Child stardom has a complicated reputation. For every story of burnout and lost fortune, there’s a quieter one about a kid who worked hard, kept their head down, and ended up building something genuinely impressive. The gap between those two outcomes is often massive, and the figures involved can be almost hard to believe.
From billion-dollar beauty empires to Oscar-winning careers that started before most people finish elementary school, these nine former child stars have turned early fame into lasting wealth. Here they are, ranked from lowest to highest estimated net worth.
#9 – Haley Joel Osment | Est. Net Worth: $4–12 Million
Haley Joel Osment is synonymous with his role in The Sixth Sense, and at just 11 years old he became one of the youngest Academy Award nominees in history when his chilling performance earned him an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor. He had actually made his acting debut even earlier, appearing in a Pizza Hut commercial at age four, with other early roles including the 1990s sitcom Thunder Alley and a memorable turn as Tom Hanks’s on-screen son in Forrest Gump.
He earned $150,000 for The Sixth Sense, with subsequent roles paying considerably more, including $1 million for Pay It Forward and $2 million for A.I. Artificial Intelligence, bringing his peak earnings during his child actor days to around $5 million. More recent work includes the 2024 movies Drugstore June and Blink Twice, the 2025 TV series Poker Face, and a range of voice acting roles on animated projects including Family Guy and Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures. Net worth estimates for Osment currently range between $4 million and closer to $12 million depending on the source.
#8 – Macaulay Culkin | Est. Net Worth: $25 Million
Macaulay Culkin is one of the most recognizable child stars in Hollywood history, best known for his role as Kevin McCallister in the blockbuster Home Alone films. With his mischievous charm and impeccable comedic timing, he became the highest-paid child actor of his era and a global pop culture icon. He earned a base salary of $4.5 million for Home Alone 2, and in a 2025 interview revealed he also received five percent of the movie’s net profits and fifteen percent of merchandising revenue, with that profits cut alone translating to an additional roughly $16 million.
His net worth is estimated at $25 million as of 2026, with a large portion of that wealth made during his childhood, though he noted in a past interview that he didn’t actually access those funds until he turned 18. In 2025, Culkin kept himself in the public eye by voicing a character in Disney’s Zootopia 2 and playing a recurring part in the second season of Prime Video’s Fallout. He also maintains real estate investments across multiple cities, including a New York City loft he purchased in 1999 for $1.73 million and listed for sale in January 2025 for $7.75 million.
#7 – Frankie Muniz | Est. Net Worth: $30–40 Million
Frankie Muniz is best known for starring in Malcolm in the Middle between 2000 and 2006. He was just 13 years old when he was cast in the breakthrough role, and his performance garnered considerable acclaim, including Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. It’s estimated he earned around $10.5 million as a base salary from the show, and he continues to earn money from syndication deals to this day.
When Malcolm in the Middle ended, Muniz put acting on hold to pursue an unexpected career in race car driving. He signed with Jensen Motorsport in 2005 and competed in the Formula BMW USA series in 2006 and the Champ Car Atlantic series the following year, competing in 32 races for the Atlantic Championship between 2007 and 2009. As of 2025, his estimated net worth sits around $35 million, reflecting success across acting, racing, and business ventures, including a rare smooth financial transition in an industry where child stars often struggle to maintain wealth.
#6 – Jodie Foster | Est. Net Worth: $100 Million
Jodie Foster was just three years old when she started appearing in TV ads, began scoring TV roles at six, made her film debut at nine in Napoleon and Samantha, and at 13 was cast in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, a gritty role that earned her the first of several Oscar nominations. By the time she was 30, Foster had achieved the remarkable feat of winning two Best Actress Academy Awards, the first for The Accused in 1988 and the second for The Silence of the Lambs in 1991.
She was later nominated for her work in the 1994 thriller Nell and the 2023 sports drama Nyad, while also building a parallel career as an acclaimed filmmaker with directing credits including Little Man Tate and Money Monster. Today, Jodie Foster is an actress, director, and producer with an estimated net worth of $100 million. Few careers in Hollywood span as many decades with as much consistent critical recognition.
#5 – Miley Cyrus | Est. Net Worth: $160 Million
Miley Cyrus became a teen sensation through her role in the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana, in which she starred alongside her father, country musician Billy Ray Cyrus. She was just 13 years old when the show first aired in 2006, and the role not only launched her acting career but established her as a musician. When Hannah Montana ended she was 18, and she quickly turned her focus toward establishing herself as a more mature actress, with roles in films like The Last Song.
Today, Cyrus continues to act and make music, though she’s better known for her musical output. Her ninth studio album, Something Beautiful, was released in 2025, and she was set to return for a Hannah Montana 20th anniversary special. Her net worth is estimated at a sizable $160 million. That figure reflects not just decades of hit albums and touring, but a carefully managed personal brand that has reinvented itself several times without losing commercial momentum.
#4 – Justin Timberlake | Est. Net Worth: $250 Million
Justin Timberlake is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer with a net worth of $250 million. He began his career as a child on Star Search and The All-New Mickey Mouse Club before rising to fame as a member of NSYNC and then transitioning to a wildly successful solo music and acting career. At Mickey Mouse Club, he appeared alongside Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera, giving that one show an extraordinary claim on pop culture history.
Timberlake released his first solo album Justified in 2002 and went on to place 19 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including four number one hits. He also found success as an actor, with a diverse filmography that includes The Social Network, In Time, and Friends with Benefits, and today his estimated net worth stands at $250 million. The range of his career, from boy band choreography to Oscar-caliber films, makes his financial story one of the more genuinely varied on this list.
#3 – Leonardo DiCaprio | Est. Net Worth: $300 Million
Leonardo DiCaprio began his acting career as a child, appearing in commercials for brands like Apple Jacks and Kraft Foods. As a teenager, he landed several TV roles in sitcoms such as Roseanne, Parenthood, and Growing Pains, and made his film debut at 17 in the 1991 horror movie Critters 3. His big break came with the 1997 blockbuster Titanic, which catapulted him to global stardom, and since then his most famous roles have included The Wolf of Wall Street, The Departed, and Inception.
Regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time, DiCaprio has received eight Academy Award nominations. From his teen years onward, he contributed to some of the highest-grossing films of all time, ultimately accumulating an estimated fortune of around $300 million. Beyond acting, he is also a well-documented environmental philanthropist, lending his name and resources to conservation causes for decades.
#2 – Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen | Est. Net Worth: $500 Million Each
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen found fame when they starred in the sitcom Full House, where they shared the role of Michelle Tanner from 1987 to 1995. The twins began their careers at just six months old, taking turns to play the character to comply with child labor laws. The teen icons also boosted their early fortune with successful merchandise lines for young girls, including books, posters, school supplies, clothing, and accessories.
In 2006, they co-founded the luxury fashion brand The Row, which today generates between $50 million and $100 million in annual revenue. In September 2024, Mary-Kate and Ashley sold a minority stake in The Row to a group of investors at a $1 billion valuation, a transaction that underscored just how far they had traveled from the Michelle Tanner role they shared as babies. As of 2025, both Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen each hold an estimated net worth of $500 million.
#1 – Selena Gomez | Est. Net Worth: $1.3 Billion
Selena Gomez began her acting career at the age of seven, appearing on Barney & Friends, and her real breakout came in 2007 when she was cast in the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place at just 15. While starring on Disney, she also became the lead singer of Selena Gomez & the Scene, releasing three studio albums with the band, and later launched a solo music career in 2013.
The bulk of her wealth, however, comes from her business ventures. In 2020, she founded the makeup company Rare Beauty, which is now valued at $2 billion. The success of that brand elevated Gomez to billionaire status, with Bloomberg estimating her worth at a stunning $1.3 billion, though Forbes pegs the figure closer to $700 million. She is also married to one of the 21st century’s most successful music producers and songwriters, Benny Blanco, with the pair tying the knot in September 2025. Either way the numbers land, Gomez stands in a category almost entirely her own among former child stars, turning a Disney role into a genuine business empire that has outgrown entertainment entirely.
