THE LITTLE STARS MAKING IT BIG

LOS ANGELES: From sci-fi horror series Stranger Things to drama Big Little Lies and sitcom blackish, one notable feature of many contenders for this weekend’s Emmy Awards is that they star children.

Netflix’s Stranger Things is up for five Emmy Awards, including for its 13-year-old star Millie Bobby Brown.

Unlike the elaborate riders sometimes specified by their adult counterparts, these pintsized thespians have more mundane requirements — time for homework, regular breaks and the odd afternoon nap.

“They are not trained actors like adults, but the kids that get the roles have an inherent ability,” said casting director Amanda Lenker Doyle, who worked on MacRay said.

He said he would turn a young actor away — even a kid with clear talent — if the parents didn’t give off the right vibe.

Another challenge in working with actors who are far from fully mentally developed is getting them to access and express the full range of emotions that they might not yet have experienced in real life.

A successful series director, who asked to remain anonymous, remembered having filmed with a boy for the role of “a 6 year old who has lost his mother and is living with a father who can’t come to terms with his wife’s death”.

Child actors have to learn to keep their feet on the ground amid the sudden glare of the media spotlight and unimaginable wages, which isn’t easy if they have pushy parents trying to live vicariously through their offspring.

For every Leonardo DiCaprio or Natalie Portman who transitions successfully from child star to adult actor, there is a Lindsay Lohan or Macaulay Culkin, who cracks under pressure or just falls by the wayside.

“It’s about the parents, managers, etc. being in tune... they need grounding in the family.

“The teens I work with are very reasonable,” said

MacRay.