When Stranger Things debuted on Netflix a couple of weeks ago, it became a hit for reviving the wonder and mystery of certain films from the 1980s.
The young cast have rightly been receiving praise for their performances. As with films like Stand By Me (which turned thirty this week) and ET, the actors in the show are close in age to the characters they are playing, which adds to the sense of wonder. We are seeing the story through their eyes, and we’re transported back to our own childhoods.
It’s a welcome break from watching actors in their mid twenties trying to pass as teenagers, and been taken out of the story by trying to figure out what a fully grown adult is doing in a high school.
Of course, using child actors comes with a lot of issues for productions. There are strict limits on the amount of hours children can work, and they are required to having tutoring while on set. For this reason actors in their late teens / early twenties, who look younger than their age, are often cast instead. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. Here’s a list of some of the oldest actors to have played teenagers on screen, some who passed with greater degrees of success than others:
