What Happened To Forrest Gump’s Young Jenny Actor After The Movie

Forrest Gump‘s Jenny is one of the most iconic characters of her era. The way her name is said by the titular character has become one of the most memorable parts of the movie. Jenny is played by Robin Wright in the film, who later marries Tom Hanks’ Forrest after they fall in love in adulthood. In the film, Jenny and Forrest have a child together, but Jenny tragically dies at the age of 32.

Both Jenny and Forrest also have younger counterparts in the film, which shows the pair when they are growing up. Young Forrest is played by Michael Conner Humphreys, who did very little acting after appearing in Forrest Gump. Young Jenny, on the other hand, was played by Hanna Hall. Hall’s role in Forrest Gump and later career is worth exploring in more detail.

Forrest Gump’s Young Jenny Was Hanna Hall’s First Major Role

Hall Was 10 When The Movie Was Released

Forrest Gump was Hall’s first credited role, making the Robert Zemeckis film the thing that introduced the actor to the scene. Hall was born on July 9, 1984. This means she was 10 years old at the time that Forrest Gump was released. She was under ten years old when Forrest Gump was filmed, and was even recognized for the strength of her youthful role. Hall won the Young Artist Award in 1995 for Best Performance by an Actress Under Ten in a Motion Picture.

What Hanna Hall Has Done Since Forrest Gump

Hall Kept Acting Right After Forrest Gump

Unlike Humphreys, Hall went on to have a career in acting after her role in Forrest Gump. Immediately after the Oscar-winning film, Hall played leading girl Goldi in a 1995 feature film adaptation of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. After that, she performed as Maybeth Tillerman in the TV movie Homecoming, for which she was also nominated for a Young Artist award as part of the ensemble. She played in several films throughout the 90s, including playing Cecilia Lisbon in director Sofia Coppola‘s Virgin Suicides in 1999.

After transitioning out of her child and teen acting days, Hall has continued her career as an adult. In 2015, she was in one episode of Masters of Sex. She was in another one-off episode of TV when she played a medical student in The Purge television series adaptation in 2019. Her most recent role was in 2022, where Hall played Becky Comfort in the horror-thriller film Forgotten. Though Hall has not become an A-list star, it is interesting to see how her career evolved after playing Young Jenny as a child in Forrest Gump.