Your Favorite Christmas Movie Kids: Where Are They Now?

Daniel Tay was 11 when he acted opposite Will Ferrell in 2003's Elf as Buddy's half-brother, Michael Hobbs. But after making American Splendor (2003) and Doogal (2006), he quit acting to take a drastically different path.

He graduated from Yale in 2014 with a degree in economics and became an SAT tutor and bilingual editor. Now 32, Tay volunteers at a New York hospital and still has an agent in case he's called on to make a comeback!

Thomas Brodie-Sangster was 13 when he played lovelorn Sam, the stepson of widower Daniel (Liam Neeson), in 2003's Love Actually. In the film, he appeals to his crush by playing the drums, which he actually learned to play for the role.

After that, his career took off. Now 34, Brodie-Sangster has appeared in big productions like Game of Thrones, Nanny McPhee and The Queen's Gambit. This year he tied the knot with Pride & Prejudice and Westworld TV series star Talulah Riley.

Perpetually age 12 due to his role as BB gun–craving Ralphie Parker in the oft-rerun 1983 classic A Christmas Story, Peter Billingsley — who is still instantly recognizable thanks to those bright blue eyes — has been gifted with a career as a producer, director and actor.

Now 53, he has appeared in many movies, including The Break-Up (2006) and 2022's A Christmas Story Christmas, playing Ralphie as a dad making Christmas magic for his kids.

Now 84, Karolyn Grimes has triumphed over a very challenging life. She was born in Hollywood, Calif., and began her film career at 6 months old. As a child, she appeared in 16 movies, including playing little Zuzu Bailey in 1946's It's a Wonderful Life.

Tragedy struck when her mom died from early-onset Alzheimer's disease and her father was killed in a car accident, leaving her orphaned at 15. She went to live with an aunt and uncle, who treated her badly. She married, divorced, married again and was raising seven children when Life star Jimmy Stewart's secretary tracked her down and asked her to help promote the classic film Grimes confessed she had never watched!

But her hardships continued when one of her children committed suicide and her second husband died from cancer. Grimes began to introduce the movie at screenings and became a star again after she was called upon for promotions.

"I never realized how much people loved this film," said Grimes, now wed to her third husband.

Macaulay Culkin's life hasn't been easy.

He said father Kit Culkin was cruel and violent during his childhood and took his parents to court to block them from controlling his trust fund. In 2004, years after his child star days were over, Culkin's mug shot made headlines for a drug bust, and he went through years of being spotted disheveled and gaunt around New York City.

Now, it looks like the 44-year-old has finally found happiness. In December 2023, he appeared healthy as he received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame alongside fiancée Brenda Song, the mother of his sons Dakota, now 3, and Carson, 2.

At 7, Taylor Momsen starred as bucktoothed Cindy Lou Who opposite comedy genius Jim Carrey in 2000's How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

By then, she'd already been working for five years — and resented it!

"My parents signed me up with Ford [Modeling] at the age of 2," said Momsen, now 31. "No two-year-old wants to be working, but I had no choice. My whole life, I was in and out of school. I didn't have friends. I was working constantly, and I didn't have a real life."

These days she's the lead singer and guitarist in her band The Pretty Reckless. Momsen said she enjoys it more than acting because "music is where I can be me."

Mara Wilson was 7 when she played Santa skeptic Susan Walker in 1994's remake of Miracle on 34th Street. She went on to do Matilda in 1996, and in 2000, she made her last feature film to date, Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

She's done stage acting since then, after penning a scathing article about the horrors of growing up as a child star for Cracked.com called "7 Reasons Child Stars Go Crazy," in which she wrote, "Not many child stars make it out of Hollywood alive or sane."

She said her parents were protective, but "I saw many child actors who did not have that, and they were all miserable. Kids whose parents pushed them into acting often grow up to resent them. They never had a choice, and worse, they never had the chance to be a kid."

In 2015, Wilson appeared in a video by the mental health charity Project UROK in which she discussed the mental illnesses she has experienced, including anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Now 37, she has come out as bisexual and lives in Queens, N.Y.