My best are characters that didn't seem "adult-like", they talked in a way that was real and not "scripted"; they flowed really well on their respective shows.


Best:

Tabitha Stevens (Bewitched)
Little Ricky (I Love Lucy)
Adam Rich (Eight is Enough)
The kids on Roseanne
The kids on The Waltons
Opie (The Andy Griffith Show)
Beaver (Leave It to Beaver)
The kids on Family Affair
The boys on My Three Sons
Tommy (Alice)
The kids from the Brady Bunch (Not including Robbie Rist)
Eddie (The Courtship of Eddie's Father)
Thelma (Good Times)
The girls from One Day At A Time
Rudy and Theo (The Cosby Show)
Joanie, Richie (Happy Days)
Dee and Roger (What's Happening)
The kids from The Wonder Years
The kids from Bernie Mac
The kids from Brothers Garcia
The kids from Everybody Loves Raymond
Max (George Lopez Show)
The kids from According To Jim
The kids from Little House on the Prairie
The girls from Facts of Life
Brenda (227)

My worst are children who were over the top, were more annoying than funny, etc.

Worst:

Olivia, Denise (The Cosby Show)
The kids from Full House
The kids from Who's The Boss
The boys from Home Improvement
The kids from Make Room For Daddy
Chachi (Happy Days)
Vicky (The Love Boat)
Lucy's kids on The Lucy Show
Arnold (Diff'rent Strokes)
The kids from Growing Pains
Punky Brewster

Worst: The Olsen twins. Michelle was cute until she started talking a lot. Then it became apparent that they really couldn't act.

Boy Meets World was a toss up. Ryder Strong and Will Fridle (sp?) were good...not sold on the rest of the kids. Danielle Fishel fell somewhere in the middle. Ben Savage was not his brother.

Never really had a problem with the teens on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. Well, that girl who played Dreama couldn't act.

I would also add Billy Mumy and Angela Cartwright of Lost In Space to the best list.

I would also add Billy Mumy and Angela Cartwright of Lost In Space to the best list.
Me too, along with Butch Patrick as Eddie Munster
Ken Weatherwax and Lisa Loring as Pugsley and Wednesday Addams

best/favourites

rudy, olivia, theo huxtable (the cosby show)
DJ connor (roseanne)
arnold jackson (diff'rent strokes)
bud bundy (married with children)

worst

nicky (the fresh prince of bel air)
the olsen twins
bradley, randy, mark (home improvement)
the second claire (my wife and kids)
becky (roseanne)

I forgot about Bud Bundy, he was very cool.

I forgot about Bud Bundy, he was very cool.
yeah, well he was also very funny but that was all thanks to the actor who played him, david faustino. he was great as bud. i cannot of anyone else who could've played that character as well as he has done, nor perform it better than david

Best:
Kim Fields - Facts of Life
Nancy McKeon - Facts of Life
Angela Powell - The New Dick Van Dyke Show (She played Dick's daughter Annie)
Shelley Fabares - The Donna Reed Show
Kirk Cameron - Growing Pains (He was natural)
Will Smith - The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
MacKenzie Phillips - One Day At A Time
Keisha Knight Pullum - The Cosby Show
Tracey Gold - Growing Pains
Ricky Schroder - Silver Spoons

Worst:
Gary Coleman - Diff'rent Strokes (The Arnold stick got old fast)
Raven - The Cosby Show (That grown up dialogue grated on my nerves)

Ron Howard gets my vote as top child actor ever.

Worst? Glenn Scarpelli. He always made me CRINGE. :eek:

my top 10
1. Fred Savage (The Wonder Years)
2. Michael J. Fox (Family Ties)
3. Beverley Mitchell (7th Heaven)
4. Amy Davidson (8 Simple Rules)
5. Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia)
6. Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains)
7. Justine Bateman (Family Ties)
8. Erin Moran (Happy Days)
9. Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Home Improvement)
10. Cole and Dylan Sprouse (Suite Life of Zack & Cody)

the worst
Nikolas and Lorenzo Brino (7th Heaven)
Conner Rayburn (According to Jim)

Great list, Irene! It's perfect - wouldn't change a thing about it.

Best:
The kids from Facts of Life, The
Theo and Rudy - Cosby Show, The
Michael J. Fox - Family Ties
Fred Savage and Danica McKellar - Wonder Years, the
All the kids (except for Joey and/or Matthew Lawrence) on Gimme a Break!
Ron Howard

Worst:
The kids on Who's the Boss? (especially Danny Pintauro)
Joey Lawrence (when he was on Gimme a Break!)
Emmanuel Lewis (?) - Webster (Isn't it kinda creepy that Emmanuel was 12 when Webster first started and he played a 6 year-old on the show? And he was around 17 when the show was in its last season playing a Jr. High School student).
Gary Coleman (Arnold's Schtick got really old and really annoying really fast!)
Danny Cooksey's Character on Diff'rent Strokes
Chachi (Joanie Loves Chachi)
Raven Symone (any show she sets her foot into is INSTANT SHARK BAIT!)
Denise and Vanessa Huxtable - Cosby Show, The
Screech - Saved By the Bell (for the most part, it's for Dustin Diamond's behavior off the cameras on SbtB and his behavior on "Celebrity Fit Club")

Best:
The kids from Facts of Life, The
Theo and Rudy - Cosby Show, The
Michael J. Fox - Family Ties
Fred Savage and Danica McKellar - Wonder Years, the
All the kids (except for Joey and/or Matthew Lawrence) on Gimme a Break!
Ron Howard

Worst:
The kids on Who's the Boss? (especially Danny Pintauro)
Joey Lawrence (when he was on Gimme a Break!)
Emmanuel Lewis (?) - Webster (Isn't it kinda creepy that Emmanuel was 12 when Webster first started and he played a 6 year-old on the show? And he was around 17 when the show was in its last season playing a Jr. High School student).
Gary Coleman (Arnold's Schtick got really old and really annoying really fast!)
Danny Cooksey's Character on Diff'rent Strokes
Chachi (Joanie Loves Chachi)
Raven Symone (any show she sets her foot into is INSTANT SHARK BAIT!)
Denise and Vanessa Huxtable - Cosby Show, The
Screech - Saved By the Bell (for the most part, it's for Dustin Diamond's behavior off the cameras on SbtB and his behavior on "Celebrity Fit Club")

oh i forgot about screech. god he was so annoying

The absolute worst child actor was Richie Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show. No wonder he hardly ever came out of his room.

The best list should also include:

Jay North - Dennis the Menace
John Provost - Lassie/Timmy and Lassie
Tommy Rettig - Lassie/Jeff's Collie


Although it wasn't a tv series, Some of the finest child actors ever were the kids from Our Gang including:

George "Spanky" McFarland
Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer
Tommy "Butch" Bond
Darla Hood
Robert "Wheezer" Hutchins
Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas
Eugene "Porky" Lee
Alan "Farina" Hoskins
Matthew "Stymie" Beard
Jackie Cooper Etc...

Great list, Irene! It's perfect - wouldn't change a thing about it.
Thank you sweetie. I will take that as a compliment coming from you. ;) I would also like to add to my worst what Monika mentioned above:

Glenn Scarpelli from One Day At a Time. puke:
And all the kids from Saved By The Bell.

BEST
Michael J. Fox - Family Ties
Ron Howard
Malcom Jamal Warner
Kirk Cameron
The Roseanne Kids
Ben Savage

Worst
Olsen Twins

BEST
Michael J. Fox - Family Ties
John Ritter- Three's Company
Mary Tyler Moore- The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Roseanne- Roseanne
Tony Danza- Who's the Boss?
Bill Cosby- The Cosby Show
Ron Howard- Happy Days
Will Smith- The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air
John Amos- Good Times
Danny Devito- Taxi

Worst
Yea i agree with the Olsen Twins
Ok you mentioned some adults in your post. It is best/worst child and teen actors only. Just wanted to let you know in case you read the title wrong. :wave:

Ok you mentioned some adults in your post. It is best/worst child and teen actors only. Just wanted to let you know in case you read the title wrong. :wave:
OH ye sorry about that I edited my post

I forgot the Lawrence brothers. Joe(y) and Matthew were good. Can't comment on the other one since I never really watched Brotherly Love.

OH ye sorry about that I edited my post
No problem sweetie. I figured you read the title wrong, that's all. :wave:

Best:

Alyssa Milano - Whos the Boss
Darlene Conner - Roseanne
Michael J Fox - Family Ties
Justine Bateman - Family Ties
All 3 boys - Home Improvement
2T - Facts of Life
Jo - Facts of Life

Worst:

Ben - Growing Pains
DJ - Roseanne
Johnathen - Whos the Boss
Olson Twins - Full House

Best
-Ron Howard ( Opie-Andy Griffith )
-Billy Mumy and Angie Cartwright ( Will and Penny- Lost in Space )
-the guy who played Eddie Haskel ( LITB )
-Micheal J Fox ( Alex-Family Ties )
-Erin Murphy ( Tabitha on Bewitched )

Worst
-Dana Plato ( Kimberly on Dff Strokes- i had a HUGE crush on her back then.....but, man she couldnt act! )
-Olsen brats

the guy who played Eddie Haskel ( LITB )

Ken Osmond

Ken Osmond
right!....my brain is fuzzy at 4 am :lol:

Best
-Ron Howard ( Opie-Andy Griffith )
-Billy Mumy and Angie Cartwright ( Will and Penny- Lost in Space )
-the guy who played Eddie Haskel ( LITB )
-Micheal J Fox ( Alex-Family Ties )
-Erin Murphy ( Tabitha on Bewitched )

Worst
-Dana Plato ( Kimberly on Dff Strokes- i had a HUGE crush on her back then.....but, man she couldnt act! )
-Olsen brats
Olsen brats...:rofl: I love it!

I'd like to add Bryton McClure (Richie on "Family Matters") to the worst list. He just got more annoying as he got older. And he wasn't that great of an actor.

Good: young Greg Brady

Bad: older Jan Brady, HORRIBLE! (season 5)

worst..

GARY COLEMAN!! and hes everywhere now!

worst..

GARY COLEMAN!! and hes everywhere now!
:rofl:

worst..

GARY COLEMAN!! and hes everywhere now!
I hear RAID has a new Gary Coleman spray you might try.....;)


*Wishes he had photoshop :( *

The kids from Make Room For Daddy

And now that I've seen them as teenagers or young adults playing "Super Password, you're right THEY ARE HORRIBLE!"

They were bad on that show and even worse as young adults!

worst..

GARY COLEMAN!! and hes everywhere now!
Oh hell yeah he is. He is one ugly mofo too. :eek: :crazy:

Oh hell yeah he is. He is one ugly mofo too. :eek: :crazy:
:lol: :rofl: Gee Irene, you don't have to hold things in, like that! :crazy:

But you have to feel bad for Rusty Hamer. He went through Hell and put himself out of his misery by suicide way too soon. Sad way of living, though..

Kellie Martin (Life Goes On, Christy, ER) went from a talented child star to a talented adult actor. I've always enjoyed her work.

Punky Brewster

Punky?! Those are fighting words! She was my childhood idol next to Blair Warner and Tootie Ramsey:lol: .

Best:
The girls of Eastland(Facts of Life)
Karen, Wayne, and Kevin Arnold, Paul Schafer, and Winnie Cooper(The Wonder Years)

Theo, Denise, and Rudy Huxtable(The Cosby Show)
Punky Brewster and friends(Punky Brewster)
Blossom, Joey and Six(Blossom)
Moesha, Hakeem, and especially Kim(Moesha)
Calvin and Brenda(227)
Carlton and Ashley Banks(Fresh Prince)
The Connor Kids(Roseanne)
Hannah Montana, Zack and Cody, and Cory Baxter and his little buddies.(Disney stars)

Worst:
The Tanner girls(Full House, couldn't act their way out of a paper bag.)
Olivia Kendall(Cosby Show)
D-Money(Ray-J from Moesha)
Lizzie McGuire

Punky?! Those are fighting words! She was my childhood idol next to Blair Warner and Tootie Ramsey:lol:

Sorry...:lol: I know what you mean, I watched the show when it aired the first time...looking back though, she was not the best in my opinion, but hey, she's your girl and I won't even touch that subject anymore. :lol: WELCOME TO THE BOARD!!!!!:D :wave:

Sorry...:lol: I know what you mean, I watched the show when it aired the first time...looking back though, she was not the best in my opinion, but hey, she's your girl and I won't even touch that subject anymore. :lol: WELCOME TO THE BOARD!!!!!:D :wave:

Thank you, i've been lurking around for a week now, decided to join in on the fun!

Same thing my uncle said, Punky couldn't act her way out of a paper bag, problem was he said it to a five-year old me, I cried for about half a day!:lol: .

The same uncle and his wife had said before that most child stars from the sixties to the eighties were awful actors/actresses.

Hey, welcome to the boards, Factory Girl :) :wave:

Hey, welcome to the boards, Factory Girl :) :wave:

Thanks!!;)

Oh hell yeah he is. He is one ugly mofo too. :eek: :crazy:
He just seems MEAN and BITTER. I sure wouldn't want to cross paths with him. :eek: