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What is the longest running TV role for an actor who started in the role as a child (regardless of their age at the end of their role)?

I'm especially interested in those that were part of the main cast and/or appeared in the majority of episodes rather than an occasional recurring role.

Dennis Williamson
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  • As an example of the level of participation, do you mean like the girls from Full House... where they were in every (or nearly every) episode over the 8 seasons the show was on? Also, do you want to limit this in any way? Particular type of show, country, etc? – Catija Mar 03 '16 at 23:42
  • @Catija: That's the level of participation I tried to indicate in the wording of my question. I'm primarily interested in US shows which have scripted stories regardless of genre (so - less interested in variety shows, as an example). – Dennis Williamson Mar 03 '16 at 23:51
  • I expect a Coronation Street baby is going to be the winner here. Decades of tenure are not unusual – Kate Gregory Mar 04 '16 at 00:51
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    I think people need to remember we're looking for the longest running TV role, not examples of long running TV roles. Let the hunt commence! – Andrew Martin Mar 04 '16 at 08:59
  • @AndrewMartin considering regardless of their age at the end of their role OP is not limiting it to just currently airing roles... – cde Mar 04 '16 at 09:23
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    @cde: You're misunderstanding me. We don't just want a list of people who have played long roles. We want the longest running TV role. Currently, that's 31 years and counting. So if you can't beat that, don't post it. Otherwise this is just a trivia list question. – Andrew Martin Mar 04 '16 at 09:36
  • Considering Kate Gregory's comment on Fruitbat's answer, what's the age cut off for starting the role to be considered a child actor? – Anthony Grist Mar 04 '16 at 13:51
  • Why is this "trivia"? We get this type of question all the time... this is a perfectly acceptable format for questions. – Catija Mar 04 '16 at 19:45
  • @Catija: I assume that Andrew Martin meant that enumerating a list would make it a trivia question, not that asking for the (single) longest one would. – Dennis Williamson Mar 04 '16 at 23:07
  • I'm not talking about Andrew (I think... since I don't think he generally sees this as "trivia")... someone voted to close this question as "trivia"... which I don't agree with. I can't see who VTC until the question gets closed, though, so I don't know who it was. – Catija Mar 04 '16 at 23:09
  • @Catija: Oh, sorry. I don't have enough rep on this site to see pending closes. I just saw the word "trivia" in his comment. – Dennis Williamson Mar 04 '16 at 23:21
  • No worries :D I figured that was the case... and I didn't look at your user page to see that you certainly have the rep on SO to understand what I meant if I used less precise language than I did... – Catija Mar 04 '16 at 23:23
  • @Catija This question seems like the very definition of trivia. There's no reason to want to know the answer other than knowing the answer. That's still a perfectly valid question though, and they're usually some of the more interesting ones. – Anthony Grist Mar 06 '16 at 09:05
  • I'm not making this an official answer since it's only 2 episodes, but some kind of honorable mention should go to Bill Mumy for playing the creepy kid in It's a Good Life (original Twilight Zone) and then the same character in It's Still a Good Life (2000's Twilight Zone). Going by IMDB's dates, the episodes originally aired more than 41 years apart, and he was 7 years old in the first one. –  Mar 10 '16 at 02:39

7 Answers7

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Adam Woodyatt was part of the original cast of Eastenders.

He was born in June 1968 and Eastenders started in February 1985 when he would have been 16.

It's still running and he's still in it, so 31 years and counting...

Fruitbat
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  • I considered a few who started at 16 but decided that wasn't really a child actor. It's rare for children to stay in a role for as long as an adult might. – Kate Gregory Mar 04 '16 at 13:35
  • @KateGregory Agreed. I thought about that but considered it was worth answering anyway. Open to interpretation: "age of consent", "age of majority" etc. FWIW I remember the first episode and Ian Beale was very much the schoolboy Episode1 – Fruitbat Mar 04 '16 at 14:14
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Jack P Shepard has been playing David Platt on Coronation Street since 2000. He would thus have been 12 when he started and it's been 16 years so far. He has appeared in 1348 episodes in those 16 years.

Kate Gregory
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The Olsen Twins played Michelle Tanner for the full run of Full House. They started at 9 Months old in 1987 until the series end in 1995, making them 8~9 years old at the time. 8 years of a continuously shared role.

As @Catija smartly points out, Stephanie/Jodie Sweetin, D.J./Candace Cameron Bure, Kimmy/Andrea Barber were also children at casting and are in all 8 seasons. If we count Fuller House, thats another 2 seasons (2nd just announced).

cde
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    ... you know this is true of all three (four) of the kids, right? All of the girls were in every episode. – Catija Mar 06 '16 at 00:59
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Sally Fletcher from Home and Away played by Kate Ritchie lasted a good 20 years; from 1988 - 2008. Kate started this role when she was 10 years old.

However Kate reprised her role as Sally for one season in 2013 making it her role for 25 years. Altogether she has appeared in 1775[1] episodes.

It should be noted that the show is still ongoing, and the character may return at any stage.

Möoz
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  • How old was she when she started in the role? – Kate Gregory Mar 08 '16 at 00:55
  • She was 10 years old when she started on the role. She played the role until she was 35 years old. She is currently (in 2016) 37 years old. Now I'm done being rude and talking about a woman's age. :) – Möoz Apr 12 '16 at 03:16
  • Wow Home and Away has seasons? I thought it was just one continuous flow of episodes... – komodosp Nov 11 '22 at 09:23
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Kimberly McCullough for her role on General Hospital. She first made an appearance as the character Robin Scorpio in 1985, when she was 7.

She has played the character as both a full-time and part-time member of the cast since then. Her last appearance was this year in 2016, making that 31 years playing the same character.

Taryn
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Moritz A. Sachs (born 1978) has been playing the character "Klaus Beimer" in the German TV series "Lindenstrasse" since it started in 1985.

  • Even if he's still performing in this role today (I don't speak German, so I can't tell from the Wikipedia article)... this still isn't longer than the current top answer of 40 years. – Catija Mar 06 '16 at 00:58
  • Right. That should probably have been a comment as honorable mention ( he is still performing today, so maybe he will catch up eventually). –  Mar 06 '16 at 08:55
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It depends how you define longest running child actor. One accepted method is to stop that timing at age 16, then the child becomes an actor, not a child actor. Warren Jackson (Coronation Street: Nicky Tilsley) 1981-1996: Longest UK child actor. Annelise Manojlovic (Emmerdale: Gabby Thomas) 2001-2015: 2nd Longest UK child actor/ Longest Emmerdale child actor. Obviously there have been others who have acted longer, but they are no longer considered child actors and none have CHILD runs that lasted as long as the 2 actors named above (AFAIK: post source if you know otherwise).

Alex Manojlovic
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