What child star did you enjoy watching grow up before your eyes on TV?

Ronny Howard, of course.

Nancy McKeon

bit of a crush

Drew Barrymore. We sort of grew up together, really.

As @Austinlad said, Ronny Howard…from Opie to major Director/Producer. Now there’s someone for child stars to emulate!

Bart, Lisa, and Maggie

Ron Howard
Will Smith (though he wasn’t a young child).

This is a funny question. I watched a lot of child stars grow up at the same time as me. It always made me feel unaccomplished.

My absolute favourite has been Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who I’ve followed since he was a tiny kid in Angels in the Outfield and Roseanne.) He has done many, many great independent films since his days on 3rd Rock from the Sun and was in a little blockbuster this summer that you may or may not have heard about ;)

Recently, I’ve enjoyed watching Alexander Gould and grow up on Weeds and Elle Fanning grow up on the big screen (I highly recommend her film Phoebe in Wonderland – she’s a brilliant young actress.)

My mum’s favourite is Jason Bateman. She watched him on Little House and has the biggest crush on him to this day.

Excuse me, Mr. Howard. These days you prefer to be called Ron—and the correct spelling of your kid name is Ronnie.

Emmanuel Lewis.

Harry Potter, aha now that’s out of left field. Well at least the dvd’s qualifies them as watching on TV :¬)

Neil Patrick Harris

@Austinlad : ;-P

All this talk of Ron reminds me of the crush I had on him when watching reruns of The Andy Griffith Show. He was just so cute. And his daughter Bryce Dallas Howard is unbelievably attractive.

Ron Howard.

@ucme: I’m actually only a few months older than Daniel Radcliffe and I have quite enjoyed watching him and all of the Harry Potter kids growing up. At one point, Tom Felton went through a huge growth spurt between movies and it makes me chuckle to see him yelling down at Harry.

@KatawaGrey Yeah, also amazing to see a little girl turn out to be a beautiful young lady. I speak of Emma Watson, who to be fair, looks amazing.

Grew up with the Harry Potter kids, too. It’s funny that when I watch their interviews, I keep thinking “They’re so young here!” when I was that small at the time, too.

Elijah Wood is another one. From The Good Son and Flipper to Lord of the Rings.
But let’s all pretend that North doesn’t exist

The Brady’s and the Partridge Family.

@ucme ; Hey, I got to watch @KatawaGrey do that very thing!

We’re about the same age so I grew up watching him, Jason Bateman. I’m so happy to see his career flourishing now.

@JilltheTooth Ain’t that the tooth….sorry truth ;¬}

all the kids from the brady bunch and little house on the prairie. I loved those two shows.

@ucme : :-)

Gary Coleman and Ron…everyone enjoyed Mayberry RFD…

I felt like I grew up alongside Macaulay Culkin, Elijah Wood, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kirsten Dunst, Anna Paquin, Christina Ricci, Natalie Portman, Leelee Sobieski, Thora Birch, Michelle Trachtenberg, Shia LaBeouf…

Haley Joel Osment, Thomas Sangster, Jonathan Lipnicki, Liam Aiken and the Harry Potter kids aren’t that much younger than me, but I always thought of them like that, and I’ve liked watching them grow up.

Currently I’m rather enjoying Abigail Breslin, Saoirse Ronan, Chloe Moretz, and Dakota and Elle Fanning.

Some actors I’m glad stuck to the biz after they stopped being child actors: Hayley Mills, Jodie Foster, Drew Barrymore, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connelly, Sean Astin, Heath Ledger, Jason Bateman, Neil Patrick Harris, Leonardo DiCaprio…

@MacBean Your post has made me feel all shades of nostalgic. I’m going to pop season two of The Adventures of Pete and Pete in the DVD player and pretend Nickelodeon is going to eventually release season three…

@muppetish For I am Artie, strongest man… IN THE WORLD!

Sigh. Those were the days…

Jodie Foster and Natalie Portman. (be still my heart!)

Linsey Lohan! j/k
She grew up fast, didn’t she? Makes me feel old and I’m still in my 20’s.

Oh yes, Lilo. I’ve been watching her grow up alright.

I like watching the Brady’s grow up.. it was neat to see an entire family grow up together over the years.. and I used to watch them so much when I was younger..!