History Main / ActingYourIntellectualAge

* ''Anime/AceAttorney'' has the first introduction of Franziska von Karma, who, with perfect sentence structure, says she will be tutoring Edgeworth. At the time, she is about '''three'''.

* {{Lampshaded}} in an ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode with a flashback of Steve's friends as toddlers:

'''Young Barry:''' ''(enthusiastic)'' I'm at the Bottom!

* ZigZagged by Lisa Simpson of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', DependingOnTheWriter. She's a ChildProdigy who is usually far more mature than other children or even than [[ManChild most of the adults around her]], identifying with world-weary jazz musicians and quoting existential philosophers. Every once in a while, though, the audience will be reminded that she's still an eight-year-old girl with details like her constant yearning for a pony or her subscription to Non-Threatening Boys Magazine and precocious crushes on teen heartthrobs named Corey.

* Zig Zagged by Calvin of ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''. He's incredibly intelligent, well-spoken, and has a very solid grasp of concepts and ideas that many real-world adults struggle with, but at same time, he frequently uses his enormous vocabulary and razor-sharp wit to express the kind of thoughts any regular six-year-old would have.

* Zig Zagged by Calvin of ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''. He's incredibly intelligent, well-spoken, and has a very solid grasp of concepts and ideas that many real-world adults struggle with, but he also uses his enormous vocabulary and sharp wit to express the kind of thoughts any other six-year-old would have.

* ''Anime/AceAttorney'' has the first introduction of Franziska von Karma, who, with perfect sentence structure, says she will be tutoring Edgeworth. At the time, she is '''three'''.

* River Tam from ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' is a subversion. She's shown, in flashbacks, to have been so smart that she could spot flaws in the textbooks Simon was studying from and uses surprisingly advanced terminology ("that whole section is fallacious"). It comes up, because she's engaging in age-appropriate activities (like pestering her brother while he does his homework, and playing pretend that he and she are Alliance soldiers who have gotten cut off from their squad when the Independents brought in dinosaurs. Then suggesting they must resort to cannibalism).

* Wensleydale in ''Literature/GoodOmens'': His parents "called him 'Youngster'. They did this in the subconscious hope that he might take the hint; Wensleydale gave the impression of having been born with a mental age of forty seven." His favourite "comic" is ''Wonders of Science and Nature'', and he insists on being the OnlySaneMan in the face of Adam's ideas.

* River Tam from ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' is a subversion. She's shown, in flashbacks, to have been so smart that she could spot flaws in the textbooks Simon was studying from and uses surprisingly advanced terminology ("that whole section is fallacious"). It comes up, because she's engaging in age-appropriate activities (like pestering her brother while he does his homework, and playing pretend that he and she's are Alliance soldiers who have gotten cut off from their squad when the Independents brought in dinosaurs. Then suggesting they must resort to cannibalism).

* Kid!Selfdemonstrating/{{Loki}} after [[spoiler:his old self's consciousness took over his body]] began acting like this (see ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'') not only more mature but also troublingly unchildlike. He even drank and flirted, which the others didn't take seriously because, well, he looked around 12. [[spoiler:On the other hand he still didn't act the age appropriate to his [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld actual age]] probably thanks to being a ManChild even as an ''adult''.]]

* Van from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'': Animal Parade prefers studying to playing, and always wants to know if your kid likes to read/go to school/do homework. He even teaches some of the other kids during events!

* Throughout his long career as a superhero, [[{{Shazam}} Billy "Captain Marvel" Batson]] has been all over the map with regard to this trope. Averting this trope is generally regarded as an important part of his characterization, and was certainly part of the character at his conception. Billy is a 12-year-old boy who becomes a super-hero in an adult body, and acts like it, reacting to the strange things he encounters with childlike enthusiasm. Various authors have forgotten this feature and played the trope straight, turning the adult Captain Marvel into someone with a personality indistinguishable from {{Superman}}. These runs are generally regarded very poorly by fans.

* Kid!Selfdemonstrating/{{Loki}} after [[spoiler:his old self's consciousness took over his body]] began acting like this (see ''Comicbook/YoungAvengers'') not only more mature but also troublingly unchildlike. He even drank and flirted, which the others didn't take seriously because, well, he looked around 12. [[spoiler:On the other hand he still didn't act the age appropriate to his [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld actual age]] probably thanks to being a ManChild even as an ''adult''.]]

* ''HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'': Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres. And most of the other children, who act 3-10 years older than their physical age, depending on just how much training they've had.

* In an episode of TheWB show ''{{Everwood}}'', Ephram talks about a young child and notes that she's mature "but without having that creepy Dakota Fanning '45-year-old-lady-trapped-in-a-10-year-old's-body' vibe."
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''[='=]s Wesley Crusher is actually an aversion. Although he is a technical genius who understands the Enterprise as well as many of the crew, his emotional maturity is more like a typical 17 year old. This combination, along with the allowances Captain Picard gives him, are probably what made him [[CreatorsPet so annoying]] to many viewers. However, he is one of the more believable depictions of a gifted child in fiction.

* Huey Freeman of ''TheBoondocks'' has elements of this in both his [[ComicStrip/TheBoondocks comic]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks animated]] incarnations.

* ZigZagged by Lisa Simpson of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', DependingOnTheWriter. She's a ChildProdigy who is usually far more mature than other children or even than [[ManChild most of the adults around her]], identifying with world-weary jazz musicians and quoting existential philosophers. Every once in a while, though, the audience will be reminded that she's still an eight-year-old girl with details like her constant yearning for a pony or her subscription to Non-Threatening Boys Magazine and precocious crushes on teen heartthrobs named Corey.

* Charles Wallace from ''AWrinkleInTime'', which leads to him overestimating his capabilities, and gets him ensnared by IT. Charles Wallace is a little different, though. He wishes to be accepted by his peers, but finds that he cannot hide his intelligence, and gets bullied for it.

* John Green's ''AnAbundanceOfKatherines'' has Colin Singleton, who started reading at 3, loves anagrams, and creates a mathematical theorem to detail his relationship with all of his 19 girfriends (all of whom are named Katherine).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' generally manages to play this fairly realistically: [[TheSnarkKnight Daria]] is smarter than most of the adults she knows, but she is still [[BrilliantButLazy lazy]] and pretty immature at times, particularly with her own emotions ([[EmotionlessGirl which she'd rather just repress]]). Flashbacks depict her unable to connect with other children, but her six-year-old reading material is ''BlackBeauty'' rather than, say, Homer in the original Greek.

* Subverted with Polly from ''StickinAround''. She plays off this trope accordingly, though it doesn't stop her from playing with the other kids.

* Huey Freeman of ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks'' has elements of this in both his comic and animated incarnations. As an example, in one episode of the animated series, his friend Jasmine says something about the Tooth Fairy. Huey responds by saying that the Tooth Fairy isn't real, the world is a hard and lonely place, no one gets anything for free and everyone she loves will be dead one day.

* Sheldon Cooper in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' was this. When he was young, he had a diary of his toilet training, and was angry when his parents got him a motorized dirtbike instead of a titanium centrifuge for his birthday.

* Kid!Selfdemonstrating/{{Loki}} after [[spoiler:his old self's consciousness took over his body]] began acting like this (see ''Comicbook/YoungAvengers'') not only more mature but also troublingly unchildlike. He even drank and flirted, which the others didn't take seriously because, well, he looked around 12. On the other hand he still didn't act the age appropriate to his [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld actual age]] probably thanks to being a ManChild even as an ''adult''.

* Huey Freeman of ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks'' has elements of this in both his comic and animated incarnations. As an example, in one episode of the animated series, his friend Jasmine says something about the Tooth Fairy. Huey responds by saying that the Tooth Fairy isn't real, the world is a hard and lonely place, no one gets anything for free and everyone she loves will be dead one day.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' generally manages to play this fairly realistically: [[TheSnarkKnight Daria]] is smarter than most of the adults she knows, but she is still [[BrilliantButLazy lazy]] and pretty immature at times, particularly with her own emotions ([[EmotionlessGirl which she'd rather just repress]]). Flashbacks depict her unable to connect with other children, but her six-year-old reading material is ''BlackBeauty'' rather than, say, ''TheIliad.''

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'', flashbacks and conversations of the title character as a young child often portray her as this, with little interest in playing and interacting with the other kids. Her mother even once referred to young Daria as a "miniature adult."

* The WhateleyUniverse has several examples. Ayla springs to mind as a self-acknowledged one, and Jobe is one who doesn't realize it. Ayla's reaction to realizing this is to try and bring his friends up to his level, so that they can at least understand why some things bug her so much. ("Why would I blow money on an expensive stereo system that's going to be outdated in three months' time, or on clothes that are going to be out of style in two weeks?")

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]
* River Tam from ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' is a subversion. She's shown, in flashbacks, to have been so smart that she could spot flaws in the textbooks Simon was studying from and uses surprisingly advanced terminology ("that whole section is fallacious"). It comes up, because she's engaging in age-appropriate activities (like pestering her brother while he does his homework, and playing pretend that he and she's are Alliance soldiers who have gotten cut off from their squad when the Independents brought in dinosaurs. Then suggesting they must resort to cannibalism).
* Manny from ''Series/ModernFamily''. In one particular episode, he has been having conversations with a grown woman online and arranges a date, neither suspecting an age difference. "He's an old soul."
* Micah in ''Series/{{Heroes}}''.
* The "Dakota Fanning" series of skits on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' is made of this trope. An actress portraying a fictionalized version of Fanning behaves this way.
* In an episode of TheWB show ''{{Everwood}}'', Ephram talks about a young child and notes that she's mature "but without having that creepy Dakota Fanning '45-year-old-lady-trapped-in-a-10-year-old's-body' vibe."
* [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Wesley Crusher]] is actually an aversion. Although he is a technical genius who understands the Enterprise as well as many of the crew, his emotional maturity is more like a typical 17 year old. This combination, along with the allowances Captain Picard gives him, are probably what made him [[CreatorsPet so annoying]] to many viewers. However, he is one of the more believable depictions of a gifted child in fiction.
* Sheldon Cooper in Series/TheBigBangTheory was this. When he was young, he had a diary of his toilet training, and was angry when his parents got him a motorized dirtbike instead of a titanium centrifuge for his birthday.

[[AC: FanFiction]]
* ''HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'': Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres. And most of the other children, who act 3-10 years older than their physical age, depending on just how much training they've had.

* Stewie in ''FamilyGuy'' tends to zig-zag this trope.

* In ''Daria'', flashbacks and conversations of the title character as a young child often portray her as this, with little interest in playing and interacting with the other kids.

* River Tam from ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' is a subversion. She's shown, in flashbacks, to have been so smart that she could spot flaws in the textbooks Simon was studying from and uses surprisingly advanced terminology ("that whole section is fallacious"). It comes up, because she's engaging in age-appropriate activities (like pestering her brother while he does his homework, and playing pretend that he and she's are Alliance soldiers who have gotten cut off from their squad when the Independents brought in dinosaurs. [[StrangeGirl Then suggesting they must resort to cannibalism]]).