Bailee Madison probably isn’t the most famous name out there. And yet, she grew up in public in front of all of us. For a while, she was the go-to kid for horror films or when studios just needed a young face. She started acting professionally in 2007 at age 7, and by the time Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (which was written by Guillermo del Toro) arrived in 2010, she had already been in nine feature films and starred alongside actors like Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman.
Back then, Hollywood saw a polite kid with big eyes and serious screen presence. I mean, didn’t she freak us all out in Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark?
But her first major break came with Bridge to Terabithia, and she learned early how fast praise can mess with your head. “Mom always told me when I was done with [Terabithia], you have to stay humble Bailee,” she said in 2010. “She continues to say that every day. Bailee, humble. Bailee, humble.”
That advice is what kept the young actress grounded as she grew up. You didn’t read about her in the tabloids. She doesn’t have those former child star scandals. Madison just continued to work hard throughout her career. For her, it was a job.
But growing up on sets wasn’t easy. In 2024, she said, “I had to understand that I could acknowledge things that might have dented me a bit and understand that there’s beauty within that but still allow myself to be like, ‘Oh, that’s something that’s not healed yet.’”
In 2011, she popped up on Wizards of Waverly Place, acting opposite Selena Gomez. And by that time, the red carpets became routine. “It’s hard growing up in general let alone under a microscope,” she admitted later.
By the time she was 16, Madison had evolved, and so had her tastes. She wore darker clothes, leather and sequins. By the time she joined Good Witch in 2015, she had also stepped behind the camera, producing 2016’s Annabelle Hooper and the Ghosts of Nantucket at age 17.
But she never pretended to have life figured out. It was tough being the young person on set. In 2018, she spoke openly about insecurity during a Schön! Magazine shoot. “I left the shoot feeling insecure and feared that when people saw those pictures they would think that I wasn’t pretty enough.”
While filming Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin in 2020, isolation forced reflection. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I’m also the lowest I’ve ever been,” she said.
Now in 2025, at 25, Bailee Madison is different again. She’s in a new phase of her life. She’s prioritizing herself with long walks and rest days. She cuts her own hair and dyes it pink if she feels like it. And she’s experimenting with her other talents, even releasing her debut single “Kinda Fun” in January.
Fifteen years after Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Madison is leading her first rom-com. 40 Dates and 40 Nights, directed by Andy Delaney, casts Madison as Leah, a woman burned out on modern dating who accepts her grandmother’s outrageous bet: go on 40 dates in 40 nights and win a full year of rent. Madison also produced the film.
40 Dates and 40 Nights opened in select theaters on June 26 and arrived on demand June 30, giving Bailee Madison her biggest lead role in years. Now if only we could get her back for Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark 2.
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