History Main / CircusBrat

[[folder:Films]]
* The main character from ''Film/MirrorMask.'' She [[IJustWantToBeNormal wants to run away from the circus and join real life]] [[spoiler:though she seems to have come around by the end]].
* In ''Film/CharliesAngelsFullThrottle'', the assassin known as the Thin Man is revealed (in a detailed flashback) to have been the child of Romanian circus performers who died in a fire.

* ''Film/TheGreatestShowman'' details the first circus, so naturally, there aren't many in Barnum's act who had been in the circus before. Regardless, the Wheelers are implied to have ''some'' sort of previous acrobatics and trapeze experience, and Anne is one of the youngest in the show.

* Sumire Nozaki in ''[[VisualNovel/TokimekiMemorial Tokimeki Memorial 2]]''. A SecretCharacter in this game, [[ADayInTheLimelight she gets]] [[IncrediblyLamePun more spotlight]] in the ConceptArtGallery spin-off game ''Tokimeki Memorial 2 Music Video Clips : Circus de Aimashou''.

* This seemed to be the case for one-shot character Espa Roba from the original ''Anime/YuGiOh''. He and his younger brothers were former carnies (Espa presumably a carnival psychic, given his [[PhonyPsychic methods of dueling later]]), with Espa being PromotedToParent for his siblings via some unknown incident.

* The title character of the 1923 musical ''Poppy'' (and that of its silent film adaptation, ''Sally of the Sawdust'') is a HeartwarmingOrphan brought up in the circus as a FortuneTeller by Professor Eustace [=McGargle=] (portrayed on stage and screen by Creator/WCFields), a magnificently hypocritical ConMan.

* ''Literature/InCryptid'': Frances Brown was left as a DoorstopBaby at the Campbell Family Carnival, and raised by the carnies. She ended up becoming their star performer until she left with Jonathan Healy, but she stays in touch with her friends there, and Jonathan even arranges for the Carnival to come to Buckley for their wedding.

This trope often applies to the children of carnies as well. Compare WrestlingFamily. Also compare TheRunaway, which often involves a child running away to the circus to become a Circus Brat.

This trope often applies to the children of carnies as well. Compare WrestlingFamily. Also compare TheRunaway, which often involves a child running away to the circus to become a CircusBrat.

* Razputin from ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}''. In an inversion, he ran ''away'' from the circus. He had a strict upbringing [[spoiler:because his father was trying to prepare him for encounters with their family's many enemies, who were hinted at in a SequelHook that [[VideoGame/Psychonauts2 eventually took off.]]]]

* Frequent moves have left the character highly street-smart and savvy about traveling.

* Being especially good at reading people and looking through lies, manipulations, and [[TheCon various con games]] due to growing up around carnies and {{stage magician}}s who were proficient in illusions and underhanded tricks.

This trope often applies to the children of carnies as well. Compare WrestlingFamily.

* Ellis from ''VideoGame/BattleArenaToshinden''. Thanks to horrific events in her past, her [[PapaWolf father]] sent her to be raised anonymously as a dancer in a Turkish traveling circus in order to keep her safe from the mysterious organization hunting them. As result, she became an extremely skilled DanceBattler, arguably one of the fastest playable characters in the game and capable of jumps and acrobacies that [[NotQuiteFlight actually makes the viewers think she can fly]].

* Pictured above: Rita from ''Anime/MichikoToHatchin''.

[[quoteright:280:[[Anime/MichikoToHatchin https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michiko_to_hatchin_rita12.jpg]]]]

* ''Literature/TheBoundless'': [[TheProtagonist Will]] meets a girl in Winnipeg that is a wire walker for the Klax Bros. Circus. Her dream is to be an escape artist.

* Sir UsefulNotes/JohnMajor, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1990-1997, was the son of a retired circus performer. This gave rise to the joke that he ran away from the circus to become an accountant.

* Lucy from ''Literature/ATaleOfMagic'' spent the first thirteen years of her life traveling in a band. She played the tambourine.

* Lucy from ''Literature/ATaleOfMagic''spent the first thirteen years of her life traveling in a band. She played the tambourine.

* Regina Berry in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll''. She's very sheltered in many respects, such as having no concept of death and finding nothing strange about [[spoiler: a marriage proposal from a ventriloquist's dummy. Not the performer, his dummy.]]
* Jetta Maxx from ''VideoGame/EternalChampions''.

* Sumire Nozaki in ''[[VisualNovel/TokimekiMemorial Tokimeki Memorial 2]]''. A SecretCharacter in this game, [[ADayInTheLimelight she gets]] [[IncrediblyLamePun more spotlight]] in the ConceptArtGallery spin-off game ''Tokimeki Memorial 2 Music Video Clips : Circus de Aimashou''.
* Peppita Rossetti from ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' :

** Parodied (with a partial reference to John Major's backstory, see below) in the novel ''Discworld/MakingMoney''. It turns out that [[spoiler:Mr. Bent, the ObstructiveBureaucrat chief cashier was the illegitimate son of a particularly famous clown. Because of his natural talent for clowning, he was asked to perform after he reunited with his father; alas, he was traumatized because ''everybody was laughing at him'', and they somehow neglected to warn him that it was ''supposed'' to happen[[note]]Of course, being laughed at ''is'' actually an unusual experience for a Discworld clown, and opinion seems to be divided as to whether it's even a desirable one[[/note]]. Bent ran away ''from'' the circus and joined a group of Traveling Accountants, [[TheUnfunny swearing off laughter, humor, and "silliness"]] for decades.]]
** After escaping from an OrphanageOfFear, the two-bodied Miss Level from ''Discworld/AHatFullOfSky'' spent the rest of her childhood at Monty Bladder's Three-Ring Circus as Topsy and Tipsy, the Astounding Mind Reading Act (and the Astounding Bohonkus Sisters, who juggled plates) before eventually leaving due to a NoodleIncident with a clown and becoming a witch.

* [[Music/TheMonkees Micky Dolenz]] played one in the old 1950s TV series ''Circus Boy''.

* Razputin from ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}''. In an inversion, he ran ''away'' from the circus. He had a strict upbringing [[spoiler:because his father was trying to prepare him for encounters with their family's many enemies, who were hinted at in a SequelHook that never took off, sadly.]]

* In at least one strategy guide, [[MadScientist Doctor Neo Cortex]] of ''Franchise/CrashBandicoot'' is said to have been raised in a family of circus performers, and was literally branded a nerd due to his preference to science over the performing arts (hence the "N" on his forehead).