10 Still-Sane Child Stars

Neil Patrick Harris and Natalie Portman are proof: They don't all go nuts
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 14, 2009 10:48 AM CST
10 Still-Sane Child Stars
In this Dec. 5, 2009 booking photo provided by the Boulder County, Colo. Jail, former child television star Brian Bonsall is shown...clearly not one of the still-sane ones.   (AP Photo/Boulder County, Colo. Sheriff's Department via The Daily Camera)

Brian Bonsall once played adorable baby-of-the-family Andy Keaton on Family Ties; now he’s a druggie who was recently arrested for assaulting a friend with a bar stool—but not all former child stars head down that ugly path. The Frisky rounds up 10 who managed to keep it together:

  • Neil Patrick Harris: With his Doogie Howser MD days behind him, NPH is a pop-culture phenomenon, with successes on TV and stage.

  • Natalie Portman: Got her start at age 11 in The Professional and has been nothing but professional since.
  • Jerry O’Connell: You might remember him as chubby Vern Tessio in Stand By Me, but now he’s married to model Rebecca Romijn.
  • Alyssa Milano: After growing up on Who’s the Boss? and moving on to Charmed as an adult, she’s now married with a book out—not a tell-all, a baseball memoir.
  • Melissa Gilbert: She went from Laura Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie to president of the Screen Actors Guild—as well as wife, mother, and author.
For more, including Punky Brewster and the Wonder Years kids—and what they look like now—click here.
(More Brian Bonsall stories.)

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