Henry Thomas' encounter with fame was an unsettling one. Following the release of 1982's E.T., the former child star—who portrayed the alien's best friend, Elliot—suddenly found himself thrust into the limelight, though he admits that he wasn't "prepared for it." On the It Happened in Hollywood podcast on March 24th, he shared, "I wasn't ready for it. What's strange is that I never envisioned it happening. I was taken aback when people recognized me for the first time."
In fact, the 54-year-old actor had "never thought about being famous" and found the entire situation "very bizarre." Nonetheless, he felt the pressure to "keep going and do something better." The experience was all the more disconcerting for Henry because he was living in Texas with his family at the time, which meant that agencies weren't eager to sign him before he starred in Steven Spielberg's film since his family wasn't interested in relocating.
"Of course, E.T. was at the top of the box office for two weeks, and my phone started to ring," he recalled. "And all the people who had said, 'You have to move to L.A.,' were suddenly like, 'Well, we'll represent you and you can live wherever you want.'" And while he stayed in Texas until his mid-20s—eventually moving to New York and then Los Angeles—he continued working, joking that he did "some good films and some bad films."
"I worked and people forgot about me," Henry said. "I had to remind them that I was still alive and I was not 10 years old. I just kept at it, really. I just kept at it and it mostly worked out." Looking back on his career now, the Legends of the Fall actor shared, "Most of the time I'm pretty happy about being an actor."
But being in the public eye for so long also meant that Henry has experienced the "roller coaster" of the entertainment industry. "I've had moments where everything has been great," he said, "and I've had moments where it feels like you can't get arrested." But despite the ups and downs of his career, Henry doesn't regret any of his choices.
"I think I could have had a different career if I had been more career-minded," he explained. "But I was never really interested in that."
