Stars Who Were Way Too Young Or Old For Their Roles

Pretty Baby caused a lot of controversy during its initial release in 1978. The film follows a group of prostitutes in the New Orleans red-light district in the early 1900s. Shields, who was only 12 at the time of filming, was featured in plenty of sexualized scenes as well as a few nude clips. 

Despite being critically acclaimed, many other Hollywood elites notably were disturbed such a young actress was set to play such adult thematic moments.

Christian Bale has always gripped his audience! Whether it be playing beloved superhero's like "Batman", or cult classics like American Psycho, Bale has proved time and time again that he knows what it takes to make a great actor!

In 1987, Bale played a powerful and disturbing role as "Jamie Graham", a schoolboy navigating through WWII, stuck in a Japanese war camp in China. While the film is considered one of Steven Spielberg's best, Bale was only 12 years old. Despite his incredible performance, themes of war and extreme violence shouldn't be something children are exposed to.

Dakota Fanning has played in more movies than we can count, and without fail does a killer job every time! It came as some surprise, however, that Fanning was cast in 2010's biopic of the famous all-girl band, The Runaways. The movie, of the same name, dealt with sexual themes, as well as drugs and alcohol abuse. 

Despite these mature themes, Fanning was just 16 when she was asked to play "Cherie Currie", the famous frontwoman. While the real Cherie Currie was also 16 when she rose to fame, the film also depicts the rise, and inevitably the fall of life as a rock'n'roll icon in the 70s. The film also details some harsh realities of life with addiction, some would say too mature for a teenage girl. 

Kirsten Dunst has been gracing the big screens for as long as she can remember, and the classic vampire flick, Interview With A Vampire, is arguably one of her most famous films. 

At the time of filming, Dunst was only 11, and the film received some backlash during a scene in which Dunst was made to kiss Brad Pitt, who was 29 at the time. The film also was notoriously called out by Oprah herself, who claimed that the film had too much darkness and gore for her to support, and walked out of the premiere just 15 minutes in! 

Taxi Driver was a huge hit amongst critics and audiences alike, but it may come as a surprise that Jodie Foster starred alongside Robert De Niro in this 1976 classic when she was just 13 years old.

For those that haven't seen the film, the movie is based around a Vietnam war veteran that takes up a job as a taxi driver, when he meets a young prostitute, played by Foster, and feels he must save her from her abusive pimp and help save the city from corruption. 

While some criticized the film for featuring such a young actress with such adult themes, Foster herself told Yahoo! News that it wasn't uncomfortable for her as it was for the viewers, and that she was "really proud" of the work she had done. 

Unlike Jodie Foster, Natalie Portman had different feelings towards her role in the 1994 film Lèon: The Professional. The film featured a young Portman as "Mathilda", a young girl whose parents were killed. She ends up meeting an assassin, "Lèon", who reluctantly takes her under his wing, teaching her his precarious trade.

Portman was only 12 when she was in the role, and recounted her experiences at being sexualized at such a young age, referring to herself as a "Lolita" type figure. The star went on to say in the same podcast with Dax Shepard that this intense sexualization from critics and fans scarred her in life as she was "afraid" to find her own sexuality. 

On the other side of the coin, some stars were over an age limit for their roles! Shirley Henderson notoriously perfected "Moaning Myrtle" and the shrill voice in multiple Harry Potter films.

The actress was nearly 40 when she took on the role, which is quite impressive when you consider the famous whining ghost was only supposed to be 14! 

Ian Somerhalder set the bar way too high for young men everywhere when he took on the role in the teen TV drama series "Damon" in Vampire Diaries. 

While he was supposed to be frozen as a brooding 17-year-old blood-sucker, Somerhalder was actually in his early 30s when he began filming the series. Now 42, Somerhalder is still acting as "Damon".

The iconic film trio that shaped a generation Back to the Future was a huge hit when it initially was released in 1985, and Michael J. Fox was quick to become a teen heartthrob! 

While it may be hard to tell, Fox was actually 29 when he played "Marty", who was supposed to be a high-schooler by the time the third installment hit the theatres. 

In this historic drama, Behind The Candelabra tells the tale of "Scott Thorson", played by Matt Damon, who is a young man that falls in love with a world-renowned pianist. After a whirlwind affair of romance and partying, the pianist takes on other lovers, leaving the young man destitute and riddled with addiction. 

While the themes of the film are definitely adult, the young man is only supposed to be 17, which is surprising considering Damon was 43 when he filmed the movie!