From 'My Girl' to 'Veep:' How Anna Chlumsky avoided hazards of child stardom
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Anna Chlumsky got her big break in the 1991 coming-of-age drama "My Girl," costarring Jamie Lee Curtis and Macaulay Culkin.
The former child star has come a long way from the loveable tomboy she played at age 11. Now, the 34-year-old actress stars alongside "Seinfeld" alum Julia Louis Dreyfus as the uptight and obscenity-prone Amy Brookheimer in HBO's "Veep."
Chlumsky remained tightlipped on the show's upcoming fourth season. She teased that a lot is in store for the dysfunctional set of characters.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I think that the theme right now is [be] careful what you wish for and that's going to be the main thing for people to see," she told FOX411 at New York City's Paley Center for Media.
Despite the success of "My Girl" -- it was quickly followed up with a sequel in 1994 -- Chlumsky only appeared in two more films in the '90s. Perhaps it was this return to normalcy that helped the actress avoid the oh-so-familiar tale of the troubled child star.
Before returning to acting in 2005, Chlumsky earned a BA in International Studies at the University of Chicago and took jobs as a fact checker for Zagat and an editorial assistant at HarperCollins.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Thankfully for "Veep" fans, Chlumsky chose to return to acting but her favorite day job? Being a mom.
The actress welcomed daughter Penelope Joan with Army Reserve husband Shaun So in 2013. She told FOX411 she wasn't so keen on her daughter getting into child acting.
"Once she's 18, yeah," Chlumsky said. "I don't see a necessity for her to be a professional before she's an adult but she should definitely pursue anything she wants."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Veep returns to HBO on April 12.