Decades TV was showing ‘Family Affair’ this morning. Its a fun enough TV show to have on in the background. But the favorite work of Johnny Whitaker’s for me has always been his portrayal of Tom Sawyer! Because of reruns I had it in my head Johnny was younger than me, but it turns out we’re the exact same age. His bio page at IMDB provides the usual shocking (and heartwarming) tidbits.

He mentions in there that while he was greatly saddened by co-star Anissa Jone’s (TV sister ‘Buffy’) overdose death, he wasn’t all that surprised given her family life. He being raised a Mormon had a much stricter childhood. Which is ironic as it wasn’t until 1997 that it says he got clean from a drug addiction.

Likely because of his own bumps along the way as a child star, he has ‘paid it back’ with a group called “Young Performer’s Committee” to help prepare the child actors that came after him for what they might face in their own lives. Others like his co-star from Tom Sawyer, Jodi Foster seemed to come through the child star meat grinder relatively unscathed. Johnny also starred with her the year before in ‘Napoleon and Samantha‘.