'Matilda' Star Mara Wilson On Why Some Child Actors Lose It
After years in movies and TV shows, some child actors end up making headlines later in life for stints in rehab, or ongoing legal battles. But not all former child stars become tabloid fodder. Some leave Hollywood behind and pursue other careers.
Mara Wilson, who starred in Matilda, Mrs. Doubtfire and Miracle on 34th Street, was able to avoid the drama. Wilson, 25, graduated from New York University in 2009 and is now a writer and playwright based in New York.
In a recent piece for Cracked.com, she gives an insider's perspective on why some child stars go wild.
"They're cute, and so they're used," she tells NPR's Neal Conan. "They're smiley, and they say cute things. But people will come to loathe them because they're so cute."
Alfred Hitchcock once described actors as cattle. "That would make child actors veal," she says.
Wilson got her start in commercials before being cast as Nattie Hillard in Mrs. Doubtfire. She says acting was an "incidental hobby."
"I tried to take it seriously when I was on set and tried to be professional — as professional as a 6-year-old can be. But I don't think that I really wanted to be an actor."
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