The hardest working teen movie stars

As Dakota Fanning turns 18, we look at the hard-working teen stars who already have more money in the bank than we'll earn in our entire lifetime. These eight young actors have more credits to their name than most adult A-listers – proof that if you want to be a star these days, you have to start early. Anyway, happy birthday Dakota! The card we sent must have got lost in the post...

Birthday girl... Dakota Fanning

Dakota Fanning
Age: 18
IMDB credits: 46

Dakota Fanning seems like she's been around forever – she made her first screen appearance in 'ER' aged six, which means she's been in showbiz for 12 years: that's two-thirds of her entire life to date. Fanning the elder (little sis Elle is already playing catch-up) first made her mark in Sean Penn's weepie 'I Am Sam', giving the glum star a run for his money in the 'playing up to the camera' stakes, but she's perhaps best-known for Steven Spielberg's 'War Of The Worlds' – or, more accurately, for being the most annoying thing in it. She's taken great strides towards womanhood in recent years, playing a jailbait rock star in 'The Runaways' and a cancer patient looking for love in this year's 'Now Is Good'.

Estimated box office earnings: £720m


[Related story: Recognise this child star?]

Chloë Grace Moretz
Age: 15
IMDB credits: 41

Still not old enough to drive, Chloë has nonetheless forged an impressive career in film thus far. Her first big movie role was opposite Ryan Reynolds in remake 'The Amityville Horror', but Moretz has made a habit of appearing in only credible and entertaining projects ever since. She dispensed wisdom beyond her years in '(500) Days Of Summer', was the best thing in vampire thriller 'Let Me In' and gave the Daily Mail's film critic a heart attack upon uttering the 'C' word in gore-drenched vigilante epic 'Kick-Ass' – not many 15-year-olds get to play so many badasses. Bouncing between visionary directors like Martin Scorsese and Tim Burton, Chloë has bags of talent and potential – somehow you can't see her going the way of the Lohan.

Estimated box-office earnings: £250m

Captain's Log.... Jimmy Bennett as James T. Kirk in the latest Star Trek film

Jimmy Bennett
Age: 16
IMDB credits: 40

As a young James T Kirk he slammed a Corvette off a cliff to the sounds of The Beastie Boys, but little Jimmy Bennett had already built up an impressive resume before Uncle JJ came calling. He lent his pipes to Robert Zemeckis' freaky Christmas animation 'The Polar Express' and has played opposite Harrison Ford in cyber-thriller 'Firewall' and Bruce Willis in negotiation drama 'Hostage' (his role in 'Anchorman' was cut out the year before). After playing mini-Kirk in 'Star Trek', Jimmy went on to play happy families in 'Evan Almighty' and not-so-happy families in horror thriller 'Orphan'. He's one of approximately one billion megastars appearing in comedy compilation 'Movie 43'. With 40 credits by the age of 16, we're going to go ahead and assume he's completely knackered.

Estimated box-office earnings: £978m

Josh Hutcherson
Age: 19
IMDB credits: 33

With 'The Hunger Games' plastering his face on billboards and bus stops worldwide, Josh Hutcherson is about to go nuclear, but there's no doubt his success is deserved. Still at that awkward age where he's not quite lost his baby face, Hutcherson has a CV that contains a mix of family-friendly flicks like the 'Journey' movies and indie dramas like 'The Kids Are All Right'. He's been shouldering movies since he was knee high, with strong turns in the likes of New York love story 'Little Manhattan' (as a pre-teen Woody Allen, minus the weirdness that implies) and heart-wrencher 'Bridge To Terabithia'. And if you ever doubted his commitment to landing the big roles, he even shot his very own audition tape for 'The Amazing Spider-Man' with his own money.

Estimated box-office earnings: £304m

Little Miss Sunshine.... A young Abigail Breslin

Abigail Breslin
Age: 15
IMDB credits: 31

Cute-as-a-button Breslin was first seen in M Night Shyamalan's alien invasion 'Signs' as Mel Gibson's daughter, but while those guys' careers have, er, faltered somewhat in recent years, Abigail just goes from strength to strength. She was a ray of light in 'Little Miss Sunshine', pulling off some age-inappropriate dance moves in the indie smash of 2006, before journeying to 'Nim's Island' with Jodie Foster, who could have taught her a thing or two about coping with fame at such a young age. Less adorable roles in 'Zombieland' and 'My Sister's Keeper' showed a little maturity, as did a worrying flash of her bra in 'New Year's Eve'. The Bres won't stop working until she's earned over a billion at the box-office – she has no less than four movies out this year and sci-fi epic 'Ender's Game' due in 2013. Mel Gibson would kill for that sort of coverage.

Estimated box-office earnings: £601m

Selena Gomez
Age: 19
IMDB credits: 22

Though she waves goodbye to her teenage years in July, young star Selena Gomez already has a career most full-grown actresses can only dream of. The lady who could one day be Mrs Justin Bieber (squeal!) toiled for five years in TV fantasy ‘Wizards Of Waverly Place’, churning out no less than 106 episodes of glittery tween fluff. That set her in good stead for a movie career: you may not have seen ‘Ramona & Beezus’ or ‘Monte Carlo’, but then, you're not a teenage girl (go ahead guys, prove us wrong). Harmony Korine's 'Spring Breakers' is Selena's next big project, playing a bikini-clad thief alongside fellow teen stars Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson – it'll surely evaporate her last remaining ounce of childlike innocence.

Estimated box-office earnings: £31m

Miley Cyrus
Age: 19
IMDB credits: 21

Born Destiny Hope Cyrus, it seemed written in the stars that li'l Miley would become a star – her country singer dad Billy Ray's achy-breaky work ethic probably helped a little too. Miley has less than half the IMDB credits of our Dakota, but she was a fully-fledged TV star as alter-ego 'Hannah Montana', with 99 episodes under her belt – all that warbling would be enough to turn her to drink (if she was old enough). Miley's all about the movies these days, flashing her gums in soppy fare like 'The Last Song' (why yes, the poster does feature a sunset on the beach) and the forthcoming 'LOL', which probably doesn't have as much net lingo as you think, given that's her character's name.

Estimated box-office earnings: £203m

Anna-Sophia Robb
Age: 18
IMDB credits: 18

So busy she's got two first names, AnnaSophia might have fewer credits than some of her teenage colleagues, but she's worked almost exclusively in movies since she wore velour as Violet Beauregarde in Tim Burton's 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory' remake. 'Bridge To Terabithia' cemented her teen star status, pairing her with Josh Hutcherson, while Doug Liman cast her as the young Rachel Bilson in 'Jumper', which didn't do her career any harm (even if it didn't set the box-office alight). Last year's surprise hit 'Soul Surfer' saw Robb play a one-armed surf chick with attitude – we can only assume Candace Bushnell liked her moxie, because she cast the young star to play the lead in the 'Sex and the City' TV prequel, 'The Carrie Diaries'. Here's hoping she doesn't go the way of Sarah Jessica Parker and exclusively work in atrocious romantic comedies that make you want to drown things.