Why was this Carrie Henns ONLY movie?

probably wanted to be normal...by all accounts JC was very indulgent to Henn. I recall one of those anniversary panels with most of the cast & Goldstein said that when Cameron asked for a retake, Carrie was worried she did something wrong & Cameron was 'oh, no honey, sometimes when people make movies they like to shoot the same scene from a couple of diiferent angles so they can edit together the best parts of it. He gave Henn a quick lesson in film making while doing it.



Why can't you wretched prey creatures understand that the Universe doesn't owe you anything!?

IIRC, her family was living in the UK at the time (hence her mewstly wavering accent... mewstley) and went along to audition her brother for a role. She went for it too just because she was there anyway but surprisingly got the part because, unlike all the trained child actors, she didn't smile at the end of every line... as if selling a product.

By the time Aliens was released, the family had already moved back to the US and she'd decided she wanted to be a teacher.

Kinda all there is too it, I guess.

She was screaming too much

If she wasn't from an entertainment family, this kind of makes sense. It might be disorienting to get a decent role and manage fledgling career, especially if your parents aren't wealthy enough to quit their jobs and oversee it all.

She might have made enough money, too, that some financial adviser said "listen, you're 10 years old, invest this money and you'll basically just have to work as an adult for pocket change; your house, cars, etc, will all be paid for by this one job."

That'd be an appealing sales pitch.

Sometimes it's just a quick paycheck. Other times the child's and/or family realizes this isn't the life they want for them. Peter Ostrum took the money he got from Willy Wonka and used it later in life to become a veterinarian.

I bet Spielberg was all too keen to cast her in one of his movies.

She was the weakest link of Aliens (not her fault, though, I blame Cameron's directing and writing).

she was a supporting character not the main star.

She also wasn't a trained actress and it showed, but it was a good enough performance for the role at hand.

Can you honestly see her doing any other character other than Newt? I can't, unless it was a horror genre movie and they literally had her do the same role all over again. Most horror movies abstain from featuring children too so even that option was moot.