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Hollywood's onscreen parents are younger than ever | kids_l
YOUNG GUNS Gugino, Antonio Banderas, Vega, Sabara (clockwise)
Spy Kids: Rico Torres
By Clarissa Cruz
Clarissa Cruz
Clarissa Cruz is an EW correspondent

Not since a 35 year old Anne Bancroft played 25 year old Katharine Ross' mother in 1967's ''The Graduate'' has there been so much precocious parenting in Hollywood. The latest: In ''Spy Kids,'' Carla Gugino, 29, plays mom to Alexa Vega, 12, and Daryl Sabara, 8. Other examples: Gwyneth Paltrow, 28, was an 8 year old's mother in last fall's ''Bounce,'' while Leslie Bibb, 26, raises a 6 year old in the recent ''See Spot Run.'' What's so strange about that? Believe it or not, the new crop of onscreen parents is way younger than the national average age of 24 for first time mothers. (There are no figures for dads.)

Donal Logue, 35, a real life father of two tots, says playing dad to a 14 year old girl on ''Grounded for Life'' isn't a stretch. ''It's totally plausible,'' he says. ''I have so many friends from high school who have 17 or 18 year old kids.'' But ''Gilmore Girls'' star Lauren Graham, 34, who has a 16 year old daughter on TV, frets about what will happen when she has kids of her own someday: ''Because my character's so fun and young...my real kids will be wrecked. They'll just be like, 'Why can't WE have witty banter?'''


Posted Apr 09, 2001 | Order Article Reprints