Actors you didn’t know were in holiday films as kids

Yes, that little girl in the live-action version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas grew up to play Jenny in Gossip Girl. Yes, many people know this fact, but there’s always someone out there who doesn’t, and we feel it’s our civic duty to educate people on this important bit of Christmas trivia. 

Abigail Breslin was in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause in 2006, but people forget about it because everyone was focused on her performance in Little Miss Sunshine that same year. Why an Oscar-nominated performance overshadowed her work as an elf in the third installment of a Christmas series is something we will never understand. 

Macaulay wasn’t the only Culkin in Home Alone. His brother Kieran, of Succession fame, was in the film. Kieran played Fuller, the youngest of Kevin’s cousins who infamously wet the bed when he drank too much soda. He joined the cast for the second film, too. 

Mara Wilson’s childhood acting resume is unreal. Not only was she in the remake of Miracle on 34th Street, Wilson played the eponymous role in Matilda and had a part in Mrs. Doubtfire. 

Skyler Gisondo played one of Tim McGraw’s kids in Four Christmases. Now you’ll recognize him from recent films like Licorice Pizza and Booksmart, as well as the HBO dark comedy series The Righteous Gemstones with John Goodman and Danny McBride. 

It’s quite possible you only know about this movie from watching the "25 Days of Christmas" on ABC Family as a kid, but no matter how you came to know about it, you’re probably happy that you did. It features Tyler James Williams at the start of his Everybody Hates Chris fame and well before his Abbott Elementary fame. 

If someone asked you to name the actor who played Russ in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, you probably wouldn’t guess Johnny Galecki. But when it’s pointed out to you, it feels like something you should’ve guessed. 

Johnny Galecki wasn’t just in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation as a kid. He was also in Prancer. One of them has become much more of a perennial favorite than the other, but how many actors can say they were in two Christmas movies as kids? Not many. 

Yes, that sweet little face in the original Miracle on 34th Street was Natalie Wood, best known for her work as Maria in the original West Side Story. Unfortunately, her career came to an untimely end after her tragic and mysterious death. 

Drew Barrymore has the energy of someone who was in a Christmas film as a child. The actor-turned-daytime-TV-host was in the 1986 remake of Babes in Toyland. We would totally watch Barrymore star in a Christmas film as an adult. 

If you don’t count Home Alone 3 as an official Home Alone movie, you’re not alone. We don’t accept versions without Macaulay Culkin, but we do give the third installment of the series a little more credit because Scarlett Johansson was in it. 

China Anne McClain was in A Dennis the Menace Christmas even before she was on Disney. Critics didn’t even take the time to rate this film, and audiences weren’t fans of it, but it clearly didn’t negatively affect McClain’s career. 

The adorably scrawny kid in Love Actually who reminded the adults and all the audience members that you can fall in love at any age grew up to play Newt in the Maze Runner films. Thomas Brodie-Sangster also acted alongside another performer with a hyphenated name, Anya Taylor-Joy, in the Netflix original miniseries The Queen’s Gambit. 

We get so caught up on Christmas films that we forget there are also Hanukkah movies. Adam Sandler made one in the early 2000s called Eight Crazy Nights, and he cast Cole Sprouse and Dylan Sprouse, whom he had worked with a few years prior on Big Daddy. 

Tom Hanks wasn’t the only actor voicing characters on The Polar Express. Josh Hutcherson lent his voice to the project, too. Hutcherson went on to star as Peeta in The Hunger Games, and recently, he was in the film adaptation of the popular video game Five Nights at Freddy’s. 

Daryl Sabara was in The Polar Express, as well. A lot of his acting work as an adult has been in voice-over, but he’ll forever be known for his role as Juni Cortez in the Spy Kids franchise. 

Yes, Mila Kunis was in a Christmas movie. You probably didn’t know because you probably haven’t seen it. You probably haven’t even heard of it. Santa With Muscles was not a successful film, and from the title alone, you can see why. 

We all remember Jonathan Taylor Thomas in I’ll Be Home for Christmas, but Jessica Biel was in this film, too. The actor had just started her tenure on 7th Heaven when she joined the cast, and for many, this film is a yearly rewatch. 

If you look closely, you’ll notice a young Victoria Justice in the film Silver Bells . Why Anne Heche and Tate Donovan were in a Hallmark movie in 2005 is unclear, but it’s hard to fault Justice for taking the role as a child actor. 

Shia LaBeouf’s filmography is rich and deep, so it should come as no surprise that he was once in a Christmas movie. That being said, The Christmas Path was not a big hit, and if you wanted to watch it today, you would have one heck of a time tracking it down. You may need to purchase a VCR.