Aileen Quinn hadn’t even turned a teenager before she became a superstar. The Pennsylvania native made her first appearance in the movies in 1982, as she got the role of Annie in the film of the same name. Quinn became a star overnight, and even her best friends began asking for her autograph.
The young girl got herself a multi-year contract, appearing in several other productions while becoming a teenager. However, she left the spotlight soon after and didn’t return for many years.
So what really happened to Aileen Quinn, and how did the work on Annie change her life? This is all you need to know about Aileen – and what she looks like today at age 51.
Many youngsters dream about a career in the film business and becoming a movie star. However, for today’s famous actors, that breakthrough might not happen until later, while some hits the jackpot with their first-ever role.
Becoming a child star means giving up on many things that define childhood. Depending on what project you are working on, you might miss a lot of time in school and have a hard time even going out in public.
The likes of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen became superstars through Full House and later created their own business empire. And like the famous twins, there are many other examples of child stars being able to transition into an adult world and making it, while others crash and go down a very rough path.
But there are also child stars that got the part of a lifetime, became famous worldwide and disappeared from the spotlight forever. One of those was Aileen Quinn, the young girl who became a superstar through her performance in the 1982 film Annie.
With her iconic hair and performance, Quinn was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards. But even though rumors of a sequel were circulating, nothing happened with either a second Annie film – or her career.
In fact, Aileen Quinn decided to leave the spotlight for a long time. She still continued to devote much of her life to singing, dancing, and acting – but her performance in Annie will always be cherished among film lovers worldwide.
So what did really happen? This is all you need to know about Aileen Quinn’s life – and what she is up to today.
Aileen Quinn was born in Yardley, Pennsylvania, on June 28, 1971. At age four, she found her passion in tap and ballet, as she started dancing at the Kneeceht Ballet Academy in Levittown, New York.
Moreover, she also enjoyed acting. At a young age, Aileen performed in both local theater productions and school plays.
“I don’t really know why [I started dancing],” she told the New York Times in 1982. “When I was little, didn’t you want me to have lessons, Mom?”
Aileen’s mother, Helenann Quinn, also had a background in acting, so maybe it wasn’t that strange that the passion – and talent – was passed down to her daughter. Helenann performed in summer stock theater as well as the United Service Organizations (NSO) troupes and national tours.
As she saw her mother perform in the theater, Aileen begged her mother so she could also audition to get parts of her own. Finally, her dream became a reality.
“I started off in regional theater, and commercials as well. I was simultaneously doing some regional theater, then the commercials came in. some national spots,” Aileen Quinn told Fox. “Northern Bathroom Tissue, Jell-O, all that stuff, and then the Broadway show came right as the commercials were starting. Then I started auditioning for the movie Annie as I was doing the Broadway show. So, between the ages of 7 and 10, it kind of moved pretty fast, actually.”
Aileen got her first part in the 1981 film Paternity, starring alongside Burt Reynolds. The Broadway show she mentioned above was, funny enough, Annie, where she starred as a “swing orphan.” That means she was trained to play any of the orphans in the show except Annie herself. But that was about to change very soon.
As the audition for Annie was about to start, Aileen Quinn saw her significant chance in pursuing her acting career in front of the screen.
However, it wasn’t going to be an easy ride. In a 2012 interview, Quinn recalled that 8,000 girls were trying out for the role of Annie. Not only were they from the United States, but as she recalled, there were girls from Canada and even England auditioning.
“For me, it was a long process. When you’re a kid, you don’t think about it, but I believe it was over eight months, and I had eight auditions. I just kept going back,” she said.
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