People are discovering who played ET more than four decades after the iconic film's release

It's been more than 40 years since ET was discovered hiding at the home of 10-year-old Elliot Taylor, but some fans of the movie are only just learning who was involved in bringing the alien to life.

Younger generations might scoff at some of the visuals in older movies, but before the epic, Avatar-level effects available now, filmmakers like Steven Spielberg made movie magic using more physical methods.

The fact that we're still talking about E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial over four decades after its release is proof that Spielberg did a pretty damn good job, with the movie having amassed millions of fans who regularly watch it as a familiar favorite, as well as having earned a near-perfect score of 99 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

But while Spielberg was the man behind the camera, he had some help in bringing ET to the big screen including not one, not two, but three actors who played the alien himself.

ET is a fan favorite among movie lovers (Universal Pictures)

During the creation of the movie, late actors Tamara De Treaux and Pat Bilon, both of who had dwarfism, donned ET's costume to perform the character's movements.

However, it's the third actor behind ET that some fans are only just learning about: Matthew De Meritt, who was reportedly just 11 years old when was contacted by the filmmakers to do a screen test.

De Meritt was born without legs, and in an interview with The Mirror in 2002, he recalled showing the crew how he could walk on his hands.

"There was a fitting and they took all my measurements and they filmed me walking on my hands," he said.

De Meritt was only a child when he played ET (Amblin Entertainment)

De Meritt continued: "I'm not sure what they were thinking when they got me down there. I'd never demonstrated to anybody that I could walk on my hands, and I don't see how they could think I could comfortably fit inside a costume and walk around and make a convincing alien - but it kind of worked out that way."

The young boy clearly had something the crew liked, so he was cast in the movie to round out the team behind ET.

Now, fans are sharing their surprise over this revelation after it was posted on X, formerly Twitter.

"Did not know! Was he listed in the credits? It's been ages since I've seen that movie," one user wrote, as another added: "I was today years old when I learnt this."

A third responded: "I had no idea."

De Meritt now largely stays out of the spotlight, but in 2022 he joined Spielberg and some of the other cast members for a screening of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in Hollywood for its 40th anniversary.