Dept. of Career Paths #2

I'm a little late with this piece on Sarah Polley of Splice, but I'm a sucker for Polley's braininess and the unusual honesty of her thoughts about beginning acting as a child. (LA Times)

"It's always a complicated thing, I think, kids working," she said. "It's a complex issue that we're not mulling over enough in this industry. We've decided as a society that we don't think that kids should work, period. But for some reason, we make this exception in an industry where there's enormous pressure, long hours, and a lot of people who aren't necessarily equipped to be around kids all day."

The fact that she hasn't ended up like the late formerly troubled child stars Corey Haim or River Phoenix is something she can only attribute, she says, to pure luck. "It wasn't merit. There were a lot of kids around me who were more talented, and didn't continue on and their lives became anti-climactic in various destructive ways," she said. "And it's understandable, right? If you have the moment of greatest success when you're 12 or 13, what does that do do the rest of your life?"