The film industry, and particularly Hollywood, has a reputation for chewing up and spitting out child actors. Jodie Foster came through unscathed, but countless others - Corey Feldman being the best example - find the pressures too great and their careers take a nosedive. However, this trend doesn't finish in childhood, and many A-list stars have found themselves unfashionable and no longer bankable. Look at what happened to Sharon Stone and Demi Moore - two of the most powerful actresses of the 1990s, now reduced to bit parts in fairly horrible films. It could be argued it's worse for women, but it also applies to men as well, it just tends to happen later in life, as Kevin Costner found out. So in this Feature, I'm going to look at some youngish actors and actresses who are really at the make-or-break points in their careers, and group them into categories based on their likely longevity.

Survivors

Reese Witherspoon

Now in her late 20s, Witherspoon has shown a quite remarkable range in her roles. There is the occasional bad choice, but even in her poorer films she is the one who comes out looking the best - Cruel Intentions. She has already shown a sharp eye for comedy and satire, and she is just at home in serious roles too. Her latest performance in Walk the Line really is excellent, and marks her out as someone to watch in the future, especially if she continues to exhibit such versatility.

Jake Gyllenhaal

While Gyllenhaal has hardly been prolific in his appearances, the last few years have seen many fine performances come to the screen. Showing just as much ease in mindless fun like The Day After Tomorrow as he does in poignant films like Brokeback Mountain, Gyllenhaal has a noticeable, but not overbearing screen presence. Donnie Darko is perhaps considered the film which really launched him, but he's managed to avoid being pigeon-holed into such unusual roles.

Christian Bale

Even before he became the new Batman, Bale had everything going for him. While it was his first real venture into the big budget genre, Bale was already well known for his strong performances. A wonderful turn in American Psycho cemented his reputation as an excellent character actor, and although the odd choice like Reign of Fire hasn't quite worked, his determination to try different things - The Machinist - will ensure he's always working and always getting good reviews.

Michelle Williams

Although Brokeback Mountain has brought her some real media attention, Williams has been turning in excellent performances for years, and she's not picky about her genres. I first saw her in Dick, running rings around Kirsten Dunst, and she was stunning in the little-seen Imaginary Heroes. I don't think she'll always get top billing in her future career, but she will never be short of work, and her range almost guarantees her longevity.

Cillian Murphy

Yet another actor who made it big in Batman Begins this year, but he's shown himself to be capable of playing a wide variety of difficult roles with great aplomb. Breakfast on Pluto and earlier on, Red Eye, gave him opportunities to steal the screen and really show off his talents. It could well be that he has to spend a few years playing slightly unusual villains, but Murphy has a flexibility and an enthusiasm which casting directors are always on the lookout for.

Maybes

Heath Ledger

Ledger might seem an odd choice considering his performance in Brokeback Mountain, but his career up until then had been decidedly mixed. Ned Kelly was pretty awful, as was The Patriot, and too many of his past roles have been supporting rather than lead. He needs to expand his range a little, avoid naff romantic comedies, and he may well become a proper leading man. The danger is that he puts real acting on hold and tries to rely on his boyish good looks, and that will inevitably lead to a shorter career.

Keira Knightley

Yet another first-time Oscar nominee, this time for Pride & Prejudice. However, even after that performance she needs to avoid being typecast as the "proper" English girl. Bad performances in bad films - Domino and King Arthur - show that at the moment her range is a little too limited, and that while she may not be suited to every role, she shouldn't take something inappropriate just because it's different. She could well prove to be another Kate Winslet and develop huge staying power, but she has to be careful in the next few years, and draw a fine line between avoiding typecasting and taking roles for the sake of it.

Tobey Maguire

Despite the worldwide success of the Spiderman franchise, and even though Maguire is always highly watchable, he cannot continue playing the boyish nice guy into his late 30s and 40s. While he hasn't been typecast as such, he has been given little opportunity to show develop more of a range. Providing he can avoid being niched he should be okay, but the occasional alteration in role cannot hurt. In a way he reminds me of Tom Hanks, who has made a career out of playing the "Everyman" good guy, but the key with Hanks is that his Everymen have varied dramatically.

Scarlett Johansson

Since her excellent performance in Lost in Translation, it could be argued that Johansson has been taking herself a little too seriously. Match Point was very dreary, and suggests she could be in danger of continually being cast as an object of desire. The Island also suggested that she doesn't quite have sufficient box office clout yet. She's a bit of a mystery really, because she could be an asset for decades to come, or she could drift away into obscure territory.

Natalie Portman

Portman has the problem that her best role, and her best performance was when she was 13, in Leon. Since then there has been some pretty mediocre stuff, and aside from the Star Wars prequels, very little to keep her in the public eye. She's a talented actress for sure, Leon and Garden State prove that, but she's in danger of drifting towards smaller and less well know films. V for Vendetta is due out soon, and that could well be an indication of how good her leading lady credentials really are, and if she is capable of picking roles to advance her range and standing.

Goners

Kirsten Dunst

I suspect she is not capable of playing more than the slightly quirky girl-next-door. Really, since Dick she has delivered the same performance in every single film. Experiments with different roles don't seem to work out, and she normally returns to safe fluffy fare like Elizabethtown and Wimbledon. Of course there's nothing wrong with playing the slightly quirky girl-next-door, it's just she can't carry on doing it forever, so it's very much a case of change or die.

Elijah Wood

Between his successful child career, and Lord of the Rings, Wood's filmography is not particularly impressive. I suspect his recent surge in popularity will decrease again over time - already he's back in the sort of supporting roles which could be played by 10 or 15 people other than him. He filled a niche as a child actor, and he was ideal as Frodo, but I just can't see much longevity for him. He will probably drift into much smaller productions, so he'll still be acting, you just won't ever have heard of the films.

Hayden Christensen

Unless things change dramatically, I think he'll succumb to the same fate as Mark Hamill. That's not to say he's a bad actor, his performance in Life as a House was excellent, but at the moment he just doesn't look like classic leading man material. However, if he concentrates on some really good independent roles for a few years, he could well bounce back. The danger is that he'll cash in on his current fame and appear in lazy romantic comedies, and I suspect that would finish him after a while.

Orlando Bloom

With the exception of the Lord of the Rings films, Bloom has not demonstrated any sort of ability which would suggest a long film career. Every vehicle for him has flopped, with much of the blame resting on his shoulders - The Calcium Kid - and he seems incapable of varying his range at all. As with Kirsten Dunst, there's nothing wrong with being the same in every single film, but it limits what is open to him, especially if he continues to apply the same performance to inappropriate roles, like in Troy and Kingdom of Heaven.

Sienna Miller

It could well be the case that Miller disappears from the film world as quickly as she arrived in it. Part of the problem is she has very little to offer that's new, or better than her contemporaries. Layer Cake marks her only semi-decent film choice to date, with Alfie being pretty awful. I await Casanova with interest, but I fear that her role may be one of those playable by countless other actresses. She's got a few years to carve out a decent range, and try a variety of roles, but she mustn't waste them.

© David Mercier
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