For more than a decade, Former Child Star Central has been a leading source for news, information and assorted thoughts about our virtual peers -- the famous faces with whom we grew up, if only at a distance.

Joal Ryan is the editor, founder and publisher.

Called an "information mecca" by the London Times, Former Child Star Central has been featured on CNN, and noted by Newsweek, Politico, Entertainment Weekly, Salon, FishbowlLA, AMC, Movieline, the Boston Phoenix, Film Threat and many others. It is consistently Google's No. 1 search result for the magic phrases "child star" and/or "former child star."

Originated in 1997 as the ezine, Former Child Star Palooza, Former Child Star Central became a stand-alone site in 1999, and a blog in 2008. It went on hiatus in 2009. One day, when Blogger can import TypePad files, all the content from the blog will be available. Until then, we muddle through.

Ryan is a Los Angeles-based entertainment journalist, and the author of several books, including Former Child Stars: The Story of America's Least Wanted (ECW Press).