Former child actor reveals he's still cashing in on Titanic role 25 years later

Reece Thompson has revealed that he’s still earning money from his role as the ‘little Irish boy’ in Titanic – even 25 years after the film.

The former child actor was only five years old when he appeared as a third-class passenger on board the Titanic in the classic 1997 movie.

Reece’s character sadly dies alongside his mother and sister in the film – but he appears in three scenes and delivers one line as disaster strikes the ship.

Initially, the young boy is waiting for the third-class main gate to be opened, but they never made it onto the lifeboat.

Later on, the boy, his mum and his sister are all shown in their cabin – where they died together.

Now at 30-years-old, Reece is the digital marketing director at Brian Head Resort – a skiing and snowboarding facility in Utah.

With that, it’s fair to say he’s certainly grown up in the years since the Oscar-winning flick came out.

Reece revealed that he doesn’t remember much about his role in the film, which was directed by James Cameron.

However, he said that he gets reminded of it every year when he receives a couple of cheques for his stint in the film.

Reece’s mum had originally been asked to choose between Thompson starring in Titanic or an advert for a petrol station.

As the third-highest-grossing film in history, it’s fair to say Reece’s mum made a smart choice.

Reece told Business Insider: “It turned out to be one of the highest-grossing films in history, so it’s pretty bizarre in retrospect.”

“My mom 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.”

He admitted that he struggled with his Irish accent.

Reece said: “If you listen to it, it doesn’t sound very Irish,” he said. “It just sounds soft-spoken. I remember trying to mimic what the speech coach was trying to do. That’s as close as I got.”

The actor was paid a set fee for his time on set, which came to a total of around £22,000.

The money was invested into bank accounts which has since been spent on education, his car and living expenses.

The actor, who started out as a child model, said he received cheques in the ‘low thousands’ for the role on a quarterly basis, but the figure dropped to around £150 to £250 a year.

Thompson said: “It’s weird because it’s not present in my mind anymore,” he said. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, when am I going to get a new “Titanic” cheque?’ When it happens, it’s like, ‘Oh, cool, an extra $100.”

He added: “There have been a couple of times where it’s been like: ‘Oh, wow, that’s a $250 check. This movie’s 25 years old. That’s pretty bizarre.

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

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