 He made his first film appearance at age six in 1926, in the short "Not to be Trusted".Rooney got bit parts in films such as "The Beast of the City" (1932) and "The Life of Jimmy Dolan" (1933), which allowed him to work alongside stars such as Joel McCrea, Colleen Moore, Clark Gable, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Wayne and Jean Harlow.He enrolled in the Hollywood Professional School and later attended Hollywood High School, graduating in 1938.