Top 10 Actors Who Debuted in Christmas Movies

We hope you love learning a little Christmas movie trivia! While we famously love seeing which actors had early roles in horror movies and other genres, there are a few who began their careers in holiday movies. Many of them did so as child actors before becoming full-time actors. How many of these Christmas movie acting debuts are familiar to you? Keep reading for our top 10 list of actors whose first starring role was in a Christmas movie!

1. Kieran Culkin - Home Alone (1990)

[Source: 20th Century Fox/Hughes Entertainment/IMDb]

Kieran Culkin is a younger brother to Macaulay Kulkin, the child actor who starred in Home Alone. (They came from a family of seven kids!) Macaulay already had a few film appearances before his starring role as Kevin, but the young Kieran was only getting started. In Home Alone, Kieran played Fuller, Kevin's youngest cousin, who wore big, round glasses and chugged a Pepsi. He had other roles like Wallace Wells in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Jason "Igby" Slocumb Jr. in Igby Goes Down, and Roman Roy in Succession.

2. Kit Connor - Get Santa (2014)

[Source: Altitude/Scott Free Films/BFI/Screen Yorkshire/Ingenious/IMDb]

Get Santa was Kit Connor's film debut. However, the year before, he had a few minor acting roles in TV shows in 2013. In Get Santa, Kit plays Tom Anderson, the son of a paroled prisoner. While trying to get his life back on track, Tom finds Santa in their garden shed and later insists on visiting Santa in prison. He and his dad end up helping to aid Santa in his prison escape, saving Christmas. His most recognizable role to date is Nick Nelson in Heartstopper, and he had a voice role as Brightbill in The Wild Robot. He's still a young actor, so we can expect to see more from him!

3. Kristin Minter - Home Alone (1990)

[Source: 20th Century Fox/Hughes Entertainment/IMDb]

It's not surprising that it would be the first role for a few young actors in a movie full of kids getting ready to go on a family Christmas trip. Kristin Minter played Heather McCallister, Kevin's oldest cousin. During the movie, she performs the head count before they pile into two vans and leave for the airport, accidentally counting a neighbor child as Kevin because he was rifling through the things they packed in the van. Her next most famous role was as Miranda 'Randi' Fronczak in ER. She has plenty of minor movie and TV roles, and unfortunately, also a Razzie award nomination for her performance in Cool as Ice. (She lost the Worst New Actor award to Vanilla Ice for his role in the same movie.)

4. Monica Keena - While You Were Sleeping (1995)

[Source: Hollywood Pictures/Caravan Pictures/IMDb]

Monica Keena played the youngest member of the Callaghan family in While You Were Sleeping. (You can spot her on the far right in the above image.) She played the title role in A Promise Kept: The Oksana Baiul Story a year prior, which was a made-for-TV film, making While You Were Sleeping her first big screen appearance. Monica continued her acting career with highlights like the starring role in Crime and Punishment in Suburbia and the final girl in Freddy vs. Jason. She has a mixture of other film and television roles, including Bonnie Crasnoff in Grey's Anatomy, which saw her nominated for a Golden Derby Award in 2006.

5. Zack Ward - A Christmas Story (1983)

[Source: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/IMDb]

Can we just say that Zack Ward plays an extremely convincing bully? A Christmas Story had a large cast of kids, including a few first-timers like Zack Ward. He played the neighborhood bully, Scut Farkas, who regularly torments Ralphie and his friends. Zack's most famous role was as Dave Scoville on the dark sitcom Titus. Ironically, one of his minor film roles was also in Freddy vs. Jason with Monica Keena. He has also appeared in movies such as Transformers, Almost Famous, and Anne of Green Gables.

6. Elisabeth Harnois - One Magic Christmas (1985)

[Source: Walt Disney Pictures/Silver Screen Partners II/Telefilm Canada/IMDb]

Elizabeth Harnois was only five years old when she debuted in One Magic Christmas. While the movie fell a little flat, it wasn't enough to hurt her early childhood acting career. In the film, she played Abbie Grainger, a young girl who couldn't understand why her mother was so upset about Christmas that year. Elizabeth had several minor movie and TV acting credits, including characters in Fantastic Max, Boy Meets World, and Strangers with Candy. One of her most iconic roles was as Morgan Brody on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

7. Zach Galligan - Gremlins (1984)

[Source: Warner Bros./Amblin Entertainment/IMDb]

Say what you will about calling Gremlins a Christmas movie, but it is. (And that's final!) Zach Galligan was in one TV movie before he made his silver-screen debut as Billy Peltzer, a boy who gets a Mogwai for Christmas. The actor has continued to make appearances with Gremlins projects, and has been in a number of other movies and TV series, including a number of other horror movies. You can spot him in Waxwork, Infested, and Hatchet III.

8. Matt Doherty - Home Alone (1990)

[Source: 20th Century Fox/Hughes Entertainment/ScreenRant.com]

Several of the McCallister extended family members are in the film but have incredibly brief screen time. Matt Doherty played the role of Steffan McCallister, Who we meet in the Paris airport in one brief scene. He may not have stood out much in his first role, but only a few years later, in 1992, he made a splash as Les Averman in The Mighty Ducks. (That same year, he was also Heed in So I Married an Axe Murderer.) Matt Doherty has continued to have sporadic TV and movie appearances after D3, but he has transitioned into an entertainment writer.

9. R.D. Robb - A Christmas Story (1983)

[Source: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/IMDb]

We triple-dog-dare ya to keep reading! R.D. Robb played Schwartz, one of Ralphie's school friends in A Christmas Story. Famously, he dares Flick to stick his tongue to the flag pole during recess. The actor continued to be in movies like The Brady Bunch Movie and Matilda, with a smattering of minor TV appearances. However, he now does more writing, directing, and producing. He's certainly not the first child actor in this list to do so!

10. Henry Lawfull - A Boy Called Christmas (2021)

[Source: StudioCanal/Blueprint Pictures/Canal+/Ciné+/IMDb]

Who will our next big Christmas movie actors be? Henry Lawfull's first movie role was as the title character, Nikolas, a boy who eventually grows up to be Santa Claus. He has a few more years of acting to do, but he has a few other acting credits and more on the way. The fact that he landed the starring role in his first movie is no small feat, given the same cannot be said for other Christmas movies like Home Alone and A Christmas Story. We'll have to keep an eye on this budding actor!

Honorable Mentions

[Source: Nelson Entertainment/Cineplex Odeon Films/IMDb]

Some people experience acting and ultimately decide that it's not for them. Other times, careers are only starting to blossom. Here are a few honorable mentions for actors who debuted in holiday movies! Prancer actually featured two new actors, Rebecca Reynolds Tickell and John Duda. Rebecca set aside acting to become an environmental activist, and Duda became an educator and founded several nonprofit organizations to help students. Similar to actor Henry Lawfull, Ely Solan is an up-and-coming actor who had a small role in The Man Who Invented Christmas. Finally, Yano Anaya, who played Grover Dill in A Christmas Story, stopped acting to pursue exercise science as an educator. While these actors' careers may have been brief, they're certainly finding many ways to be impactful!

We hope you enjoyed learning about actors who first starred in Christmas movies! How many of these actors are familiar to you? Did we miss any major actors? Let us know in the comments! With your mind turning to Christmas, don't forget to get your Christmas gifts before it's too late!