March 18, 2025

Child acting is a strange thing. All the expectations of a grown-up job — show up on time and prepared, be agreeable, do as you're told, make money — with all the realities of being Just A Kid. For Mara Wilson, who became a child star after the ’90s classics Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire, it all took a toll and turned her off from the entertainment world for a while. But she remembers Michelle Trachtenberg had a way about her, even as a preteen, that was comforting to witness in another child star: an ability to stay cool and curious at the center of so much attention while also wanting all her peers to feel the same way. It’s how Michelle became beloved by Mara’s friend group — many of that early Nickelodeon and Disney Channel class — and why, in the wake of Trachtenberg's sudden death last month, several of them are reconnecting, reminded that sharing such a surreal experience growing up was a lifeline. And maybe still is. "In retrospect, it feels as though we were the last generations of child actors who were allowed to be kids," Mara writes in this deeply thoughtful remembrance of her childhood friend.
—Dee Lockett, senior editor, New York

By Mara Wilson

Photo: Cinematic/Alamy

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