Henry Thomas, forever remembered as Elliott in Steven Spielberg’s 1982 blockbuster E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, said he wasn’t prepared for the fame that followed.
He admitted he “did not handle it very well.”
Speaking on The Hollywood Reporter’s It Happened in Hollywood podcast, the actor looked back at how his life changed overnight after the film’s release.
Thomas was just 10 years old when E.T. hit theaters and became a cultural phenomenon.
Within two weeks of the film’s release, his phone began ringing with offers from agencies that had previously ignored him.
“I wasn’t ready for the fame. I had never even thought about being famous,” he recalled. “The first time someone recognized me, it felt bizarre. And then there was this pressure to follow it up.”
The actor admitted he struggled with the sudden spotlight.
“Not very well,” he said of how he handled the transition. “I stayed in Texas for a long time, which in hindsight probably helped.”
The Oscar-winning film also launched the careers of Drew Barrymore, who played Elliott’s little sister Gertie, and Robert MacNaughton as his older brother Mike. Dee Wallace portrayed their mother, Mary.
Barrymore herself later overcame well-documented struggles with fame, underscoring the challenges child actors often face.
Now 52, Thomas has built a steady career across film and television.
His credits include Legends of the Fall (1994), Gangs of New York (2002), Doctor Sleep (2019), and Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House (2018) and The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020).
Reflecting on his longevity, Thomas said, “I just kept going. There were periods where things were great and periods where it felt like you couldn’t get arrested. You realize eventually it’s all cyclical. You don’t get a rule book. You just keep showing up.”
