Dorfman made his film debut in the dark comedy-drama “Panic” (2000), starring William H. Macy as dotting father and unhappy husband who visits a psychiatrist for the stress built up from years of being an assassin. In “Bounce” (2000), he played the son of Aby (Gwyneth Paltrow), who meets the man (Ben Affleck) her dead husband exchanged airplane tickets with prior to its fatal crash. By far, Dorfman’s biggest role was in “The Ring” (2002), an unexpected hit remade from the Japanese “Ringu” (1998) by Hideo Nakata. Playing the son of a Seattle journalist (Naomi Watts) who is haunted and hunted by the spirit of a murdered girl and fearing she will die after watching a surreal sepia-toned videotape, Dorfman more than held his own with star Watts, emitting a cool and sometimes eerie maturity.
Next, Dorfman played another creepy kid in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003), a rehash of the 1974 cult classic. In “The Singing Detective” (2003), Dorfman portrayed pulp writer Dan Dark (Robert Downey, Jr.) as a child in this musical-mystery based on the BBC miniseries of the same name. After guest starring in a couple episodes of “Joan of Arcadia” (CBS, 2003- ), he played one of two children who travel through space on a quest to find their father who suddenly disappeared in the Wonderful World of Disney children’s fantasy, “A Wrinkle in Time” (ABC, 2004). Dorfman later revived his role as the spooky son of Naomi Watts in the inevitable sequel, “The Ring 2” (2005). Reviews were tepid at beast, with some critics calling the movie boring, derivative and uninspiring, but Dorfman's acting skills continued to show increased subtlety and maturity.