History Main / ActingYourIntellectualAge

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

* The title character of the very short-lived and critically-blasted ''WesternAnimation/AllenGregory'' is an example gone awry, in that he was supposed to be extremely mature for his age, and promos made him seem like a tiny [[Series/{{Frasier}} Frasier Crane]]. In practice, though, he was the ''[[DirtyKid other]]'' [[DirtyKid kind of "mature"]], and came off as a smug, creepy, unlikable sociopath.

* The title character of the very short-lived and critically-blasted ''WesternAnimation/AllenGregory'' is an example gone awry, in that he was supposed to be extremely mature for his age, and promos made him seem like a tiny [[Series/{{Frasier}} Frasier Crane]]. In practice, though, he was the ''other'' kind of "mature," and came off as a smug, creepy, unlikable sociopath.

* Egghead, Jr. in the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes ''WesternAnimation/FoghornLeghorn'' cartoons. He was always reading books and otherwise acting in an intelligent manner, and didn't want to do the childish things Foghorn Leghorn wanted him to do.
* Subverted with Polly from ''WesternAnimation/StickinAround''. She plays off this trope accordingly, though it doesn't stop her from playing with the other kids.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in an ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode with a flashback of Steve's friends as toddlers:
-->'''Young Barry:''' Interesting how we've developed such a sophisticated hierarchy at this young age.\\
'''Young Steve:''' Shut up, Barry.\\
'''Young Barry:''' ''(enthusiastic)'' I'm at the bottom!
* ''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]]). The episode "Boxing Daria" has flashbacks to her younger days; Helen describes her as acting like a miniature adult, and unable to connect with other children, but even then her six-year-old reading material is ''Literature/BlackBeauty'' rather than, say, Homer in the original Greek.

* The title character of the very short-lived and critically-blasted ''WesternAnimation/AllenGregory'' is an example gone awry, in that he was supposed to be extremely mature for his age, and promos made him seem like a tiny [[Series/{{Frasier}} Frasier Crane]]. In practice, though, he was the ''other'' kind of "mature," and came off as a smug, creepy, unlikable sociopath.
* Mr. Cat from ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'' possesses the intelligence of an adult, and acts like one too. He's far more mature than the other characters, who are also kids, and typically refuses to play children's games. In one episode, he was stated to have possibly "lost his inner child".
* Lisa from ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' is a super genius 4 year old. She has a hard time interacting with other kids because of her maturity.
** In "Study Muffin", Lisa [[DirtyKid oogles and harasses]] Lincoln's personal tutor like a HormoneAddledTeenager, despite, again, being a ''four-year-old'' kid whose hormones shouldn't yet be active.

* Micah in ''Series/{{Heroes}}''.

One common effect of this "adult-in-a-child's-body" phenomenon is that characters who act their intellectual age have no interest in kids who are their actual age. They may look down on kids their own age as savage or barbaric, and would rather associate with their intellectual peers, even if those peers are 4 or 5 times the character's age. Strangely, in the world of TV and media in general, neither party seems to care about the age difference, and the kid genius in question thinks nothing of it to discuss the latest political development with someone old enough to be their father/mother. Thus, of course, they are likely to be construed as [[TeachersPet teachers' pets]] in any academic setting. This aspect is only occasionally TruthInTelevision, as there are many cases of highly intelligent students deliberately [[ObfuscatingStupidity dumbing themselves down]] in order to fit in.

* ''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 '''two or three'''.

A common trope among {{Child Prodig|y}}ies and {{Brainy Bab|y}}ies: an intelligent youngster is essentially an adult in a child's body.--

Somewhat TruthInTelevision, but reality is more complicated. [[PingPongNaivete Gifted children are usually all over the place in maturity]], acting their intellectual age in some aspects, their actual age in others, and in between in other ways. And in some ways they may be different from non-gifted kids of ''any'' age. Emotional maturity is usually at age level or only slightly advanced. This makes finding friends tricky, since older kids see them as immature, while same-age kids don't understand them. (An amusing anecdote is a highly gifted 4 year old who wanted to leave a note for her same-age friend, before remembering with disappointment that her friend couldn't read!)

A common trope among {{Child Prodig|y}}ies and {{Brainy Bab|y}}ies: an intelligent youngster is essentially an adult in a child's body.

They have no interest in ever being a child. They eschew toys in favor of books and beginner scientific equipment. [[LittleProfessorDialog They immediately and eloquently denounce the logic of Santa Claus.]] They may insist that their parents read the classics to them as bedtime stories and thus scoff at the books meant for their age. [[GeniusBookClub Or they just read the classics -- or, better the encyclopedia -- to themselves purely for fun.]] They would rather discuss world events than... ''play'' (How childish!). They may even already have a distinct, philosophical worldview, never mind that they haven't lived long enough to see enough of the world to form such a view. And so on.