Jacob Tremblay, the former child actor, has reached adulthood.
When the 17-year-old actor appeared drastically different on the red carpet at the Little Mermaid premiere, viewers were left in a state of shock.
The Canadian celebrity, who is originally from Vancouver, began his career at a young age by starring in numerous commercials. At the age of seven, he made his big screen debut in The Smurfs 2.
Subsequently, he starred in several critically praised films, such as Room (2015) with Brie Larson and Wonder (2017) starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson. Most recently, he provided the voice of Flounder in the upcoming live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid.
But many were astounded by how much the 16-year-old had grown since making his debut as a toddler when he showed up at an event on Monday to celebrate the new Disney movie.
When someone posted a side-by-side picture of Jacob as a child and now, the internet went crazy over his remarkable age transition.
The actor was pictured this month at the premiere of The Little Mermaid, and another image was tweeted by Twitter user @mmdisney200 two years ago. The images instantly went viral, receiving hundreds of likes, retweets, and reactions from people who were shocked by his dramatic transformation.
“This tweet needs a trigger warning,” one person joked, while another asked, “Why can’t time just walk like a normal person?”
“I can’t believe this is the same boy from Room,” someone else said. A fourth comment read, “I remember when he was a baby. He looks like a little man now.”
“I’m officially old,” another user commented.
Another shocked person posted, “Now I understand parents when they say kids grow up so fast.”
“I thought he was going to stay like that forever, I don’t know why,” admitted someone else.
On October 5, 2006, Jacob was born into a family consisting of a homemaker and a police investigator.
At the age of seven, he had cameo appearances in the television series Motive and Mr. Young, which were among his first roles. Following that, he was cast as Blue Winslow in The Smurfs 2.
In addition, he starred in the psychological thriller Shut In (starring with Naomi Watts), the horror film Before I Wake, the comedy series The Last Man on Earth, the drama The Book of Henry, and the 2019 comedy Good Boys.
In the scary prequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep, he also made a brief appearance as one of the victims.
Later, director Mike Flanagan acknowledged that he found it challenging to represent the film’s depiction of a child’s murder, referring to it as “one of the hardest scenes he’s ever had to work on in a movie.”
“The problem is that Jacob Tremblay is so damn good,” he told the Los Angeles Times, complimenting Jacob’s performance nonstop.
“It’s just Jacob’s face, holy crap does he sell it. His performance is horrifying to the point that Rebecca [Ferguson] was speechless trying to act with him. She was crying while trying to do the scene with him. It traumatized us.”
Jacob also provided the voice of the title character in Disney Pixar’s Luca and Robin in DC’s animated series Harley Quinn. In the pop sensation’s Lonely music video, he also played a younger version of Justin Bieber.
Thanks to his remarkable acting abilities and endearing and feisty nature, Jacob won the hearts of millions of people worldwide almost immediately.
He soon amassed an incredible network of celebrity contacts, posting pictures to Instagram throughout the years of himself posing with famous names like Chris Evans, Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Rock, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
When the young star presented at the 2018 Academy Awards, he left half the crowd in disarray and the other half “aw-ing,” requiring a box to stand on in order to even reach the microphone.
He also warmed people’s hearts when, at the 2016 Critics’ Choice Awards, he won Best Young Actor for his role in Room and Bradley James had to hold the mic for him.
Room child star Jacob Tremblay just graduated – and now everyone’s feeling old
The 17-year-old Canadian actor, who costarred with Brie Larson in the 2015 psychological drama Room, at the age of nine, achieved the milestone nine years after being well-known worldwide.
Tremblay shared pictures from his graduation ceremony at Walnut Grove Secondary School in Langley, British Columbia, Canada, on Tuesday, June 18. In the pictures, he was dressed in a traditional cap and gown and went across the stage alongside his classmates.
He celebrated his accomplishment with a simple caption that said, “Congratulations, WGSS Class of 2024!”
In response, a number of admirers sent the young graduate their best wishes and congrats.
Nevertheless, given that many people remember Tremblay from his earlier performances as a small child, many responses also express astonishment that he is old enough to have completed high school.
“When did Room come out? He was a baby a couple of years ago wdym [what do you mean]???” one social media user protested, adding: “An Oscar next!”
In a similar vein, someone questioned: “When did he become not 12 years old?” on X (previously Twitter).
“Seeing child stars grow up right in front of me will always be weird because weren’t you just five yesterday?” wrote a second commenter, who was astounded by the passing of time.