A child star often has to face a number of difficulties and at times, one of the problems they have is that they grow up. That was the case with one child star in the 1990s who had a fantastic career.
In the early 1990s, Mara Wilson was the child star to follow. She played in some of the biggest movies of the day, including Mrs. Doubtfire and Miracle on 34th St.
Like every child star, Mara eventually grew up and now, she is in her mid-30s. She was on her way to super success but unfortunately, her cuteness went away and she left Hollywood.
She said: “Hollywood was burned out on me. If you’re not cute anymore, if you’re not beautiful, then you are worthless.”
It’s hard to believe that she was only five years old when she starred in Mrs. Doubtfire as the youngest child. She had been in commercials prior to that but she was invited to play one of the biggest movies of all time.
She said: “My parents were proud, but they kept me grounded. If I ever said something like, ‘I’m the greatest!’ my mother would remind me, ‘You’re just an actor. You’re just a kid.”
She went on to play Susan Walker in the 1994 rendition of Miracle on 34th St. She spoke about her audition, saying: “I read my lines for the production team and told them I didn’t believe in Santa Claus but I did believe in the tooth fairy and had named mine after Sally Field.”
She next played in the 1996 movie, Matilda along with Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman. Unfortunately, her mother would also die that year from breast cancer.
“I didn’t really know who I was…There was who I was before that, and who I was after that. She was like this omnipresent thing in my life,” Wilson says of the deep grief she experienced after losing her mother. She adds, “I found it kind of overwhelming. Most of the time, I just wanted to be a normal kid, especially after my mother died.”
Her final role came in 2000 when she was 11 years old. She wasn’t very happy with the part or the script.
That is when she decided to exit Hollywood. The roles weren’t continuing to come in and she was outgrowing her cute looks as she went through puberty.
Eventually, Mara decided to become a writer and has even authored her first book, Where Am I Now? True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame.
We wish her much success in all of her ventures.