope so. But it does make you think could I have gone that extra mile

as a mom to maybe get him seen by somebody ?

We're gonna do pilot season again next year and depending on how that goes

we possibly could do episodic season in the fall.

It's really more about persistence than it is about being lucky.

Everybody else thinks it's lucky until you've actually been there

and then it's just one really good day after a lot of days of hard work.

Hello, Erin ? Is there any homework ?

You said you wanted to go to summer camp. Did you get to go ?

- No. - Were you disappointed?

A little bit. Most of my friends are going to sleepaway camp.

But I've been auditioning over the summer.

I really, really want to become a well known actress.

When I was little I used to want my name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,

on one of the stars, so that's something I really want to do,

to become like a legacy and inspire other people to do what they love.

That's my diva stream to do something for someone else.

I'll face this guy.

If someone had told me that my life would have been like this

early enough where I could have got out, I would have got out.

Have a normal life and have friends.

It's a half kid because I still think about that,

I fantasize about it.

I find it very scary and I would not want my kids

to pursue a career as a child.

Because I just find so disruptive.

- Yes, my love ? - My toe hurts.

What part of your toe hurts ?

My daughter, my eldest, who's now 11, when she was four years old

she said, "Mommy, I want to be on TV."

My instincts were going, you think you want this,

but if I allow you to do this, you're not gonna like it.

It really is one of those things where like she wants to be an actress

and I want to help her do what she loves to do

because she's really got a natural ability for it,

but you're young, you don't need to do a bunch of movies right now.

What you need right now is to become strong.

You need to be like a ship with full sails, with a crew

that knows how to navigate, I want you to be so strong.

My son was in the business originally and not anymore.

But it was time to get him out.

It's great when you're a child, you build a nice bank account,

but you don't understand this business.

The movie business has been reliable and great,

make a lot of money and wouldn't be talked about.

I feel like a role model 'cause I'm a mom...

You have managed to keep your son completely off of the internet.

Totally absent.

It's been a very conscious decision. Because of the way I was raised

I don't want to do anything that he doesn't have a say in.

If he doesn't want his image out there,

I didn't want to put it out there. Also, there's just a lot of creeps.

Now as an adult and as a parent, you look at all of the ways

that it takes a kid out of their world.

And it's nice to be a kid and it's nice to have a childhood

that's a childhood completely unto itself.

On July 6th, 2019, Cameron Boyce died in his sleep

from an epileptic seizure.

On February 24th, 2020, Diana Serra Cary passed away at 101 years old.

This film is dedicated to their memory.

SHOWBIZ KIDS