Photo of A-list celebrities as kids resurfaces and leaves everyone asking same thing
They say a picture tells a thousand words, but in some cases all it says is 'wow, you can really tell that's Ryan Gosling'.
A photo of a bunch of famous faces back when they were kids has been doing the rounds on the internet as it showed four youngsters at a time when they were on the Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club.
Running for a little while in the mid 90s, some very famous folks managed to get on there before going on to do the thing everybody knew them for.
Take a look at the picture and see if you can recognise who this bunch are, though we've already told you one of them is Ryan Gosling and you don't need to have seen Project Hail Mary to tell it's obviously the kid in the middle.
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Sitting either side of him are Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake - who, as we all know, went on to date and become the 'it' couple of the late 1990s - but the identity of the kid lying across their laps might be a bit harder to figure out.
He's a guy called TJ Fantini, who never managed to carve out the sort of A-list career as the other people on the sofa.
On the other hand he's never had the 'this is going to ruin the tour, what tour, the world tour' exchange with police officers that Timberlake had, so perhaps it's for the best.
While plenty who saw the photo on social media puzzled over who Fantini was, someone was able to sum it up pretty well.
"Retired from acting," they clarified. "Today he's a council member in the state of Washington and continues to do music now as a hobby."
Not everyone who gets to be on TV and rub shoulders with the future famous goes onto that showbiz lifestyle themselves, but in his social media activity, he seems pretty happy with his family, so all seems well.
Being a celebrity isn't for everyone and there are plenty of people who did get involved in that life who decided they were better off walking away from it all and living life away from the public eye.
Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin is back on screens in the likes of Fallout, but for a while there he took a break from showbusiness after becoming one of the biggest child stars in the world.
Meanwhile, comedian and actor Pete Davidson has told Vanity Fair he's possibly looking for an exit from a life of stardom and seeking a venture to settle himself down in.
For now, that appears to be socks.
Former celebrities who said goodbye to a life of fame
Erik Per Sullivan
Best known as Dewey in the iconic sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, Per Sullivan left acting for good in 2010, and he now spends his time in the world of academia studying for a Master's degree in Victorian Literature at Harvard University.
He even turned down 'buckets of money' for the Malcolm in the Middle reboot alongside his former co-stars, such as Bryan Cranston and Frankie Muniz, which released earlier this month.
Peter Ostrum
Any Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory fans will know Ostrum for his role as Charlie in the 1971 classic alongside the late Gene Wilder.
Despite the film going on to be a huge success, Ostrum never acted again and went on to live a relatively normal life as a dairy veterinarian.
"Acting was fine, but I wanted something more steady," he said, per Metro. "The key is to find something you love doing, and that’s what I got."
Jennifer Stone
The actress who played Harper in Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place took a step back from the spotlight in 2019, and is now a registered nurse who made headlines during the Covid-19 lockdown when she announced she was 'joining the front lines'.
She said on Instagram at the time: "A very good friend of mine...pointed out to me that today is #worldhealthday. It is also the day I went from a volunteer, then a student nurse, and now an RN resident.
"I just hope to live up to all of the amazing healthcare providers on the front lines now as I get ready to join them."
Mara Wilson
The Matilda actress was one of the most prominent child stars of the 1990s, with her landing roles in other hit films such as Mrs. Doubtfire and Miracle on 34th Street.
However, she left acting as a teenager to instead focus on writing.
In 2016, she told NPR: "There wasn't like one big moment where I knew I was done. The rejection hurt because it had been just such a prominent part of my life for so long.
"It had been the thing that defined me... that's when I started focusing more on writing. Writing I'd always loved."
Topics: Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Disney, Celebrity, Viral
Joe Harker