Many child stars never see a career as adults, and those who do often struggle to cope with the pressures of stardom. To add insult to injury, fame can be fleeting for a child star. One day you’re on the big screen, and the next you’re struggling to pay the rent. These 10 Kens were famous as kids and, thankfully, lived to tell the tale.
- Ken Osmond – Everyone knows him as Eddie Haskell from the 50s comedy Leave It to Beaver, but what few know is that Ken Osmond was acting from the age of four. After a series of roles in TV and film, a 14-year-old Osmond landed the role in Leave it to Beaver. It is this role he is most remembered for, but it was also a role that would lead to him being typecast for the rest of his career.
- Ken Roczen – This teenage BMX and dirt bike rider hails from Germany, and is one of the youngest riders ever to earn a place in the Red Bull Motor Sports competition. He is a highly motivated and talented rider, which has earned him numerous podium spots in the sport. Ken’s dream is simply to dominate the sport and continue to win races.
- Ken Amada – Persona 3 is a highly popular role playing game that surrounds the lives of high-school students who battle monsters known as shadows. Ken Amada is one of the central characters, capable of taking on two personas – Nemesis and Kala-Nemi. The game series is set during the year 2009 in a fictitious Japanese city.
- Kenny Loggins – As a world class soft rock and country star, Kenny Loggins has been in the limelight for a lot longer than even some big fans realize. Shortly after graduating from high school, Loggins’s first band, Second Helping, enjoyed some success. They released three singles under the record label Viva Records.
- Kenneth Anger – A Hollywood child, Ken Anger featured in a number of films in his younger years. However, Anger was more suited to a role behind the camera, which eventually led him to the director’s chair. Due to their graphic nature, his movies did not go over well with American audiences. He later went on to write a series of successful books on “the real” Hollywood, entitled Hollywood Babylon.
- Elton John – Not only was Reginald Kenneth Dwight an exceptional piano player by the age of four, he formed his first successful band by the time he had turned 14. That band was the Corvettes, which was later renamed Bluesology. By 1961, the band was playing alongside greats like Ray Charles.
- Ken Baumann – He hasn’t even reached the age of 25, and already Ken Baumann has carved out a career as both an actor and a director. He has been acting since the age of 11, however, his most famous role is that of Ben Boykewich in The Secret Life of the American Teenager. These days, Ben is now in his 20s, although he still plays a teen on the show.
- Kenneth Leslie – Born in 1892, Kenneth Leslie became a child prodigy by the time he was 14. He was proficient in playing both the violin and piano, his talent for poetry was apparent, and he was soon recognized by prominent schools in his home country of Canada. Amazingly, Leslie also attended the Dalhousie University in Halifax at 14. In the 1930s, Kenneth was a prominent political activist in the United States, but he had a troubled personal life and racked up four failed marriages by the late 1950s, when his fourth wife left him for his own nephew.
- Ken Doll – The eternal teenager, Ken Carson is the long-time significant other of the popular doll, Barbie. Ken has had a colorful life, taking on the roles of pirate, disco dancer, businessman and much more. The popular couple has gone through a number of changes throughout the years, but Ken has always managed to maintain his perfectly chiseled features and cheeky smile.
- Ken Park – Despite being the titular character of the film Ken Park, Ken Park meets a grisly end by suicide in the opening scenes of this teenage buddy flick. The movie centers on the lives of Ken’s three friends as they struggle to cope with his death. Ken Park is a dark, erotic drama, which attempts to deal with various subplots in the lives of the teenage friends.
