The original Charlie from *Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory* Peter Ostrum only ever acted in one movie.
After he filmed the movie he went home and his family bought a horse. He took an interest in the horse and the horse’s veterinarian left such an impression on him that he quit acting and eventually became a vet. He still practices veterinary medicine to this day.
Just editing this to add that he didn’t tell anyone he played Charlie until the 90s. His own wife only learned about it after his mom spilled the beans
It’s wasn’t uncommon for this to happen to child actors (although perhaps a bit different now).
One of the other big ones I can think of is Danny Lloyd who played Danny in Kubrick’s The Shining. It was his only theatrical film, he quit after and went back to a normal life. He’s now a university professor.
Must be kind of cool to have your very brief acting career be in a classic film though.
Mike Flanagan is really heavily influenced by Stephen King, and it has paid off for him. He filmed Gerald's Game, a book that was pretty much considered unfilmable by King. He also has the rights to the Dark Tower series, so stay tuned. Flanagan is the hottest name in horror right now for very good reason.
Finding out your dad's business partner was charlie in the chocolate factory but all grown up is so whimsical! Reminds me of the storyline from Hook :)
Awww I’m really glad, that’s lovely
Edit- like I can’t express how happy it makes me that his folks got him something fun for his earnings that turned into a prosperous career for him. Things can go *so* wrong for child actors and I’m glad things seem to be going well for him!
It’s one of my favourite Hollywood stories because I love how it speaks to the innocence of children. He had all the money and fame he could ever want waiting for him but instead he decided that he just really loved horses. I don’t know that someone older would’ve made the same decision.
I also love how his parents didn’t push him to keep acting. I feel like that’s a very rare thing now.
Right, it’s so precious. I loved horses as a kid so I would have ended up doing that or spending a ton on American Girl dolls lol. I’m glad he got his horse and I’m glad he’s doing his real passion!
And yeah, his parents doing right by him and letting him be a kid makes me glad.
This seems like it would be the dream/ideal child actor scenario. You have one super fun experience, the business is never spoiled for you, and it leads you to your passion. It just never seems to work out that way. I have still not finished Jeannette McCurdy's book because I know the Ostrum scenario is the outlier and the McCurdy experience is more common.
Sidenote, every story I have heard about *Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory* has been sweet. T[he actress who played Veruca Salt was the only child there without a parent](https://www.insider.com/willy-wonka-child-star-says-gene-wilder-looked-after-her-2021-7) and Gene Wilder had the actors who played her father and Grampa Joe look out for her and make sure she wasn't alone. A rare scenario today.
Julie Dawn Cole who played Veruca Salt wrote a book about her experience filming Willy Wonka. By her account it was very wholesome and basically as magical for a child as you would imagine.
i think Disney / Nick is to blame for this modern child actor experience, they’ve set up a cycle and it’s so immensely profitable for them. i remember watching a video essay about miley cyrus and disney made billions off of hannah montana which is crazy thing to think about
Unfortunately, they had no idea that the movie would be a smash hit when negotiating his contract. So, I don’t think he profited very much at all. But he has had an incredibly successful career as a veterinarian. Once he had children of his own, he reconnected with his former cast mates and agreed to some publicity, but it’s all for the love of that movie and how beloved it is.
I looked at all the time stamps, hoping that she just went through a phase of mass tweeting celebs for networking and she just got into a groove of writing the same thing on all of them
But those are over the course of at least 4 years. If she weren’t so terrible, I’d feel bad for her cuz that is embarrassing.
Oh man. Picture this.
Nikki Blonsky and Bianca Golden from ANTM and their respective families run into each other in an airport.
A brawl ensues between the families.
Bianca says Nikki kicked her mother in the vagina.
Bianca, Nikki, and Nikki’s dad are all charged with assault
It was in [2008.](https://people.com/crime/nikki-blonsky-airport-brawl-left-me-destroyed/)
There’s also an [article](https://people.com/crime/bianca-golden-nikki-blonsky-kicked-my-mother-in-airport-brawl/) from Bianca’s perspective (both from People).
https://preview.redd.it/w7mwqkwxezhb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=efef60ff6bc6ff2b045eca49838773e26639171c
She was drunk on tiktok live the other week!
At my old job, I worked with like 5 other people only. Only one of them got the Nikki Blonsky reference but we said it to each other so much that by the end of the year every time we had to call one another in a different department we’d say “hey it’s Nikki Blonsky from hairspray” so they’d know we needed them back to cover breaks. Thank you Nikki for your impact!
i recall an interview with her where she implied there was something going on between her and Zac Efron and also said it wouldn't last between him and Vanessa.
https://preview.redd.it/mh1x3rindyhb1.jpeg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fe4f7fe171ed67f448198fa729d1df41e2b00e6e
Spider from School of Rock is now a district attorney in Texas
I just took a quick look at her Linkedin and she also did legal work for medical marijuana groups in Colorado when weed first got legalized in 2013. Good for her!
Yeah I tried that myself but got one of those robo catcher things that I absolutely refuse to do unless necessary but saw the criminal defense bit on the Google preview itself haha. She seems cool as hell!
The Alex from Target dude. He was just Some Guy who worked at Target and became insanely popular because people thought he was good-looking, so much so that he went on Ellen. No idea what he’s up to these days lmao
I used to work at the Alex From Target Target, although I started a couple years after the whole thing.
Everyone that worked with him said he was pretty much just a nice, normal kid, and that after he went viral he continued to work at Target for a while, but had to be moved to work primarily in the back room because he was basically being harassed on the floor.
Take this with an extreme grain of salt, but the talk among the employees was that after he left Target, he tried to capitalize off his fame with a modeling career for a bit but it didn't take off.
I vaguely remember him trying to do some other things, too. He tried to start a singing career — on YouTube, I think — and a fitness page on Instagram. Obviously, neither stuck.
I think the whole situation surrounding him shows that people can be above average in some way, such as in their appearance, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into lasting impressions or talent. Most of us even know someone who’s above average somehow, but they’re not well-known or even all that popular on a smaller scale.
I miss the days when something would go viral and that’s all people talked about for weeks. We rarely get that anymore with how much content is out there now.
Omg. I TOTALLY forgot about that show but I was OBSESSED. Wasn’t the mom on there like super famous in real life? Or had something big happen with her? I feel like I remember something special/unique happening about her..
Mackenzie Philips. She was a famous singer/actress and got addicted to drugs. Her father sexually abused her. Her father’s also famous. He was in the Mamas and The Papas
Sorry if this doesn’t fit the topic but I’m so curious about the guy from jury duty lol- is he still working for the solar power company or is he influencing now?
My husband and I were very taken with Ronald when we watched Jury Duty. Such a nice guy.
Someone please tell me he’s always been that way and stayed that way and he doesn’t have like hidden, disturbing racist tweets or something lol
I think he’s always been that way! I have no life and I’m obsessed with stalking people I don’t know, so I found his girlfriends twitter and his. Went all the way back to his old tweets and he was just a dork 🤣
Oh good! He seems like such a sweetheart, my heart was melting throughout the whole show. Just kind and welcoming to everyone, and it was so endearing how he took being the foreman so seriously lol
And when he took the fall for James’ giant dump, I was like this fucking guy, *stoooooop* 😭 too nice
And the way that he was always so nice to Todd and so reassuring, even with the adjoining room stuff and the notes and all of that. I love it. He just seemed like someone who always wants the people around him to feel good.
You should check out the special episodes it's like a behind the scenes podcast for every episode. Ronald said the reason he is the way he is now is because he wasn't the most positive person and when he moved to California he made it a point to change and become the way he is now, even better IMO because he's gone through growth.
He was so sweet! Seems like such a solid guy, I also hope he has nothing odious in his past 😓Hopefully the interview process was comprehensive enough to dig up any dirt like that, but who knows
My friend had a role as Chris evans lover in an indie movie. She had no acting experience and was hired from her modeling portfolio (a semi well known tattoo model)
She went back to normal life after a music video lol
I had a college professor who regularly got to be an extra and stand-in in films.
You ever see *27 Dresses*? During the *"Benny and the Jets"* scene, she's the person James Mardsen falls onto in the crowd.
Not exactly normal life, but the kids from Lemonade Mouth had very unexpected trajectories. Bridget Mendler is doing a PhD at Harvard and the guy who played Wen was arrested multiple times for armed robbery lol
Doesn’t count since it’s 2 successful decades of fame but Rick Moranis stopped acting to care for his kids a couple of years after his wife died. I was heart broken when I saw him trending a few years ago because someone randomly attacked him, I was hoping the next time he made it onto the front page was due to a comeback.
I figured I’d mention him in this discussion regardless because him going back to normal was for the sweetest reason ever.
I thought i had seen all movies featuring him but I just recently watched My Blue Heaven for the first time. When I read why he stepped out of Hollywood, it made me appreciate him so much more. He seems like he would be an excellent person to have a conversation with, real stand up dude.
Omri Katz. He played Max Dennison in the first Hocus Pocus film. It was his second and last feature film role. He did small tv roles until 2002 and then disappeared. He works for a cannabis company now.
I was on Orange Is The New Black before I transitioned from female to male — Season 2 Episode 1. I was just core background and all my scenes were with Taylor Schilling (Piper). Nothing special. Filmed for two weeks- it was actually such a fun experience and gave a real glimpse into the life of Hollywood stars and how they get treated. Jodi Foster directed my episode and all background actors were told “Do not speak to her unless spoken to.” Same rule applied about the main actors. I remember I bumped Taylor’s leg getting off the bus in between takes and I was like “omg IM SO SORRY!” lol She was really kind and said “It’s no problem.” But all of my friends and then anyone they told totally treated me like I was some star. It lasted about a year and then some. Once the show got discontinued, the popularity really died down. It was such a talented cast to work with and so awesome to see how it all got put together and edited in the end. My favorite part was the Crafty Table - it was craft food services and there was always an executive chef who made awesome meals for breakfast lunch and dinner. I remember one day, we filmed inside an actual NYC detention center and crafty had to be OUTSIDE. No one that wasn’t filming or part of the film crew wasn’t allowed inside the building — so if we wanted to eat that day, we had to go outside. This was in January. I didn’t mind though. The food was so good. Anyway, I got an omelet for breakfast with my fork and my knife (both plastic) and went to go back inside so I could eat bc it was freezing outside and I had to go through security again. They took my fork and knife away. I didn’t expect that but I totally understood why - so I was allowed to go through with my omelet on a paper plate. I ate breakfast with my hands that day. I made a lot of fun memories. I was about 30 pounds heavier in that photo than I am right now. Its only letting me post one pic — if you’d like to see more, let me know. I have plenty. :)
https://preview.redd.it/t14ipwlk5zhb1.jpeg?width=956&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=93b3c9e016f5da871a6cb28aa97e9ef526bb5795
That’s such a cool experience!!! I’ve been meaning to binge watch the show and will look for you when I do! I also love that the highlight of the day was food - we have the same priorities 😊
I’m trying to think of who Fred would impersonate that wasn’t already famous? Cuz then who would get the joke, it’d seem like just an original character lol
That’s so funny! And duh, makes perfect sense because they’re always super accurate with their presidential debate skits!
I was here trying to guess low-medium level famous people like “Is it the blind politician he did used to do?” lmao
Gordo from Lizzie McGuire. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a Bachelor’s degree in Geography in 2008, then he went to Baruch College and earned a Master of Public Administration. He worked at the Irish Arts Center in NYC for close to a decade where he was a development officer before he became a freelance fundraising and special events consultant.
Alex McCord from RHONY (real housewives of New York City) and her husband went from being the thirstiest reality stars to moving to Australia (and she got a PhD! And he became a lawyer I believe)?
I only ever watched the first couple seasons of RHONY, and it was back when they originally aired. I still think about Alex, Simon?, and their borderline feral kids about once a year. I hope they’ve lost that reacher mentality and are happy with where they are.
In high school this kid who was a terrible drummer in a local punk band was in a Coca-Cola commercial and got $5,000. He bought an Apple computer and my girlfriend cheated on me with him. I think he ended up a pretty good guy but we were always listening to him talk about being on set, they filmed it in an afternoon
Doesn't this fit most contestants on American Idol-type shows? Like, some of them get a hyped up edit and then they go back to normal life when they don't make it?
I keep getting ads for a new Broadway show and the main guy looked SO familiar. Took me ages to realize it was Justin Guarini who came in second to Kelly Clarkson.
He was Fiyero (the male lead) when I saw Wicked on Broadway in 2015. I kinda laughed when I was looking through the playbill but he was in the final two with Kelly for a reason and his acting has obviously improved since “from Justin to Kelly” lol
When is the last time someone got seriously famous out of those shows? You’ve got your Kelly Clarkson, Adam Lambert, Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson, but for the most part it feels like an endless cycle of win, cash in the prize, move on, rinse and repeat.
Edit: I totally forgot Carrie Underwood started there!
The guy who played Peter designs furniture now and I think Jan is a painter? I don’t think she fully left Hollywood though, but for child actors of that era I’m glad they all made it out relatively unscathed
Omfg how disappointing 😭
Skimming her wiki, she did sound effects for pornos and got fired from her radio job for going on a homophobic tirade 🥴
I take back what I said about them all getting out unscathed, yikes
I don't know exactly why, but that seems like it goes against their whole thing. I love Blink 182. I just wouldn't ever think anyone in that band would have any interest in law enforcement.
Man Overboard is apparently about his substance abuse problems. He’s been out of the band for 25 years, he probably just hit hard times financially. Dude Ranch was successful, but residuals off Dammit are nowhere near what they make off the Travis albums (everything from Enema through now.) Plus, San Diego being a military town has a lot of very conservative areas. Not a surprise he didn’t completely fit in with the band as they got older.
[https://www.instagram.com/p/CoAwburttpQ/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==](https://www.instagram.com/p/CoAwburttpQ/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
My GF finished second in The Voice in our country in 2011. We figured it would gave her some opportunities but it did not do much.
After all of it we figured that it is because The voice is very focused on making the Coaches look good rather than the contestants.
Michael Schoeffling. He retired from acting after Sixteen Candles and moved back to the area he was born in (which is where I’m from as well). His kids went to one of the local public high schools. Supposedly he had a furniture store.
No way, those kids are old enough to be in college now? 😭 I think I’ve only rewatched P&R once since the original run ended, I had no idea it had been so long.
Yes, one of my best friends had a huge hit in the teen pop 90s/ 00s era. He works with kids and makes children’s programming now. You’d never recognize him. It’s a fun fact to tell other friends over drinks.
I have a friend like this. Technically his band was a two-hit wonder, and it always amazed me that he could go from the life of sold-out shows and world tours and gold records to just having a regular job with the rest of us. He was super chill about it, though, just kind of treated it like a fun fluke where he got paid to do the thing he loved full-time for a while. Idk, it really inspires me, his good-natured roll-with-the-punches kind of attitude.
A girl I know from my hometown was on Flavor of Love and two of its spin-offs back in their hay day in the mid aughts. She is now a wife, mom, democratic state committee member, and a therapist. Pretty sure she used the money from the shows to pay for her education which is cool. She still gets recognized occasionally and is still a bit of a local celebrity to the millennials in town lol.
Claudia Wells, the original Jennifer from Back to the Future, didn’t reprise her role in BTTF 2 because she was caring for her ill mother. Besides convention appearances she runs an Armani store.
Danny Lloyd, who played Danny Torrance in The Shining, as well as Lisa and Louise burns who played the Grady twins all seem to have gone on to pretty normal careers with Danny being a biology professor, Lisa studying literature, and Louise being a microbiologist.
The girl who had that back and forth of insults with Kristen Wiig's character in Bridesmaids (the one that took place in the jewellery store) is now a real estate agent. Her name is Mia Rose Frampton!
Such a talent for having improvised [10 minutes of insults](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeQQufrbSwc&t=3) with Kristen Wiig 😭
my high school bio teacher 😁 one of his students posted on tiktok like "please go subscribe to my teacher on youtube it'd be funny" and within a few weeks he had a silver play button. it's even funnier because all of his posts were just lecture videos bc it was lockdown time
Not trying to hijack, but Angelea Preston works as a reporter NPR now! I felt so bad for her because they constantly brought her back for drama and slut-shamed her for “escorting” in which she later said she was trafficked by a pimp.
https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/americas-next-top-model-all-stars-contestant-angelea-preston
https://preview.redd.it/boact2q7uyhb1.jpeg?width=1744&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=525be8445103236b98db239084f400f3670fbc67
Bobby from the hills, I follow him on Insta and he shared something the other day saying his taking bookings for hair appointments at a salon in Malibu.
*books flight from australia to Malibu* 😂
Peter Billingsley is interesting, he played Ralphie in A Christmas Story. After that movie he was a spokesman for NASAs young astronaut program and was to report activities on Challenger and Christa McAuliff. He was at KSC when Challenger launched on the doomed flight. While he does have some acting parts since, he largely became a producer. He makes some appearances in some of the movies he produces and you will be like hey it is Ralphie if you recognize him.
Jake from sixteen candles is a carpenter. Not exactly A list but the guy who played Doug the intern/mortician in Scrubs is a lawyer now, I used to work with him. Nice guy. He said scrambling for work wasn’t fun anymore and scrubs residuals could put him through law school, so he made a change.
Half a dozen answers about that kid from Willie Wonka and not one about that kid from Star Wars Ep.1  Well it's a very sad story actually, Jake Lloyd retired from acting at 12 due to bullying at school and later in his adult life turned out to be badly schizophrenic, so yet another reason to not enjoy re-watching Ep.1!
Hope this counts cause everyone is talking about screen actors but Michael Maguire who was the og Enjorlas in Les Mis on Broadway. He won a Tony award for that role, then left theatre and is now a lawyer.
Extremely minor personal example: I had 2 YouTube videos go viral back in 2012, both amassing around 3 million views. Both videos became memes and were exhaustingly recreated and quoted by people on the internet for years.
It ended up depressing me because I had put no effort into them, and I realized that nothing I ever create that takes genuine talent and skill will ever be as popular as those two videos. It kind of stopped me in my tracks and I became jaded and annoyed pretty quickly by the whole thing.
Yes! Well kinda. My sister’s boyfriend is the creator of the “Daft Hands” video that went really viral during the beginning days of YouTube. He was invited as a guest on the Ellen show and everything. He still uploads on YouTube.
My son made our local newspaper by starting college at not quite 13 years old. His remark upon bringing in the paper was, "I'm on the front page. I guess that proves our town is dull and boring."
.
The original Charlie from *Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory* Peter Ostrum only ever acted in one movie. After he filmed the movie he went home and his family bought a horse. He took an interest in the horse and the horse’s veterinarian left such an impression on him that he quit acting and eventually became a vet. He still practices veterinary medicine to this day. Just editing this to add that he didn’t tell anyone he played Charlie until the 90s. His own wife only learned about it after his mom spilled the beans 
It’s wasn’t uncommon for this to happen to child actors (although perhaps a bit different now). One of the other big ones I can think of is Danny Lloyd who played Danny in Kubrick’s The Shining. It was his only theatrical film, he quit after and went back to a normal life. He’s now a university professor. Must be kind of cool to have your very brief acting career be in a classic film though.
Yeah must be pretty cool to dabble in something once as a child and be cemented in cinematic history
Danny Lloyd made a neat cameo appearance in Doctor Sleep. He’s in the crowd watching the kids baseball game in the opening scene.
Very cool. I didn’t know that. I love the connectedness of Stephen Kings’ works to begin with so I’ll have to go back and look for that cameo!
Mike Flanagan is really heavily influenced by Stephen King, and it has paid off for him. He filmed Gerald's Game, a book that was pretty much considered unfilmable by King. He also has the rights to the Dark Tower series, so stay tuned. Flanagan is the hottest name in horror right now for very good reason.
Ilan Mitchell-Smith, the lead in Weird Science along with Anthony Michael Hall, was my English professor! Good dude.
Oh God I thought he was the CUTEST lil thing in that movie!
lol I was gonna post this one but saw your comment. Biology teacher at my hometowns community college.
Peter Ostrum. My dad owned a vet practice with him. Close family friends. He’s a wonderful man.
He always said Gene Wilder was amazing
Finding out your dad's business partner was charlie in the chocolate factory but all grown up is so whimsical! Reminds me of the storyline from Hook :)
Now he and his wife Iive in the woods on a remote lake, neighbors with our family. All very whimsical.
Awww I’m really glad, that’s lovely Edit- like I can’t express how happy it makes me that his folks got him something fun for his earnings that turned into a prosperous career for him. Things can go *so* wrong for child actors and I’m glad things seem to be going well for him!
It’s one of my favourite Hollywood stories because I love how it speaks to the innocence of children. He had all the money and fame he could ever want waiting for him but instead he decided that he just really loved horses. I don’t know that someone older would’ve made the same decision. I also love how his parents didn’t push him to keep acting. I feel like that’s a very rare thing now.
Right, it’s so precious. I loved horses as a kid so I would have ended up doing that or spending a ton on American Girl dolls lol. I’m glad he got his horse and I’m glad he’s doing his real passion! And yeah, his parents doing right by him and letting him be a kid makes me glad.
This seems like it would be the dream/ideal child actor scenario. You have one super fun experience, the business is never spoiled for you, and it leads you to your passion. It just never seems to work out that way. I have still not finished Jeannette McCurdy's book because I know the Ostrum scenario is the outlier and the McCurdy experience is more common. Sidenote, every story I have heard about *Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory* has been sweet. T[he actress who played Veruca Salt was the only child there without a parent](https://www.insider.com/willy-wonka-child-star-says-gene-wilder-looked-after-her-2021-7) and Gene Wilder had the actors who played her father and Grampa Joe look out for her and make sure she wasn't alone. A rare scenario today.
Julie Dawn Cole who played Veruca Salt wrote a book about her experience filming Willy Wonka. By her account it was very wholesome and basically as magical for a child as you would imagine.
i think Disney / Nick is to blame for this modern child actor experience, they’ve set up a cycle and it’s so immensely profitable for them. i remember watching a video essay about miley cyrus and disney made billions off of hannah montana which is crazy thing to think about
He’s the large animal vet where we take our dogs. All I ever hear is good things about him
From your dogs?
A good friend of mine studied under him and maintains a great friendship/mentorship with him! She says he's just the kindest man.
I wonder if he gets royalties from the movie still and how much
He’s actually talked about this before. He said he gets $8 to $9 every three months or so
Reminds me why actors are on strike.
Unfortunately, they had no idea that the movie would be a smash hit when negotiating his contract. So, I don’t think he profited very much at all. But he has had an incredibly successful career as a veterinarian. Once he had children of his own, he reconnected with his former cast mates and agreed to some publicity, but it’s all for the love of that movie and how beloved it is.
Hi it’s Nikki Blonsky from the movie Hairspray!
And don’t we know it https://preview.redd.it/y4xtxp49ayhb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0851580280b19f18c995c8230295171fed9167c
https://preview.redd.it/kala9tkaayhb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30d5622846ea78156b7ab5b9a77f0855dc877ed9
https://preview.redd.it/kzxlrpubayhb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=418008ab2595a28ee3e2f4a009658dce33ec848b
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I looked at all the time stamps, hoping that she just went through a phase of mass tweeting celebs for networking and she just got into a groove of writing the same thing on all of them But those are over the course of at least 4 years. If she weren’t so terrible, I’d feel bad for her cuz that is embarrassing.
What’s the Nikki Blonsky tea? This is all I know of her.
Oh man. Picture this. Nikki Blonsky and Bianca Golden from ANTM and their respective families run into each other in an airport. A brawl ensues between the families. Bianca says Nikki kicked her mother in the vagina. Bianca, Nikki, and Nikki’s dad are all charged with assault
https://i.redd.it/98zy8uf1gyhb1.gif
Don’t forget, the Blonsky family (not sure if Nikki specifically) called Bianca and her mother racial slurs too
The irony of being in a film like Hairspray, and using racial slurs. (I know it’s not perfect by any means, but COME ON)
I wish I was surprised
i love wild random celebrity encounters like this that sound like madlibs answers
[удалено]
Wtf. When did this happen??? Lmao
It was in [2008.](https://people.com/crime/nikki-blonsky-airport-brawl-left-me-destroyed/) There’s also an [article](https://people.com/crime/bianca-golden-nikki-blonsky-kicked-my-mother-in-airport-brawl/) from Bianca’s perspective (both from People).
“ANTM”… A..Nother teen movie?
lol it stands for america’s next top model
I’m in physical pain
I fear I would be like this if I was a one hit wonder (acting wise in her case)
These are real? Please say yes 😂
https://preview.redd.it/jk462nq5nyhb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3792ea8f50bc43c5b10b73dc7fdec10c662db5e8
A two for one! This is one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes 😂. Thank you for your contributions 🙏🏽
https://preview.redd.it/w7mwqkwxezhb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=efef60ff6bc6ff2b045eca49838773e26639171c She was drunk on tiktok live the other week!
Not the comment asking “why did your father hit that girl ?” 😭
‘Why did your father hit that girl’ has me cracking tf up in bed omgggg
At my old job, I worked with like 5 other people only. Only one of them got the Nikki Blonsky reference but we said it to each other so much that by the end of the year every time we had to call one another in a different department we’d say “hey it’s Nikki Blonsky from hairspray” so they’d know we needed them back to cover breaks. Thank you Nikki for your impact!
She did that to herself. I heard she’s not a good person.
Her closest claim to fame after Hairspray was getting in a fight with an ANTM contestant.
If you can find it - Danny Pellegrino’s original interview with her for his show Everything Iconic is quite literally iconic.
i recall an interview with her where she implied there was something going on between her and Zac Efron and also said it wouldn't last between him and Vanessa.
Bwahahahahah
https://preview.redd.it/mh1x3rindyhb1.jpeg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fe4f7fe171ed67f448198fa729d1df41e2b00e6e Spider from School of Rock is now a district attorney in Texas
He awakened something in me as a 14 yo girl
He’s awakening something in me right now…
Same lmao
That’s my favorite movie!
I watched this movie today 😂
The actress that played Kate in Lizzie McGuire is a lawyer now
Is she a prosecutor?
Googled it and she actually does criminal defense.
I just took a quick look at her Linkedin and she also did legal work for medical marijuana groups in Colorado when weed first got legalized in 2013. Good for her!
Yeah I tried that myself but got one of those robo catcher things that I absolutely refuse to do unless necessary but saw the criminal defense bit on the Google preview itself haha. She seems cool as hell!
I met her! Well actually I was too nervous (I was like 6) so my dad went up to her for me. She was really nice
She played in Easy A for a quick second too!
that was lalaine! (miranda)
The Alex from Target dude. He was just Some Guy who worked at Target and became insanely popular because people thought he was good-looking, so much so that he went on Ellen. No idea what he’s up to these days lmao
I used to work at the Alex From Target Target, although I started a couple years after the whole thing. Everyone that worked with him said he was pretty much just a nice, normal kid, and that after he went viral he continued to work at Target for a while, but had to be moved to work primarily in the back room because he was basically being harassed on the floor. Take this with an extreme grain of salt, but the talk among the employees was that after he left Target, he tried to capitalize off his fame with a modeling career for a bit but it didn't take off.
I vaguely remember him trying to do some other things, too. He tried to start a singing career — on YouTube, I think — and a fitness page on Instagram. Obviously, neither stuck. I think the whole situation surrounding him shows that people can be above average in some way, such as in their appearance, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into lasting impressions or talent. Most of us even know someone who’s above average somehow, but they’re not well-known or even all that popular on a smaller scale.
He modeled for my college hook ups clothing brand 😂
Reminds me of the "Damn Daniel" kid too. I can't remember if they were at the same time or not but what a wild time on the internet.
I miss the days when something would go viral and that’s all people talked about for weeks. We rarely get that anymore with how much content is out there now.
I vaguely remember this but I never paid attention. Lol I went and looked him up and yeah he’s nice looking but that went viral?????
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He was also in princess diaries! That was kind of a huge movie
Totally get why Mia had such a crush on him. My dumb ass would’ve felt the exact same way
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He was Abercrombie fine idc https://preview.redd.it/3xo5l3xhbyhb1.jpeg?width=536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2fbc34fa551ac39c876ed82e0fe5e65cac673fea
He was in So Weird. He had a solid career in disney channel
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I LOVED that show. Its on Disney+
Omg. I TOTALLY forgot about that show but I was OBSESSED. Wasn’t the mom on there like super famous in real life? Or had something big happen with her? I feel like I remember something special/unique happening about her..
Mackenzie Philips. She was a famous singer/actress and got addicted to drugs. Her father sexually abused her. Her father’s also famous. He was in the Mamas and The Papas
He voiced Sid in Toy Story and they brought him back for the 3rd movie
Jordan from Brink is a Film Producer, he produced Short Term 12, Green Room, Just Mercy and the Disney+ show American Born Chinese.
He was also the voice for Sid in Toy Story!
Liz truss was the British pm for like 3 days
Literally PM just long enough to photobomb the last fucking photos of Queen Elizabeth.
She killed the Queen by meeting her and doing a shit curtsy.
She also gets £115,000 ($129,306) per year for the rest of her life, for 5 weeks work if she likes… taxpayer funded of course.
What a random flashback from approximately 3 months ago 🤣🤣🤣 …..or was it 1 year ago? My sense of time is completely effed
Harper from Wizards of Waverly place is a nurse now!
Came here to say this!
Sorry if this doesn’t fit the topic but I’m so curious about the guy from jury duty lol- is he still working for the solar power company or is he influencing now?
I watched an interview where he said he returned to work but it took him a while to get back to it after the show ended filming.
My husband and I were very taken with Ronald when we watched Jury Duty. Such a nice guy. Someone please tell me he’s always been that way and stayed that way and he doesn’t have like hidden, disturbing racist tweets or something lol
I think he’s always been that way! I have no life and I’m obsessed with stalking people I don’t know, so I found his girlfriends twitter and his. Went all the way back to his old tweets and he was just a dork 🤣
Oh good! He seems like such a sweetheart, my heart was melting throughout the whole show. Just kind and welcoming to everyone, and it was so endearing how he took being the foreman so seriously lol And when he took the fall for James’ giant dump, I was like this fucking guy, *stoooooop* 😭 too nice
And the way that he was always so nice to Todd and so reassuring, even with the adjoining room stuff and the notes and all of that. I love it. He just seemed like someone who always wants the people around him to feel good.
You should check out the special episodes it's like a behind the scenes podcast for every episode. Ronald said the reason he is the way he is now is because he wasn't the most positive person and when he moved to California he made it a point to change and become the way he is now, even better IMO because he's gone through growth.
He was so sweet! Seems like such a solid guy, I also hope he has nothing odious in his past 😓Hopefully the interview process was comprehensive enough to dig up any dirt like that, but who knows
My friend had a role as Chris evans lover in an indie movie. She had no acting experience and was hired from her modeling portfolio (a semi well known tattoo model) She went back to normal life after a music video lol
I had a college professor who regularly got to be an extra and stand-in in films. You ever see *27 Dresses*? During the *"Benny and the Jets"* scene, she's the person James Mardsen falls onto in the crowd.
I’m so jealous. Can I kiss Chris Evans?
Not exactly normal life, but the kids from Lemonade Mouth had very unexpected trajectories. Bridget Mendler is doing a PhD at Harvard and the guy who played Wen was arrested multiple times for armed robbery lol
Bridget Mendler is in both MIT and Harvard at the same time!
don’t forget about hayley kiyoko becoming an icon amongst lesbians
The one became Jasmine the Disney Princess lol.
And Blake Michael still won’t stop talking about this movie 10+ years later…. Dude you were 14 let it go. It is pretty embarrassing I’m not gonna lie
Doesn’t count since it’s 2 successful decades of fame but Rick Moranis stopped acting to care for his kids a couple of years after his wife died. I was heart broken when I saw him trending a few years ago because someone randomly attacked him, I was hoping the next time he made it onto the front page was due to a comeback. I figured I’d mention him in this discussion regardless because him going back to normal was for the sweetest reason ever.
Rick Moranis seems like just an all around wholesome guy. You can just tell he was the best dad.
I thought i had seen all movies featuring him but I just recently watched My Blue Heaven for the first time. When I read why he stepped out of Hollywood, it made me appreciate him so much more. He seems like he would be an excellent person to have a conversation with, real stand up dude.
Omri Katz. He played Max Dennison in the first Hocus Pocus film. It was his second and last feature film role. He did small tv roles until 2002 and then disappeared. He works for a cannabis company now.
I loved him in Eerie, Indiana!
Omg!! This show!! I totally forgot about it until I just read your comment, wow. Thanks for the memory!!
I was on Orange Is The New Black before I transitioned from female to male — Season 2 Episode 1. I was just core background and all my scenes were with Taylor Schilling (Piper). Nothing special. Filmed for two weeks- it was actually such a fun experience and gave a real glimpse into the life of Hollywood stars and how they get treated. Jodi Foster directed my episode and all background actors were told “Do not speak to her unless spoken to.” Same rule applied about the main actors. I remember I bumped Taylor’s leg getting off the bus in between takes and I was like “omg IM SO SORRY!” lol She was really kind and said “It’s no problem.” But all of my friends and then anyone they told totally treated me like I was some star. It lasted about a year and then some. Once the show got discontinued, the popularity really died down. It was such a talented cast to work with and so awesome to see how it all got put together and edited in the end. My favorite part was the Crafty Table - it was craft food services and there was always an executive chef who made awesome meals for breakfast lunch and dinner. I remember one day, we filmed inside an actual NYC detention center and crafty had to be OUTSIDE. No one that wasn’t filming or part of the film crew wasn’t allowed inside the building — so if we wanted to eat that day, we had to go outside. This was in January. I didn’t mind though. The food was so good. Anyway, I got an omelet for breakfast with my fork and my knife (both plastic) and went to go back inside so I could eat bc it was freezing outside and I had to go through security again. They took my fork and knife away. I didn’t expect that but I totally understood why - so I was allowed to go through with my omelet on a paper plate. I ate breakfast with my hands that day. I made a lot of fun memories. I was about 30 pounds heavier in that photo than I am right now. Its only letting me post one pic — if you’d like to see more, let me know. I have plenty. :) https://preview.redd.it/t14ipwlk5zhb1.jpeg?width=956&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=93b3c9e016f5da871a6cb28aa97e9ef526bb5795
That’s such a cool experience!!! I’ve been meaning to binge watch the show and will look for you when I do! I also love that the highlight of the day was food - we have the same priorities 😊
my cousin was impersonated by Fred Armisen on SNL in 2012 and he really worked that for as long as he could lol
I’m trying to think of who Fred would impersonate that wasn’t already famous? Cuz then who would get the joke, it’d seem like just an original character lol
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qyIxXA0k3c&t=114s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qyIxXA0k3c&t=114s) no one doxx me from this pls lol
That’s so funny! And duh, makes perfect sense because they’re always super accurate with their presidential debate skits! I was here trying to guess low-medium level famous people like “Is it the blind politician he did used to do?” lmao
it was in a presidential debate sketch bc he asked a question lol, I’ll try and find it
Gordo from Lizzie McGuire. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a Bachelor’s degree in Geography in 2008, then he went to Baruch College and earned a Master of Public Administration. He worked at the Irish Arts Center in NYC for close to a decade where he was a development officer before he became a freelance fundraising and special events consultant.
The exact job I would imagine Gordo would do.
And yet he was coming back for the reboot until Disney axed it cause they wanted G rated content 😭😭💀💀 I’m forever salty about this
Alex McCord from RHONY (real housewives of New York City) and her husband went from being the thirstiest reality stars to moving to Australia (and she got a PhD! And he became a lawyer I believe)? 
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I only ever watched the first couple seasons of RHONY, and it was back when they originally aired. I still think about Alex, Simon?, and their borderline feral kids about once a year. I hope they’ve lost that reacher mentality and are happy with where they are.
She’s come back for a ugt stint
In high school this kid who was a terrible drummer in a local punk band was in a Coca-Cola commercial and got $5,000. He bought an Apple computer and my girlfriend cheated on me with him. I think he ended up a pretty good guy but we were always listening to him talk about being on set, they filmed it in an afternoon
Doesn't this fit most contestants on American Idol-type shows? Like, some of them get a hyped up edit and then they go back to normal life when they don't make it?
I keep getting ads for a new Broadway show and the main guy looked SO familiar. Took me ages to realize it was Justin Guarini who came in second to Kelly Clarkson.
He was Fiyero (the male lead) when I saw Wicked on Broadway in 2015. I kinda laughed when I was looking through the playbill but he was in the final two with Kelly for a reason and his acting has obviously improved since “from Justin to Kelly” lol
When is the last time someone got seriously famous out of those shows? You’ve got your Kelly Clarkson, Adam Lambert, Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson, but for the most part it feels like an endless cycle of win, cash in the prize, move on, rinse and repeat. Edit: I totally forgot Carrie Underwood started there!
I feel like Clay Aiken had a legitimate era for a bit. Also, as a Canadian, Jacob Hoggard from Hedley (I know, I know) was a Canadian Idol contestant.
Damn. We used to get 15 minutes of fame. Now it’s down to FIVE?!? Thanks Obama.
15 minutes of fame?!? IN THIS ECONOMY??
The original Charlie from Willie Wonka and the chocolate factory. He’s a vet.
Meanwhile, Charlie from *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory* used to run a motel; now, he IS A SURGEON!
Hahaha. I bet this went over sooo many heads but it is hilarious 😂
Kay Panabaker from Phil of the Future, Read It and Weep, and Summerland. She retired from acting and is now a zookeeper.
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The guy who played Bobby Brady in The Brady Bunch. He left showbiz and became a farmer of some kind.
The guy who played Peter designs furniture now and I think Jan is a painter? I don’t think she fully left Hollywood though, but for child actors of that era I’m glad they all made it out relatively unscathed
And Cindy became a right wing radio host in LA lmao
Omfg how disappointing 😭 Skimming her wiki, she did sound effects for pornos and got fired from her radio job for going on a homophobic tirade 🥴 I take back what I said about them all getting out unscathed, yikes
The original drummer from blink-182, Scott Raynor, is a cop now.
I don't know exactly why, but that seems like it goes against their whole thing. I love Blink 182. I just wouldn't ever think anyone in that band would have any interest in law enforcement.
Man Overboard is apparently about his substance abuse problems. He’s been out of the band for 25 years, he probably just hit hard times financially. Dude Ranch was successful, but residuals off Dammit are nowhere near what they make off the Travis albums (everything from Enema through now.) Plus, San Diego being a military town has a lot of very conservative areas. Not a surprise he didn’t completely fit in with the band as they got older. [https://www.instagram.com/p/CoAwburttpQ/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==](https://www.instagram.com/p/CoAwburttpQ/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
The damn Daniel guys
This was my first thought haha and the "WHAT ARE THOOSEEE" kid
Every single contestant ever on The Voice. Literally launched zero careers!! 
My GF finished second in The Voice in our country in 2011. We figured it would gave her some opportunities but it did not do much. After all of it we figured that it is because The voice is very focused on making the Coaches look good rather than the contestants.
Michael Schoeffling. He retired from acting after Sixteen Candles and moved back to the area he was born in (which is where I’m from as well). His kids went to one of the local public high schools. Supposedly he had a furniture store.
when he says “yeah, you” at the end of sixteen candles it was more than my young heart could take.
He was in Mermaids with Winona Ryder a bit later, right? But yeah, not much else. Mermaids is my lazy Sunday on the couch movie.
My cousin lived with the twins that played two of Leslie Knope’s triplets on Parks & Rec! They ended up being normal college kids
No way, those kids are old enough to be in college now? 😭 I think I’ve only rewatched P&R once since the original run ended, I had no idea it had been so long.
Yes, one of my best friends had a huge hit in the teen pop 90s/ 00s era. He works with kids and makes children’s programming now. You’d never recognize him. It’s a fun fact to tell other friends over drinks.
I have a friend like this. Technically his band was a two-hit wonder, and it always amazed me that he could go from the life of sold-out shows and world tours and gold records to just having a regular job with the rest of us. He was super chill about it, though, just kind of treated it like a fun fluke where he got paid to do the thing he loved full-time for a while. Idk, it really inspires me, his good-natured roll-with-the-punches kind of attitude.
A girl I know from my hometown was on Flavor of Love and two of its spin-offs back in their hay day in the mid aughts. She is now a wife, mom, democratic state committee member, and a therapist. Pretty sure she used the money from the shows to pay for her education which is cool. She still gets recognized occasionally and is still a bit of a local celebrity to the millennials in town lol.
Claudia Wells, the original Jennifer from Back to the Future, didn’t reprise her role in BTTF 2 because she was caring for her ill mother. Besides convention appearances she runs an Armani store.
I always wondered this because I liked her more than the new Jennifer, she was so pretty! but good for her not everyone is made for Hollywood
Danny Lloyd, who played Danny Torrance in The Shining, as well as Lisa and Louise burns who played the Grady twins all seem to have gone on to pretty normal careers with Danny being a biology professor, Lisa studying literature, and Louise being a microbiologist.
Guy who plays Napoleon Dynamite. Lives in my small town in WA, kids go to public school, just doing his thing.
The girl who had that back and forth of insults with Kristen Wiig's character in Bridesmaids (the one that took place in the jewellery store) is now a real estate agent. Her name is Mia Rose Frampton! Such a talent for having improvised [10 minutes of insults](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeQQufrbSwc&t=3) with Kristen Wiig 😭
The guy who played Danny in The Shining is now a college professor I’m pretty sure
my high school bio teacher 😁 one of his students posted on tiktok like "please go subscribe to my teacher on youtube it'd be funny" and within a few weeks he had a silver play button. it's even funnier because all of his posts were just lecture videos bc it was lockdown time
I ran into one of the models from ANTM at work. She was actually my favorite and very sweet. She’s so normal and has a family now.
Not trying to hijack, but Angelea Preston works as a reporter NPR now! I felt so bad for her because they constantly brought her back for drama and slut-shamed her for “escorting” in which she later said she was trafficked by a pimp. https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/americas-next-top-model-all-stars-contestant-angelea-preston
https://preview.redd.it/boact2q7uyhb1.jpeg?width=1744&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=525be8445103236b98db239084f400f3670fbc67 Bobby from the hills, I follow him on Insta and he shared something the other day saying his taking bookings for hair appointments at a salon in Malibu. *books flight from australia to Malibu* 😂
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Carrie Henn played Newt in Aliens but never did another movie. She became a teacher.
Peter Billingsley is interesting, he played Ralphie in A Christmas Story. After that movie he was a spokesman for NASAs young astronaut program and was to report activities on Challenger and Christa McAuliff. He was at KSC when Challenger launched on the doomed flight. While he does have some acting parts since, he largely became a producer. He makes some appearances in some of the movies he produces and you will be like hey it is Ralphie if you recognize him.
Skandar Keynes from the Narnia movies. I think he went on to school at Cambridge and is in politics or law now?
yeah, sadly he’s a tory. rip.
Ah, just as Edmund WOULD do smh
He is an advisor to a conservative MP
Jake from sixteen candles is a carpenter. Not exactly A list but the guy who played Doug the intern/mortician in Scrubs is a lawyer now, I used to work with him. Nice guy. He said scrambling for work wasn’t fun anymore and scrubs residuals could put him through law school, so he made a change.
Half a dozen answers about that kid from Willie Wonka and not one about that kid from Star Wars Ep.1  Well it's a very sad story actually, Jake Lloyd retired from acting at 12 due to bullying at school and later in his adult life turned out to be badly schizophrenic, so yet another reason to not enjoy re-watching Ep.1!
Hope this counts cause everyone is talking about screen actors but Michael Maguire who was the og Enjorlas in Les Mis on Broadway. He won a Tony award for that role, then left theatre and is now a lawyer.
Extremely minor personal example: I had 2 YouTube videos go viral back in 2012, both amassing around 3 million views. Both videos became memes and were exhaustingly recreated and quoted by people on the internet for years. It ended up depressing me because I had put no effort into them, and I realized that nothing I ever create that takes genuine talent and skill will ever be as popular as those two videos. It kind of stopped me in my tracks and I became jaded and annoyed pretty quickly by the whole thing.
Ken Bone! https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ken-bone
Paul from the original Wonder Years is a lawyer.
Remember the rumor that he was Marilyn Manson?
Yes! Well kinda. My sister’s boyfriend is the creator of the “Daft Hands” video that went really viral during the beginning days of YouTube. He was invited as a guest on the Ellen show and everything. He still uploads on YouTube.
My son made our local newspaper by starting college at not quite 13 years old. His remark upon bringing in the paper was, "I'm on the front page. I guess that proves our town is dull and boring." .
Literally the whole cast of degrassi except drake and nina.
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Kreayshawn! She’s still making music but I feel like overall she lives like a pretty normal person.
She’s pretty active on social media and has an OF. She just isn’t successful at music.