10 No-Name Actors Who Starred in Your Favorite 90s Movies
You have quoted these movies for thirty years and never once learned who was in them. Here are ten faces you absolutely know, attached to names you absolutely do not, and what they are doing now that the cameras stopped rolling.
Roll the tape. You will recognize every one of these movies and none of these names.
Some actors spend decades chasing a role big enough to make them famous. These ten got that role, nailed it, and then wandered off to become firefighters, law professors, photographers and gold brokers. The movies stuck around. The names did not. Consider this your belated introduction.
01
Charlie Korsmo, the kid from Hook who became a law professor
If you saw Hook in 1991, you watched Charlie Korsmo play Jack Banning, Robin Williams' skeptical son, opposite Dustin Hoffman's Captain Hook. He had already turned up in Dick Tracy and What About Bob?, and then he quietly walked away from the whole business. He went to MIT for a physics degree, then to Yale for law, and today he teaches corporate law as a professor at Case Western Reserve University. The lost boy grew up to write exam questions.
Jaye Davidson had never acted before The Crying Game in 1992, and his performance as Dil, wrapped around the most talked-about twist of the decade, earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Two years later he played the god Ra in Stargate, reportedly naming a fee so high he assumed it would scare the studio off. It did not. He disliked fame enough to leave acting entirely, and he now works as a fashion stylist in Paris.
As Benny 'the Jet' Rodriguez, Mike Vitar was the coolest kid in The Sandlot in 1993, the one who outran The Beast and saved the day. He turned up again as Luis Mendoza in D2 and D3: The Mighty Ducks, then hung up the cleats for good around 1997. He trained as an EMT and became a firefighter with the Los Angeles Fire Department. The kid who was always running is now the one running into burning buildings.
Lisa Jakub, the oldest Hillard kid in Mrs. Doubtfire
Lisa Jakub played Lydia, the eldest of the Hillard children, in Mrs. Doubtfire in 1993, and three years later she was dodging aliens as Alicia Casse in Independence Day. She retired from acting in 2001 at the age of 22, moved to Virginia and earned a sociology degree. She now writes books, teaches yoga and speaks openly about anxiety and mental health. She left the family comedy to build an actual quiet life.
Michael Oliver was Junior, the pint-sized agent of chaos at the center of Problem Child in 1990 and its 1991 sequel. He was the title character of a hit franchise before most kids finish grade school. Then he essentially retired around the age of 15, picking up a few small credits before going quiet for good. Hollywood's most famous problem child grew up and simply chose privacy.
Austin O'Brien, Schwarzenegger's sidekick in Last Action Hero
Austin O'Brien got the fantasy every kid at the time wanted: co-starring with Arnold Schwarzenegger as Danny Madigan, the movie-obsessed boy yanked into the screen in Last Action Hero in 1993. He followed it with My Girl 2 in 1994. As an adult the roles thinned out, and he moved behind the camera instead, working as a photographer in Los Angeles. He traded the magic ticket for a real lens.
Ross Malinger, the matchmaking son from Sleepless in Seattle
Ross Malinger was Jonah, the son whose call to a late-night radio show sets all of Sleepless in Seattle in motion in 1993, sharing the screen with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. He kept acting through the early 2000s, then left the business for the car world, moving into automotive sales and classic-car work. The kid who engineered his dad's love life now moves metal of a different kind.
Justin Whalin, Andy from Child's Play 3 and Jimmy Olsen
Justin Whalin took over as teenage Andy Barclay, the kid hunted by Chucky, in Child's Play 3 in 1991, and spent the mid-90s as cub reporter Jimmy Olsen on Lois and Clark. He kept working into the 2000s, then left acting in 2009 for a very different beat. He became a teacher and school administrator. From surviving a killer doll to grading homework.
Robin Shou was already a veteran of Hong Kong action cinema when he became Liu Kang, the hero of Mortal Kombat in 1995, one of the rare video-game movies people actually liked. He never crossed over into the mainstream stardom the film's success seemed to promise. Instead he kept working steadily in action and genre films, directed a documentary and handled fight choreography and motion capture. A leading man to the fans, a face without a name to everyone else.
Erik von Detten was everywhere in 90s kid entertainment, playing Wally Cleaver in the big-screen Leave It to Beaver in 1997 and voicing Sid, the toy-torturing menace next door, in Toy Story in 1995. He kept at it into the 2000s, then walked away for something steadier. He became a commodities broker trading precious metals. The kid who terrorized Woody and Buzz now sells gold.
Tell us in the comments which of these 90s stars blew your mind, or beam this transmission to a friend before your dial-up connection drops. Adjust your tracking and stay tuned to Common Clickbait for your next dose of pop-culture static!
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The Common Clickbait crew who watch too much so you do not have to. Fueled by nostalgia, cheap snacks, and an unhealthy need to be right about the ending.
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