I always think Mia Sara, too, every time I watch Ferris Bueller. But what you guys say seems to make sense.
Jill Schoelen, the girl in the original Stepfather, also came to mind when I first saw it. She was also in Babes in Toyland (along with Drew Barrymore). She was (is?) very pretty with sort of a Winnie Cooper vibe to her.
But she did go on to be Miss Bliss early on in Saved by the Bell! (Or what would become Saved by the Bell.)
Michelle Meyrink from Real Genius and Revenge of the Nerds. Gave up Hollywood and got into Zen Buddhism. She and her family are almost certainly better off for her career change, but as a fan I’m sorry she didn’t have a longer career in films.
:smack: I knew that too. But they’re both rather forgettable blondes from the 80s, I think I can be forgiven for confusing them.
Add her to the tally of actresses who retired to spend more time with their families.
I am no expert, but in the two movies that I can remember seeing Sean Young in (Stripes, No Way Out) she certainly wasn’t a blonde.
Is she usually blonde in her personal life?
:smack::smack: Forget I said anything.
Peter Ostrum was excellent as Charlie Bucket in the original “Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”, but never made another movie. He works as a large-animal vet in upstate NY. His patients are mostly cows from regional dairy farms.
As for adults, well teenage actors who might’ve gone onto more than they did: Wes Bentley, Thora Birch & Mena Suvari from “American Beauty” were all poised to go to great things after this film became a major blockbuster. Surprisingly, not one out of three of them did anything nearly as noteworthy as that film.
Thora Birch did Ghost World two years after American Beauty and I’d consider that a better film in every way ( and it won her a Golden Globe ). But I’ll grant you her career has been a bit more anemic since then, though it appears she is still working.
However of greater interest to me is that while checking the date of the above films to confirm one followed the other, I discovered both of her parents were porn actors :eek:. Who’d of thunk?
Holy hell. That was the kid from Caddyshack?!? He was awesome in the various L&O roles.(Personal favorite: The Irish gangster and his professor twin brother).
He was also in Michael Clayton as one of George Clooney’s bosses.
Tami Stronach, the Childlike Empress from The Neverending Story only ever did that one film, and IMDB says one TV movie a couple of years ago. Looks like she’s a dancer now.
He was a recurring character on Roseanne as well, I think the father of Jackie’s baby, got written out after a scene when Jackie realized there was zero passion in their relationship.
I’ve mentioned this before in a similar thread, but American Beauty is actually the anomaly in all of their careers. Aside from Thora Birch in Ghost World, everything else Bentley, Birch and Suvari did can be considered “just alright” at best.
Although after American Beauty, Wes Bentley got really into drugs and Thora Birch had a breakdown, so it’s not completely poor script choices.
Great minds think alike. 
I initially read yours as saying, “His parents are mostly cows…”
Suvari was also in American Pie. That may be her niche. If they ever remake American Graffiti or American Psycho, she’d be one to cast.
Wasn’t he in a major car wreck that messed up his face? Kind of adds a certain resonance to his being cast as the Joker.
I recall Thora Birch on the short-lived sitcom Day By Day, mainly because she was rather presumptuously billed as just “Thora.”
A contribution from me: Meg Tilly. She was a big star in the 80s. She continued working through the mid 90s in little-seen movies. Then around 1995 she dropped out of the industry entirely.
I used to know someone who went to school with her. She never wanted to be an actress in the first place, it just sort of happened.
I wonder whatever happened to William Katt and Connie Sellecca.
It gets worse, she was also in a movie called American Virgin.
But yes, American Pie was a big movie, but it’s also just a dumb teenager movie and is much more in line with the types of movies Mena Suvari did for the rest of her career compared with American Beauty.
My recollection is that she was a rising star as the result of Deep Impact in part because she was so frequently compared to Helen Hunt. They do sort of look like each other, at least in the face.
Which, of course, leads us to Helen Hunt. She was a hugely successful actress, a TV and movie veteran, and then she won an Oscar, and then… she just sort of pulled away. She had some good supporting roles a few years after that and has slipped away since.
Timothy Bottoms had a promising film career in the '70s with major roles in The Last Picture Show and The Paper Chase but never came close to his early successes.
Well, he does have the distinction of playing George W. Bush both as a buffoon (in the Parker/Stone sitcom “That’s My Bush”) and heroically (in the made-for-cable flick “DC 9/11”).
That’s got to count for something.
Anyway, I’ll echo what a couple of other people here have said by mentioning the “American Beauty” kids, Wes Bentley especially. When I saw him in that movie I thought to myself, “This guy’s going on to great things” and was not at all surprised when he was mentioned as being on the shortlist of actors to play Spider-Man (which of course he ended up not getting).
I’m actually surprised Topher Grace hasn’t gotten more roles since leaving That 70s Show.
I don’t remember him in anything after Spiderman 3.
Also, from way back, I remember every girl in middle school have a crush on the Jake Ryan character from 16 Candles and thought he’d go on to be the next Tom Cruise but he just disapeared.