Child actor Justin Cooper recalls prison mail from '90s fame

As a child starring in 1990s hits like Liar Liar, Justin Cooper later learned his mother had shielded him from disturbing prison fan mail. The now-37 actor said inmates wrote about how he was "such a cute kid," revealing a darker side of early fame his mom never showed him at the time.

Key Takeaways

• Justin Cooper, who played Jim Carrey's son in the 1997 comedy Liar Liar, said he was about eight when fame brought unsettling fan attention.
• His mother later told him about letters from prisoners who called themselves fans and described him as a "cute kid"—mail she never showed him as a child.
• Cooper praised his mom for never leaving him alone with anyone on set and for confronting comedian Don Rickles over on-set language.
• After years of '90s TV and film work, he stepped away as a teen when auditions started to feel like chores instead of fun.
• Today he works behind the mic as an executive producer on FOX Sports Radio's The Ben Maller Show.

For fans of '90s Hollywood, Cooper's story lands squarely in that bittersweet nostalgia then-and-now lane: the kid from a blockbuster comedy looking back at what fame really cost.

What did Justin Cooper say about the prison fan mail?

On the Not So Little Rascals podcast with co-hosts Jordan Warkol and Blake Collins, Cooper was asked about overwhelming or scary moments of childhood fame. He credited his mother with doing "a really good job" of shielding him from the outside world while he grew up in front of cameras.

Still, he said, scary moments existed. "She would tell me later on about, like, prison mail that I would get that she never showed me," Cooper recalled, according to coverage from Fox News and Page Six.

Those letters came from people in jail. Cooper described "dudes in jail talking about how they're such a big fan of me" and calling him "such a cute kid." The podcast hosts reacted with shock, calling the mail "next level" and "wild."

He was a child when the letters arrived. His mother kept them away from him then and only told him about them years later—a detail that underlines how carefully she managed his exposure to fame's darker edges.

How did his mother protect him on set and at home?

Cooper said his mom "never, ever left me alone with anybody on set." He contrasted her approach with stories of other acting parents who told their kids to do whatever crews asked and then walked away.

"My mom was not like that," he said. "Almost to a fault." That vigilance, he suggested, mattered in an industry where a child can be left unsupervised around adults they barely know.

One story that still "blew [his] mind" involved comedian Don Rickles, who played Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace Strikes Again. Rickles was known for foul-mouthed comedy. Cooper's mother approached him and said she did not want that kind of language used in front of her kid.

During the same era, Cooper also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno alongside Melissa Joan Hart—another reminder of how visible a child star could become overnight after a hit film.

What was life like after Liar Liar made him famous?

Cooper played Jim Carrey's on-screen son in Tom Shadyac's 1997 hit, in which Carrey portrayed a pathological liar-lawyer who could not tell a lie for 24 hours. The film also featured Maura Tierney, Cary Elwes, and Jennifer Tilly. Cooper earned a Young Artist Award nomination for best performance in a feature film by an actor aged 10 or under.

Instant recognition followed. "I couldn't really go anywhere in public," he said. He still "enjoyed it" and "thought it was cool," though he admitted it "probably annoyed" his family more than it bothered him.

People would line up at their hometown buffet to ask for autographs. For a child thrust into sudden fame, even a simple family dinner outing could turn into an unexpected meet-and-greet.

Beyond Liar Liar, Cooper starred in the 1998 direct-to-video Dennis the Menace Strikes Again and had lengthier TV runs on The Boys Are Back and Brother's Keeper. He also made one-off appearances on Full House, ER, General Hospital, and Boy Meets World. His most recent acting credit is a 2003 episode of The Practice.

Why did the child star leave Hollywood as a teen?

After years in the business, Cooper stepped away when auditions started to feel like work. He described long car rides—45 or 50 minutes out—then the audition itself, then homework waiting at home, when what he really wanted was to "go home right now and talk to girls on AIM."

His mother noticed the shift. After he kept resisting new auditions, she told him he did not have to continue if he did not want to. Cooper worried she might feel disappointed because she had been so closely tied to his career—taking him to auditions, helping him, and running lines with him throughout his acting years.

"My relationship with my mom was great for most of the time," he said. In high school it grew strained after he stopped acting and started smoking weed. She found his stash, and that "put a little strain" on them for a while.

These days, Cooper—now 37—works as an executive producer on The Ben Maller Show on FOX Sports Radio, a far cry from buffet autograph lines and prison envelopes addressed to an eight-year-old.

His recollection does not rewrite the sunny reputation of Liar Liar. It does, however, put a sharper edge on what child stardom could mean in the late '90s: talk-show appearances and public recognition for the kid, and a parent quietly intercepting mail that never should have reached a child's hands.