Child star who still gets paid for Titanic shares exactly how much he's made in total 25 years on

When you think of the big stars of the Titanic, it’s likely your mind of course goes to Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

But what about the little Irish lad? You know the one, he’s got a short but emotional role as a third-class passenger on the ship.

And with the iconic film now at over 26-years-old, the child star who played the kid has shared just how much money he’s made from it over the years.

Watch him in action here:

Reece Thompson appeared in the 1997 Hollywood movie when he was only five years old.

Obviously, it wasn’t exactly a happy ending for his character who we see at one point waiting with his mum and sister to get onto a lifeboat.

But later, the three of them are shown tragically dead in their cabin.

And sure, you might say Thompson’s role wasn’t exactly crucial to the plot of Titanic, but it highlighted the horrific reality of the real poor passengers on board.

Paramount Pictures

Reece claims to remember only a little from his time on-set for the film, but each year a royalty cheque for a small sum reminds him in the Oscar-winning film.

He says his talent agent offered his mother two options: either star in an ad for a petrol station, or take a small part in 'a major motion picture'.

The ad was the safer option.

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However, Reece's mother decided to put her child forward for the role in Titanic - now the third highest-grossing film of all time.

Reece told Business Insider back in 2018: "It turned out to be one of the highest-grossing films in history, so it's pretty bizarre in retrospect.

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"My mum was like: 'Let's just do it. It'll be cool. Even if the movie sucks, we'll see it.'

"Obviously, it ended up exploding, so that wasn't a bad decision on her part, that's for sure."

The cheques that arrive each year add up to more than you might expect for such a minor part.

"It's weird because it's not present in my mind anymore," Reece said. "It's not like, 'Oh, when am I going to get a new Titanic check?'

"When it happens, it's like, 'Oh, cool, an extra $100.'

"There have been a couple of times where it's been like: 'Oh, wow, that's a $250 check.'

"But hopefully, they keep playing it a lot because that means more money for me."

Additional words by Claire Reid.