Mickey Rooney in the context of "The Bridges at Toko-Ri"

A child actor or child actress is a child acting on stage, television or in movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor or a "former child actor". Closely associated terms include teenage actor or teen actor, which refer to an actor who gained popularity as a teenager.

Many child actors find themselves struggling to adapt as they become adults, mainly due to typecasting. Macaulay Culkin and Lindsay Lohan are two particularly famous child actors who eventually experienced much difficulty with the fame they acquired at an early age. Some child actors have successful acting careers as adults; for example Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor, Jodie Foster, Christian Bale, Drew Barrymore, Saoirse Ronan. Other child actors have gone on to successful careers in other fields, including director Ron Howard, politicians Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński, James Jebbia, and singer Jenny Lewis.