Puberty has ruined the cherubic looks of a lot of adorable kid celebs but with others it didn’t quite take, leaving some grown-up child stars looking simply like larger, hairier or blobbier children. The results can be unfortunate — a purgatory of aging babyfaces.
Here are eight child stars who sadly got stuck with the same faces they had as kids:
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1. Haley Joel Osment, 25
A 12-year-old Haley Joel Osment hits the red carpet in 2000 WireImage; WireImage The star of “The Sixth Sense” (1999) and “A.I.” (2001) must have paid his good fortune forward to someone else, because he’s been underemployed lately, mainly because he looks a little bit like a living doll. Things may be turning around though: He snagged a role in the movie version of “Entourage.”
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2. Macaulay Culkin, 33
Macaulay Culkin was 10-years-old when he starred in 1992’s “Home Alone.” Everett Collection; PacificCoastNews.com Of course, we all predicted the “Home Alone” (1990) star would gently segue into joining a band that does pizza-related covers of Velvet Underground songs. Of course.
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3. Leonardo DiCaprio, 39
Leonardo DiCaprio was 18 when he starred as Luke Brower on "Growing Pains." Everett Collection; Getty Images Ever seen “J.Edgar” (2011)? Amazingly, even under old-guy makeup, he still looks like the little scamp from “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” (1993). (Note: This is not a recommendation to see “J.Edgar.” Save yourself 2 ¹/₂ hours of canned ham.)
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4. Gaby Hoffman, 32
Gaby Hoffman was 12-years-old when she played Gaby Stepjack on "Someone Like Me." Everett Collection; Getty Images The daughter from “Field of Dreams” (1989) and a friend of Tom Hanks’ son in “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993) grew into a wild child with a disastrous near-unibrow in “Crystal Fairy” (2013). More recently, this year she turned up as Adam Driver’s hot mess of a sister on “Girls.” Next up: the “Veronica Mars” movie.
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5. Daniel Radcliffe, 24
A 12-year-old Daniel Radcliffe attends the 2001 premiere of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." AP; UPI There turned out to be no magical transformation into adulthood for Harry Potter, whose efforts to shed the cute in roles like Allen Ginsberg in “Kill Your Darlings” (2013) are not convincing audiences. He also, sadly, got stuck with a child’s height.
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6. Selena Gomez, 21
Selena Gomez was 15 in 2007 when she starred in the Disney Channel's "Wizards of Waverly Place" Everett Collection; Getty Images Tarting herself up for raunchy movies like last year’s Spring Breakers” is a strategy, but the ex-Disney star till of “Wizards of Waverly Place” (2007-2012) still has the moon face of a middle-schooler.
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7. Thomas Brodie-Sangster, 23
Thomas Sangster was 13-years-old when he played Liam Neelson’s stepson, left, in 2003’s “Love Actually.” Everett Collection; WireImage Ever watch “Game of Thrones” and go, “What’s Liam Neeson’s nice step-son from ‘Love Actually’ (2003) doing in this medieval hell? He should back in London working on his drumming.”
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8. Elijah Wood, 33
Elijah Wood as 13-year-old Stu Simmons in "The War." Everett Collection; WireImage Sorry, Frodo, but despite slasher movies like your remake of “Maniac” (2013) and thrillers like your new one “Grand Piano,” those gigantic baby blues still make us want to give you a lollipop and a box of crayons.