Monday, October 24, 2011

Guest Post: Adolescent Ingenues of the 90s


About guest poster Kari, in her own words: I’m a 90s kid hailing from the suburban South and living in New York City. I frequently prefer kid’s movies, often watch Saturday morning cartoons, always enjoy nostalgia, and determinedly refuse to grow up for good. You can visit me on Tumblr, and I also write a book blog.


There was just something about certain actresses of 90s movies; they seemed to pop up in everything (kinda like the klepto kid from Can’t Hardly Wait, who was also the pube pizza kid from She’s All That, and also in American Pie). These ladies were the ones I wanted to be—maybe because they rocked awesome kicks, hats, and had great hair, but most likely because they were individuals. They were a little bit quirky but entirely confident with themselves.

You’ll be pleased to know that most of our adolescent ingenues are still in the acting world, though most of them have gone more of the indie flick route (just further evidence that these 90s ingenues were destined for great things beyond the dreaded child actor stigma). Your individualism has paid off—you’re no longer just “former child stars”!



Anna Chlumsky

Oh my god, what I would’ve done to be Vada Sultenfuss in My Girl 2. (For some reason, always liked that one better than the first. Inexplicable.) I can’t even count how many cheap mood rings I bought after those two movies and how much of an internal struggle I had about flowery 1970s hats (I was a huge tomboy, yet she just looked so damn cool...). Beyond the My Girl flicks, Anna also starred in Trading Mom and Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain with fellow ingenue Christina Ricci (two movies my mom rented for me on sick days). Anna took almost a decade off from acting after 1998 to attend college (International Studies), get married, and apparently be a woman of all trades (food critic, restaurant guide, editorial assistant). She’s back to acting, though, with several recent indie movies and lots of TV roles.




Thora Birch

Never have I wanted anything as badly as I wanted a pet monkey, thanks to the movie Monkey Trouble. (I also desperately wanted a copy of that movie, and pre-Amazon.com, it was incredibly hard to find. I never got it.) And lest we forget Thora’s best and most memorable role as Dani in Hocus Pocus. (This assertion is not up for debate.) Thora’s early acting also included Now & Then and Alaska. In 1999, she made a swift move to adult roles with American Beauty, and she’s steadily done indie flicks since (most notably Ghost World).




Gaby Hoffmann

I never really knew Gaby Hoffmann until Now & Then (where she and Demi Moore were most perfectly cast), but since then, I’ve seen her pop up in a ton of stuff made prior. Who knew that wasn’t her break-out role? (Me.) She started her career with Field of Dreams, Uncle Buck, and Sleepless in Seattle, and starred in All I Wanna Do (total underrated late 90s teen flick starring lots of the up-and-coming famous females of the late 90s/early 00s—Kristen Dunst, Rachel Leigh Cook, Monica Keena, Heather Matarazzo...) before joining fellow ingenue Christina Ricci in 1999’s 200 Cigarettes (again, end of child roles). Lately, she’s done some guest-starring TV roles and has several new indie movies under her belt.




Christina Ricci

Christina was the “It girl” of the early to mid-90s, with a breakout role in Mermaids to her pre-teen roles in flicks like Addams Family and its sequel, Casper, Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain, Now & Then, and the 1997 version of That Darn Cat. Just one year later, in 1998, Christina officially ended her career as “child actor” with The Opposite of Sex—a poignant moment I remember in the video store when I saw her sporting blonde hair and cleavage, and thinking, “That’s it—my childhood is dead.” Christina’s had arguably the most well-known career of our ingenues throughout the past twenty years, leading most recently to ABC’s new series Pan Am.


**HONORABLE MENTIONS**


Tina Majorino

Who could forget the adorable girl from Andre and Corrina, Corrina (which were released, in my mind, at exactly the same time)? Tina’s childhood career wasn’t quite as notorious as the previous four ladies, but she was a familiar face. You probably remember her now from Napoleon Dynamite; I bet every 90s kid’s reaction to that movie was: “She looks familiar...” Tina has done lots of TV acting since Napoleon, most famously on Veronica Mars and Big Love.




Anna Paquin

I give Anna Paquin an honorable mention for this reason: I always thought she was one of these ingenues that appeared in everything mid-90s, but when I recently checked her creds, I realized...wow, she wasn’t in as much as I thought. Yet, I DO remember her and associate her with these 90s childhood flicks, so that must mean something. While her official breakout role was in 1993’s Piano, her breakout role to OUR generation was in 1996’s Fly Away Home. The next really memorable role of hers was as Freddie Prinze Jr’s goth-chic sister in She’s All That, which led her to more teen/adult roles in Almost Famous, the X-Men flicks, The Squid and the Whale, and...her current claim to fame...HBO’s True Blood.


As you can see, no troubled former childhood stars from this group of girls. Further evidence that 90s kids are the best kids.

27 comments:

Shannon said...

Wow, you mentioned some movies that I was sure no one remembered but my sister and me. Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain, Hocus Pocus, Monkey Trouble... 90s classics!

Another great Thora Birch movie from 1991 was All I Want for Christmas. She was so cute as the precocious Hallie O'Fallon. :)

Thanks for the great post!

Miss Crystal said...

The weird thing for me with some of these, like Anna Paquin and Christina Ricci, is as a kid I thought they were so much older and cooler than me. Now however I realize they are only 2 to 4 years older than me. Funny how age gaps aren't as drastic when you're older.

Vani B. said...

Did you know that Tina Majorino was in the video for "F---in' Perfect" by Pink? And Gaby Hoffman back in 1995 did a made-for-TV remake of Freaky Friday with Shelly Long, which used to frequently air on the Disney Channel throughout the late Nineties. I loved that movie.

Shannon said...

Oh, I forgot about the Freaky Friday remake with Gaby Hoffman. That was a fun movie! :)

LWLH said...

I loved Now and Then....hmmmI wonder if they have that one Netflix?

Cait Donahue said...

"Pubic Hair Pizza Kid" was also in the 90s flick "Angus"... which was a classic!

Kim said...

What a fun post. I loved all of these kid stars and I thought I was the only one that watched their movies. One movie I remember Gaby Hoffmann in was "Volcano". I think that's the second movie I saw her in.

While reading this post, another child star I thought of was Mara Wilson. She started in "Mrs. Doubtfire", The remake of "Miracle on 34th Street", and my favorite role of hers "Matilda".

Kari said...

OOh, good one, Kim. I had forgotten about her! I think she was a Freshman at NYU when I was a Sophomore.

Kim said...

Thankyou! I always thought Mara Wilson was older than me, but actually she's a year younger. Very interesting.

Jibriel said...

Wow. I thought Anna was cute when I was a kid, and she's still beautiful today.

http://www.realdealdiscounts.com/

AKPuran Gaming said...

The article you have shared here very awesome. I really like and appreciated your work. I read deeply your article, the points you have mentioned in this article are useful.
juegosfrival.com | friv400game.com | friv2gamers.com

games said...

Interesting article! Thank you for sharing them! I hope you will continue to have similar posts to share with everyone! I believe a lot of people will be surprised to read this article!
fleeingthecomplexgame.com Warwings.net Flipmaster.co

Blogger said...

If you're trying to lose fat then you absolutely have to jump on this totally brand new custom keto diet.

To create this keto diet, certified nutritionists, fitness trainers, and chefs have joined together to produce keto meal plans that are efficient, painless, price-efficient, and fun.

Since their first launch in early 2019, thousands of individuals have already remodeled their figure and well-being with the benefits a great keto diet can offer.

Speaking of benefits: in this link, you'll discover eight scientifically-certified ones given by the keto diet.

Unknown said...

Strange "water hack" burns 2 lbs in your sleep

More than 160,000 men and women are losing weight with a simple and SECRET "water hack" to burn 2 lbs each night as they sleep.

It is simple and it works on everybody.

Just follow these easy step:

1) Hold a clear glass and fill it half full

2) Proceed to learn this amazing HACK

and you'll be 2 lbs thinner the next day!

maxx said...

Thanks for sharing. I hope it will be helpful for too many people that are searching for this topic.
friv games
friv

Aaryan said...

Really I enjoyed a lot after reading such informative blog post, good work. While traveling UK, For adult entertainment - Visit https://www.shushescorts.co.uk/region/escorts-in-manchester.

swag said...

War 2019 full movie download in tamil hd tamilrockers in HD
Kabir Singh movie download pagalworld 1080p in HD
Haseen Dillruba Download Tamilrockers in HD
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil movie download Telegram in HD
Article 15 full movie download Tamilrockers in HD
MS Dhoni The Untold Story full movie download 720p Filmywap in HD
Raazi movie download Telegram in HD
Kalank movie download dailymotion in HD

swag said...

Dabangg 3 movie download Telegram in HD
Tamasha full movie download Pagalworld in HD
Sanam Teri Kasam movie download Movierulz in HD
Good Newwz full movie download Worldfree4u in HD
Street Dancer 3D full movie download Worldfree4u in HD
Andhadhun movie download Filmyhit in HD
Sanju movie download Telegram in HD

swag said...

Kesari movie download Bollyshare in HD
Coolie no 1 full movie download Telegram in HD
Love Aaj Kal 2 full movie download Pagalworld in HD
Mumbai Saga full movie watch online free Dailymotion in HD

swag said...

Xnxubd 2019-2021 Xnxubd Frame Rate Nvidia New (xnxubd 2020 Nvidia New Video updates)
Student of the year 2 full movie download telegram
Tiger Zinda Hai full movie download Filmymeet in HD
Badrinath Ki Dulhania full movie download mp4 hd Coolmoviez in HD
Raees hd full movie download Filmywap in HD
Ludo movie download Telegram in HD

swag said...

Best putlockers new site 2018 – 2021 | free movies download
Best 2021 Klwap Tamil Movies Download Free and Watch online
Watch Bengali Movies Online Free Without Downloading Websites
Best Websites to Download Web Series for Free in India
Jalshamoviez movies free download movies

swag said...

Best 2021 Isaimini Tamil Movies free Download and Watch online
Moviesmon movie download free movies
Student of the year 2 full movie download telegram
Tiger Zinda Hai full movie download Filmymeet (Direct Download Link)
Badrinath Ki Dulhania full movie download mp4 hd Coolmoviez (Direct Download Link)
Raees hd full movie download Filmywap (Direct Download Link)

swag said...

Good Newwz full movie download Worldfree4u (Direct Download Link)
Sanam Teri Kasam movie download Movierulz (Direct Download Link)
Tamasha full movie download Pagalworld (Direct Download Link)
Dabangg 3 movie download Telegram (Direct Download Link)
kalank movie download dailymotion (Direct Download Link)
Raazi movie download Telegram (Direct Download Link)
MS Dhoni The Untold Story full movie download 720p Filmywap (Direct Download Link)

swag said...

Article 15 full movie download Tamilrockers (Direct Download Link)
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil movie download Telegram (Direct Download Link)
Haseen Dillruba Download Tamilrockers (Direct Download Link)
War 2019 full movie download in tamil hd Tamilrockers (Direct Download Link)
Kabir Singh movie download pagalworld 1080p (Direct Download Link)
Ludo movie download Telegram (Direct Download Link)

SPACEBAR COUNTER said...

If you want to play Minecraft with friends who own other systems, your best bet is to buy Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. The Bedrock version has cross-play, meaning you can play with a friend even if you're on PC and they're on a Nintendo Switch, for example. The Java version only allows you to play with other Java users
spacebar counter

John Hardy said...

Such an amazing blog. I am really enjoying reading your well written articles. It looks like you spend a lot of effort and time on your blog. Thanks for this article and good information.
Now it's time to avail HALFCASTE CREAM SET for more information.

Mobile app development company said...

Nice post. Thanks for sharing with us. I would like to share information about the Android app developers in Pune. Android app developers in Pune possess a remarkable combination of expertise and precision in their craft. Armed with a comprehensive understanding of the Android operating system, these developers exhibit a profound knowledge of Java and Kotlin programming languages, the backbone of Android app development.

Digg This!