The Hit Nicole Kidman Drama You Didn't Know Young Sheldon's Iain Armitage Was In

Iain Armitage became a household name thanks to "Young Sheldon," but he'd already worked in some seriously impressive productions even before then. One of those was the Nicole Kidman-starring "Big Little Lies," though as fans of the show will no doubt recall, the Australian star was just one of many A-listers in the cast. 

Armitage played Ziggy Chapman on "Big Little Lies," the son of Shailene Woodley's character, and the child accused of biting Laura Dern's on-screen daughter. Like we said, the production was star-studded. Even with all the established names on the show, though, Armitage certainly made an impression on his colleagues. For one, he grew super close with Woodley, whom he told W was "like my real mom." The two would stay close after the show's second season wrapped, and during an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon," Woodley gushed of the youngster who'd since started working on "Young Sheldon," "He's so smart and wise and has a good heart. It's just been beautiful to watch him grow."

Armitage also connected with "Big Little Lies" Season 2 star Meryl Streep, and in his 2019 W interview, he shared, "One time on the set there was a piano, and I asked my mom if I could go over and play it. And she said, 'Oh no, not right now, I think they're busy.' And then Mrs. Meryl came up and said, 'Oh they would like to hear him play, is it alright if he does it?'" Armitage added that he and the Oscar-winning legend played together. As for Kidman, though Armitage didn't have many scenes with her, he nonetheless described her as "wonderful" in an interview with Yahoo! Lifestyle. What's more, he even ended up having playdates with her and Keith Urban's daughters, who were also on the show as background actors.

So, Iain Armitage was on "Big Little Lies" before he was "Young Sheldon." However, fans of his may know that even before that, he worked with even more A-listers in the 2017 film "Our Souls at Night." Yes, the same one that starred icons Jane Fonda and Robert Redford.

As he would with his "Big Little Lies" and "Young Sheldon" colleagues, Armitage charmed his co-stars, and Fonda has long made a point of giving the youngster his flowers. In fact, in 2019, she lauded him for getting involved with her "Fire Drill Friday" campaign. Speaking to "AM to DM," she quipped, "Young Iain Armitage, who's the star of 'Young Sheldon,' he's 11 years old. He was so mad that he was too young to get arrested." Even so, the oft-arrested Fonda applauded him for the speech he'd given, and the following year, she reminded her fans that he'd been a part of it. In an Instagram caption of a pic of him posing with her book, "What Can I Do? My Path from Climate Despair to Action," Fonda wrote, "He stars as 'Young Sheldon,' was my grandson in 'Our Souls at Night' and attended 2 Fire Drill Fridays in DC last winter."

As for Armitage's relationship with Redford, he pointed to that in the wake of the Hollywood icon's 2025 death at the age of 89. "He was kind to me. I was a lucky kid who got to roast marshmallows, go fishing, play basketball and assemble toy trains with Robert Redford in a beautiful part of the world. I am grateful for it and will never forget it," he penned in an Instagram post. With manners like that, no wonder "Young Sheldon" star has the who's-who of Hollywood charmed.