Allen Hoskins
Allen Clayton Hoskins (August 9, 1920 – July 26, 1980) was an American child actor, most famous for portraying the character of Farina in 105 Our Gang short films from 1922 to 1931.
Acting career 1920-1936
Our Gang
Rapid stardom
Born in Boston in 1920, Allen Clayton Hoskins was just one year old when his tenure with Our Gang began. His character stayed in the series through the silent years and the transition to talking pictures, and he left the series in 1931 at the age of eleven. With his pigtailed hair and patchy outfits, Farina resembled a pickaninny in the tradition of the character Topsy from Uncle Tom's Cabin, but as the character became more popular, and as Allen Hoskins got older, Farina developed his own personality separate from that of Topsy. The name "Farina", derived from a type of cereal, was chosen because its gender was ambiguous: As a toddler, Farina was portrayed as both a boy and a girl, sometimes both genders in the same film.
He was born in Boston in 1920 but soon after his parents, Clayton H. Hoskins and Florence A. Fortier Hoskins moved the family to Los Angeles and in 1922 his acting career began. His younger sister Jannie also appeared in the series as "Mango" (1926-1929) and Hoskins's aunt, Edith Fortier, was his guardian on set. Variety, the magazine devoted to entertainment, reported that his parents divorced in 1926. By that time he was 6 years old, an experienced child actor, and as "Farina" made more money than most working adults.
