Editing Child actor (section)

==Issues==
===Ownership of earnings===
In the United States before the 1930s, many child actors never got to see the money they earned because they were not in charge of this money. [[Jackie Coogan]] earned millions of dollars from working as a child actor only to see most of it squandered by his parents. In 1939, California weighed in on this controversy and enacted the [[California Child Actor's Bill|Coogan Bill]], which requires a portion of the earnings of a child to be preserved in a special savings account called a blocked trust.<ref>{{cite web|title=Coogan Act law and definition|url=http://definitions.uslegal.com/c/coogan-act/|publisher=USLegal, Inc.|access-date=April 3, 2014}}</ref> A trust that is not actively monitored can also be problematic, however, as in the case of [[Gary Coleman]], who after working from 1974, later sued his adoptive parents and former business advisor for $3.8&nbsp;million over misappropriation of his trust fund.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://members.tripod.com/~former_child_star/news_1999.html |title=Former Child Star Central |publisher=Members.tripod.com |date=June 29, 1999 |access-date=May 28, 2010}}</ref><ref name="TDG">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-hYxAAAAIBAJ&pg=4011,5595796&dq=gary+coleman&hl=en|title=Gary Coleman awarded $1.3M|date=February 25, 1993|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=[[The Daily Gazette]]|access-date=May 28, 2010}}</ref>

===Competitive pressure===
Some people, such as child psychologists, developmental experts, and journalists, also criticize the parents of child actors for allowing their children to work, believing that more "normal" activities should be the staple during the childhood years.<ref>{{cite web|URL=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2000/nov/22/familyandrelationships.features103|title=Little darlings|last=Wheelwright|first=Julie|date=November 22, 2000|website=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=May 24, 2025|lang=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/in-showbiz-kids-alex-winter-weighs-the-costs-of-child-stardom|title=In “Showbiz Kids,” Alex Winter Weighs the Costs of Child Stardom|last=Pappademas|first=Alex|date=July 20, 2020|website=[[The New Yorker]]|access-date=May 24, 2025|lang=en}}</ref> Other industry advocates observe that competition is present in all areas of a child's life—from sports to student newspaper to orchestra and band—and believe that the work ethic instilled or the talent developed accrues to the child's benefit.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/huge-benefits-child-actor-6726/|title=5 Huge Benefits of Being a Child Actor|date=June 28, 2023|last=Reid|first=Jackie|website=[[Backstage (magazine)|Backstage]]|access-date=May 24, 2025|lang=en}}</ref>

The child actor may experience unique and negative pressures when working under tight production schedules. Large projects which depend for their success on the ability of the child to deliver an effective performance add to the pressure.{{citation needed|date=September 2018}}

[[Ethel Merman]], who several times worked in long-running stage productions with child actors, disliked what she eventually saw as their over-professionalization—"acting more like [[midget]]s than children"—and disapproved of parents pushing adulthood on them.<ref>Caryl Flinn in ’’Brass Diva, the Life and Legends of Ethel Merman’’ ISBN 978-0-520-22942-6 p. 360</ref>