Where the kids from your favourite Christmas movies are now – from The Holiday’s Sophie to Cindy Lou from The Grinch
IT’S beginning to look a lot like Christmas on TV – the schedules are packed with festive films.
And with the nights drawing in, it’s never been more tempting to throw on the PJs and binge watch classic Christmas movies.
But have you ever wondered what happened to the little girl from The Holiday or what the little lad from The Santa Claus grew up to be?
Take a look below to find out what the child stars from your favourite Christmas classics are up to today.
Miffy Englefield – The Holiday
Miffy – real name Rebecca Englefield – was just seven when she landed the role of Jude Law’s daughter, Sophie, in The Holiday.
The 2006 movie, set in London, follows romantic connections of eight different people in the run up to Christmas and also starred Cameron Diaz as Jude’s love interest.
Miffy loved the experience of filming, saying the two stars made a huge fuss of her and co-star Emma Pritchard, who played her little sister – even gifting them denim jackets with their names embroidered on the back when the movie wrapped.
But sadly, The Holiday was the last movie the Hampshire-born child star made.
In an interview last year, she told the New York Times she gave up acting because her single dad – who had legal custody of Miffy and her two siblings – was too busy to keep up with auditions and castings.
Miffy is now a punk musician and works as a barista.
“At school, people were a bit funny about the fact that I used to be an actress, but I could go to these gigs and be around people who didn’t care,” she said.
In April, the stunning 21-year-old became a mum herself, when daughter Frankie was born.
Lulu Popplewell – Love Actually
In one of the most iconic scenes from Love Actually, Emma Thompson’s daughter Daisy dresses as a lobster for the school nativity.
The cute freckle-faced kid inside the Christmas crustacean was 12-year-old Lulu Popplewell.
The 2003 film was her last acting role and, 17 years on, Londoner Lulu is a stand up comedian and writer and has mixed feelings about her moment of fame.
“Every Christmas, people still bring Love Actually up to me and I get a bit awkward because I was such a small part in it,” she told Digital Spy.
“It’s become a joke. I clearly peaked age 11 and there aren’t many crustacean-based acting roles going these days – it’s a niche skill.”
But more recently she has slammed the festive favourite, which was written by Richard Curtis and also starred Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon and Alan Rickman.
Speaking on the Almost Famous podcast, the 29-year-old said: “I think it’s a s**t film.
“I think it’s aged badly. All the women in it are sort of passive objects. I think that there was an article describing them as passive objects to be acquired.”
Mara Wilson – Miracle on 34th Street
As a child, Mara had a string of smash movies, including Mrs Doubtfire and Matilda, in which she played the title role.
In 1994, at the age of just seven, she starred as Susan in Miracle on 34th Street, opposite the late Sir Richard Attenborough – who made the perfect Santa.
In an interview on Lorraine, Mara explained: “I never meant to become famous. I grew up in Los Angeles and my childhood was acting, it was almost like a hobby.”
Tragedy struck when mum Suzie died, shortly after Mara finished Matilda, and she says co-star Danny DeVito took her under his wing.
“Danny took the film Matilda and showed it to my dying mother while she was in hospital so she could get the chance to see it,” she says.
“She loved the book and I found that very heartening. I didn’t know that for a while.”
Mara gave up acting for 12 years, in 2000, and later explained: “Film acting is not very fun. Doing the same thing over and over again until, in the director’s eyes, you ‘get it right’, does not allow for very much creative freedom.”
Now 33, she is a writer and in 2016 she released her memoir, Where Am I Now?
She is also a campaigner for mental health issues, having been diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) at 12.
Taylor Momsen – The Grinch
In the classic festive movie, sweet, snub-nosed Cindy-Lou manages to melt the heart of the Christmas-hating Grinch, played by Jim Carrey.
While only seven at the time, Taylor Momsen was already a screen veteran, having started acting at three in a Shake n’ Bake advert.
After the Grinch, she starred as Gretel in Hansel and Gretel and the President’s daughter, in Spy Kids 2, but she narrowly missed out on the role of Hannah Montana, to Miley Cyrus.
She then played Jenny in Gossip Girl before turning her back on acting to concentrate on her band, The Pretty Reckless.
Their debut album Light Me Up was released in 2010 and reached no.6 in the UK charts.
The band release Going To Hell in 2014 and in October 2016 released their third studio album in Who You Selling For.
Their fourth album, Death by Rock and Roll, is set for release in 2021.
In a recent interview, Taylor claimed her childhood was ruined by her career.
“My parents signed me up with Ford [Modeling] at the age of 2,” she said.
“No two-year-old wants to be working, but I had no choice. My whole life, I was in and out of school. I didn’t have friends. I was working constantly and I didn’t have a real life.”
The Santa Clause – Eric Lloyd
The Christmas classic The Santa Clause starred Tim Allen as a divorced dad who accidentally kills Santa and is roped into taking his place the following Christmas.
Eric Lloyd was just eight years old when he starred in the Hollywood hit, but he was already an acting veteran.
In fact his career began at the age of two, when he appeared as a young Fred Savage in episodes of The Wonder Years and he starred in the series Laurie Hill at the age of five.
After his turn in the original movie, Eric – real name David Eric Lloyd Morelli – starred in the TV series Jesse and appeared in a few TV shows before returning to the part of Charlie in the two Santa Clause sequels in 2002 and 2006.
After that he put acting on the back burner, for a new career as a music producer as well as playing with his band, Radiomason.
Now 34, Eric runs a music studio in California with pal Tyler Payne.
Daniel Tay – Elf
Will Ferrell comedy Elf is always top of the family festive list but not much has been seen of Daniel Tay, who played Buddy’s little brother Michael, since its 2003 release.
Then 12, the child actor took a few more roles, including 2007’s Brooklyn Rule with Freddie Prinze Jnr, and some voiceover work for Grand Theft Auto, before turning his back on Hollywood to study economics at Yale University.
He then became a teacher and is now an instructor at Veritas Prep, a consulting company that does test preparation for graduate schools.
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Joseph Cross – Jack Frost
In the Christmas classic, Michael Keaton plays a dad by the name of Jack Frost, who is killed in a car crash on Christmas Eve.
He returns in the shape of a snowman to spend time with his son, Charlie, played by Joseph Cross, who was 12 when the film was released.
The lad went on to have an impressive career on the the big screen, appearing in the Oscar winning films Milk, Lincoln and Running With Scissors.
He also starred as Tom in the TV hit Big Little Lies and is currently working alongside Bradley Cooper on an untitled project with director Paul Thomas Anderson, set for release in 2021.