Child actor who played the little Irish boy in Titanic is still getting paid 25 years later

14 January 2022, 13:13

By Polly Foreman

Reece Thompson, who is now 30, played the character of a young third class passenger who dies along with his mother and sister.

The child actor who played the little Irish boy in the 1997 film Titanic has revealed he still receives royalty cheques from the film.

Reece Thompson was just five years old when he landed the role, and he says he barely remembers anything about being in the film.

He played a third-class passenger who is tragically killed alongside his mother and sister. After failing to make it to the lifeboats, they are seen lying in their cabin together as the ship sank.

Reece is now 30 years old, and is the digital marketing director at a skiing and snowboarding facility in Utah, USA.

He started out as a child model when he won a competition, and his agent gave Reece's mum two choices of roles - an advert or the part in the Titanic.

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While the advert was the safer option, they decided to take a chance on the film. Their gamble majorly paid off, as the Titanic went on to become the second-highest grossing film of all time.

Reece told Business Insider: "It turned out to be one of the highest-grossing films in history, so it's pretty bizarre in retrospect."

"My mom was like: 'Let's just do it. It'll be cool. Even if the movie sucks, we'll see it.'

"Obviously, it ended up exploding, so that wasn't a bad decision on her part, that's for sure."

And speaking about the royalty cheques, he added: "It's weird because it's not present in my mind anymore.

"It's not like, 'Oh, when am I going to get a new 'Titanic' check?' When it happens, it's like, 'Oh, cool, an extra $100.'

"There have been a couple of times where it's been like: 'Oh, wow, that's a $250 check. This movie's 12 years old. That's pretty bizarre'.

"But hopefully, they keep playing it a lot because that means more money for me."