The Transformation Of Young Sheldon Star Iain Armitage

Iain Armitage is best known for playing Sheldon Cooper on the wildly popular series "Young Sheldon," a role he auditioned for when he was just 8 years old. But Armitage's career began even before his "Young Sheldon" success. The actor, whose parents are in the entertainment industry, began making a name for himself at the age of 3 with his adorable theater reviews. "Iain Loves Theatre" became a viable YouTube channel, which got the precocious Armitage noticed. Before long, he was appearing in hit series like "Big Little Lies" and films such as "The Glass Castle" while practicing martial arts and maintaining straight As in school.

When "Young Sheldon" became a hit, it not only rocketed Armitage to a new level of stardom, but it also secured him as one of the highest-paid child actors in the world. But Armitage seemed to keep a good head on his shoulders, making time to learn new languages, bring attention to important social issues, and of course, play with his two pet hamsters.

By all accounts, fame did not change Iain Armitage, even as he worked alongside his hero Meryl Streep and became close with Jane Fonda, whom he affectionately called Grandma Jane. He even enlisted Sir Ian McKellen to help him name his pets, all while remaining humble and kind. If his work thus far is any indication, the actor has a long and successful career ahead of him, and his journey from mini YouTuber to megastar has been nothing short of impressive. Read on to learn more about the transformation of Iain Armitage.

Iain Armitage was born on July 15, 2008, in Georgia and was raised in Arlington, Virginia. Armitage got his start in the entertainment industry at a very young age, which may be due in part to the fact that both of his parents worked in show business. His mother, Lee Armitage, has worked as a stage producer, and his father, Euan Morton, has had a very successful career on Broadway.

Morton, a native of Scotland, performed in big theater hits such as "Taboo," "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," and starred as King George III in the Broadway smash "Hamilton" from 2017 until 2023. Lee Armitage, the daughter of former Deputy Secretary of Defense Richard Armitage, worked in theater behind the scenes but put her career on pause in order to support Iain's pursuit of his acting dreams. Her sacrifice did not go unnoticed by her son, who has expressed a deep appreciation for his mother. "Mom is just so cool and so kind and always so grounding," Iain shared in an interview with Northern Virginia Magazine.

Before he was an actor, Iain Armitage became involved with martial arts, enrolling in classes when he was just 4 years old. He continued to practice tae kwon do as he got older, finding that it was a way to calm his busy mind. "I'm actually by nature an overthinker, and I tend to second-guess myself a lot," Armitage revealed to Northern Virginia Magazine. But his martial arts practice worked to ground his thoughts, focusing solely on the activity at hand. "[I]t's really tough, but you go to this place where you are completely zenned out, and you're not thinking about anything," the actor explained.

Armitage took his tae kwon do practice seriously and earned a black belt as a young teen, which was no small feat. According to Francis Pineda, one of Armitage's instructors, only 10% of students achieve that distinction. And part of the requirements for a black belt are scholastic because students must maintain good grades in order to progress. This was no problem because Armitage earned straight As while being homeschooled. And Armitage's ability to excel in martial arts has proved helpful in other aspects of his life as well, namely his acting career. "He has found ways to translate all the best parts of martial arts into his professional career," Pineda said of Armitage.

Iain Armitage has won audiences over with appearances in both TV and film, but his first love was the theater. So much so that he began making videos of himself reviewing theater productions when most other children were in preschool. After seeing his first play, a production of "Hairspray" that his babysitter appeared in, Armitage made his first video. "I was just saying, 'I really liked this show,'" the actor told Northern Virginia Magazine. "It was honestly 30 seconds long, and you can hear our dog barking really loud in the background."

Armitage recorded that video when he was only 3 years old, but he kept at it, doing more in-depth reviews that appeared on his YouTube channel Iain Loves Theatre. "[E]ventually I did my first review for 'Waiting for Godot,' which was kind of my first real review review," he shared with W. The videos caught the eye of blogger Perez Hilton who reached out to Armitage and hired him as a red carpet correspondent for the Tony Awards. The gig was a dream come true for Armitage, who got to interview Glenn Close, Lin Manuel Miranda, and many others. The actor told W, "I still have a diary from when I was like 4, and I wrote in it 'I wish that I was on the red carpet with my mama.' And then a couple of years later I was reporting to Mr. Perez Hilton on the red carpet."

Iain Armitage landed his breakout role in 2017 on the hit HBO series "Big Little Lies" playing Ziggy Chapman, the son of Shailene Woodley's character, Jane. Armitage had nothing but nice things to say about his experience on the show, telling Arlington Magazine, "It had an amazing cast and a lot of very kind people, including five other principal kids. ... It was perfect!" The show was a hit, and its second season featured veteran actor Meryl Streep, who happened to be one of Armitage's heroes. "She is amazing," he gushed to W. "The great thing about people like her is that she is such a wonderful actress and she raises people to her level."

Armitage also bonded with his TV mom Shailene Woodley, whom he met prior to filming "Big Little Lies" on a FaceTime call. "[S]he said that acting is like being on a giant playground, it's so fun ... and from the very start she was like my real mom," the actor recalled. Armitage and Woodley stayed close throughout filming and beyond, and Armitage supported her when she made her 2024 Broadway debut in "Cult of Love." He shared a pic on Instagram posing with Woodley with the very sweet caption, "I hope Shailene keeps coming back to theatre because it makes me so happy to see her up there and I hope she knows how proud I am to be her fake son!"

In 2017, Iain Armitage landed the role he is most widely known for, that of Sheldon Cooper on "Young Sheldon." The show was a prequel of sorts to "The Big Bang Theory" that focused on the childhood of one of the show's most beloved characters. Armitage was spending the holidays at his grandmother's house when he got the opportunity to audition for "Young Sheldon," which involved performing a three-page long monologue.

His mother wasn't thrilled about this initially because it was Christmas and Armitage would have to make a self-tape to send to the show's producers. But Armitage was determined, telling "Live With Kelly and Mark," "I memorized it ... I had to do a William Shatner impression." Armitage joked that he "loosely" knew who William Shatner was at the time, explaining, "I've always been a very cultured 7-year-old."

The showrunners were impressed and called Armitage in for another audition. Because he was barely 8 years old at the time, Armitage had never even seen "The Big Bang Theory" and was not familiar with the grown-up version of Sheldon. But according to the actor, that might have worked in his favor. "I was kind of trying to do my own version of what I thought it would be like," Armitage revealed.

Iain Armitage's career got a huge boost in 2017 when the actor took part in several successful projects. In addition to "Big Little Lies" and "Young Sheldon," Armitage appeared in three films that year, "The Glass Castle," "I'm Not Here," and "Our Souls at Night." The latter featured iconic actors Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, and Armitage was honored to work alongside them. He grew particularly close with Fonda during filming, even taking to calling her Grandma Jane. "She's such an all-around amazing lady," Armitage told Northern Virginia Magazine. "I feel lucky to be able to call her Grandma Jane, and she calls me Grandson."

Armitage and Fonda clearly hit it off, but their friendship went deeper than mutual admiration. Armitage credits Fonda with teaching him about the importance of caring for the environment, leading by example in treating others with kindness, and helping him up his game when it came to perfecting his acting craft. So, it makes sense that Armitage referred to Fonda as "just the kindest and most cool and awesome lady in the world."

Working alongside veteran actor and longtime activist Jane Fonda most definitely had an impact on Iain Armitage. In 2019, he joined her in bringing attention to climate change for her Fire Drill Fridays initiative. Armitage took part in a protest on Capitol Hill with his "Our Souls at Night" co-star, and each of them held signs that read "Cultivate Food Justice."

"Food and agriculture use 70% of all the Earth's clean water sources," Fonda explained to the crowd during a speech at the event. Armitage, aside from participating in the protest against climate change, also took to X to post a pic of himself and Fonda, among a crowd of many others, to bring awareness to his legions of fans.

Climate change was not the only issue Armitage had become passionate about. During a 2021 interview on "JaMonkey" the actor shared, "I think another very important cause is Black Lives Matter. ... It's time to end, you know, all that terrible discrimination and hatred and racism in America. It's definitely time for a change." Armitage also shared that he had made donations to pet shelters, emphasizing the importance of fostering animals and giving them the food, shelter, and love they need.

Iain Armitage has starred in a range of different projects, from a drama series to a sitcom to dramatic films and animated movies. But Armitage has said he would like to branch out and give another genre a try. In his "JaMonkey" interview, the actor was asked about his dream role, and his response was pretty age-appropriate. "I am 13, so I love, you know, all those explosives and things," Armitage said. "I think something with some kind of crazy action sequences, like an action movie."

Armitage went on to express his love for books, explaining that he had many favorites that he would love to take part in adaptations of. "I think movies and TV [are] pretty awesome, I mean they can't even touch books," the actor shared, showing his intellectual side. But he doubled down on his desire to star in an action flick, sharing that "dangling off a cliff" would definitely be part of a dream project for him.

In addition to being a talented actor and activist, Iain Armitage is also an avid animal lover. During a 2021 episode of "Show Us Your Pets," Armitage introduced himself as "a very enthusiastic hamster father." Armitage has two hamsters who happen to be brothers, and they got their names from a very unlikely place. When it came time to choose monikers for his furry friends, Armitage reached out to legendary actor Sir Ian McKellen to get some inspiration. 

"I couldn't think of a hamster name so naturally I emailed him," the actor explained. In his email, he asked McKellen if he could help him come up with something, maybe something inspired by Shakespeare. McKellen wrote back with a list of a total of 40 potential names, and Armitage chose Romeo and Julien. He also liked the names Marks and Spencer, after the upscale British store, and Armitage decided those would serve as nicknames for his beloved pets.

Interestingly, Armitage was in fact named after Sir Ian McKellen because both of his parents were really big fans of the actor. And it seems Armitage and his namesake have become friendly over the years, beyond the hamster naming. In 2024, Armitage posted pics on his Facebook page of himself with McKellen after the latter performed in a production of "Player Kings." "When I went back to see him after the show, I complimented his hat and he gave it to me!" Armitage captioned the post in part.

In 2021, Iain Armitage starred in "PAW Patrol: The Movie," lending his voice to the animated film. While the actor approached the role with his signature brand of professionalism, it turns out he wasn't exactly familiar with the "PAW Patrol" franchise before taking on the part of Chase. "I actually never really watched a lot of TV," the actor admitted during an episode of "Tamron Hall Show." "But I have a bunch of little cousins and ... I know a lot of kids who are crazy huge fans of 'PAW Patrol' and have loved it from the start."

Because of the nature of voice acting, Armitage had never met his co-star Marsai Martin until the two appeared via Zoom on "Tamron Hall Show." "It's kind of crazy because we work with such awesome people on this movie," Armitage said. Hall introduced the two actors and they very sweetly exchanged greetings with one another.

While Armitage hadn't always been a fan of "PAW Patrol" before starring in the movie, he did share with "Mama's Geeky" the ways in which he felt he was like his character, Chase. "I think my main way that I'm like Chase is I always try to help other people," the actor explained, adding, "Chase always stands up for what's right, which is another really good and important skill."

Proving that he's not that different from his brainy character Sheldon Cooper, Iain Armitage picked up a very intellectual hobby. The actor loved learning new languages, sometimes studying between takes while filming "Young Sheldon." For instance, Armitage learned to speak Arabic after being inspired by a trip he took to Egypt in 2023. "Whenever we visit a country, I have a great time there, I love trying to learn the language because it's a fun challenge," the actor shared with People.

And Arabic is not the only language Armitage has studied. The actor is also nearly fluent in Russian. "I wanted to learn Russian, so I was like, 'Why not?'" he shared on "Tamron Hall Show." Armitage has also picked up bits of other languages over the years, such as Assyrian, which his neighbors spoke, as well as some German, Italian, and Spanish. But that's not all. "And then I speak a little bit of Sinhalese [which is native to Sri Lanka] just because it has such an interesting-looking alphabet, which I love to learn how to read," Armitage shared with Arlington Magazine.