Max Records

Max Records vaulted from a whip-smart Portland grade school student to imminent movie star amid a 2009 promotional crescendo for Warner Bros.' much-delayed, much-anticipated film version of "Where the Wild Things Are" (2009). Though Records was a relative unknown, director Spike Jonze and the film's producers selected him in 2006 from a national pool of thousands of young would-be actors vying for the lead in the adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved children's book. With little formal experience or training under his belt, Records showed a natural ease in front of the camera, not to mention - for his age - a sophistication and media-savvy behind it, prompting Jonze to refer to him as a "really special, soulful, sweet kid - sensitive and thoughtful. Just a freak of nature, a nine-year-old who already knows who he is so well."