Opinion: I was a child actor. We all share the same wounds.

Opinion: I was a child actor. We all share the same wounds.

From The Times

August 27, 2026

I didn’t know Hayden Panettiere very well at all, the actor Alison Pill writes in Times Opinion. We worked on different sets, for different directors, in different eras. But all child actors bear the same recognizable wounds.

A photo illustration of a child sitting alone on a wood box, surrounded by stage lights. The setting is otherwise a featureless white.

Photo Illustration by The New York Times

Opinion

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