Man, I had such a huge crush on Staci Keanan. In addition to Step-by-Step, she was also on My Two Dads. (I’m not a perv–she’s my age!) According to IMDB, she’s still gorgeous.
Speaking of My Two Dads:
For most successful, you might guess Paul Reiser, who was the star of Mad About You which ran several seasons and was very popular. He also has had some minor movie roles. His recent attempt at a sitcom failed miserably.
But Giovanni Ribisi, who has had a pretty great career in movies, including the biggest movie of all time, had a supporting role in the show. He also had some notable recurring roles in the series *Friends *and My Name is Earl.
I’d go with Ribisi, hands down.
Least successful–maybe Keanan or Dick Butkus (as far as Hollywood work goes). Greg Evigan (the other Dad besides Reiser) hasn’t done anything too notable, but has had steady work.
1950’s
Most - Annette
Least - Karen Pendleton was paralyzed in a car accident and Doreen Tracy pretty much ended what career she had left when she did a nude layout in a skin magazine.
1970’s
Most - Lisa Whelchel
Least - Pretty much everyone else, but we’ll go with Allison Fonte, who has no other credits
1990’s
Most - Take your pick - Christina Aguilera, Brittney Spears or Justin Timberlake. Or, for good measure, Keri Russell and Bill Nye (the Science Guy.)
Least - Tiffini Hale appeared on as many episodes as any cast member and has only one other credit – as Tiffini Hale, the Mouseketeer.
Looking at Wikipedia just now, it appears that most of the '90s Mouseketeers who went on to big things appeared in only the last two seasons (6 and 7) of the show.* That list includes Aguilera, Spears, Timberlake, and also Ryan Gosling. In terms of success as an actor then Gosling is probably #1, although of the four his musical career has been by far the least successful.
I don’t know that Tiffini Hale is the least successful; a majority of the former cast members listed on Wikipedia don’t even have their own Wikipedia articles. Clicking around on the IMDb I see that there are a few other former cast members who never acted again, although some of them have non-acting screen credits. But Nita Booth for instance has no non-Mickey Mouse Club IMDb credits, although a quick Google does indicate that she went on to be crowned Miss Virginia.
*I watched the '90s Mickey Mouse Club regularly for several years as a kid, and always kind of wondered why I didn’t remember any of the future stars except JC Chavez (who, along with Timberlake, was a member of boy band N’Sync) and Kerri Russell. After looking at the chart on Wikipedia, I realized that by the time Aguilera et al. had joined the cast I was old enough that I’d stopped watching.
Will & Grace:
For a few years, it seemed that Megan Mullally was the one cast member to go on to bigger, better things but she seems to have flamed out over the past few years. Debra Messing is IMHO the most visible, even if her most visible role was the dreadful ‘backstage broadway’ thing.
Eric McCormack doesn’t seem to do much anymore. At least Mullally was visible for a while. 3rd Rock from the Sun:
Most successful: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who’da thunk the geeky kid on 3rd Rock would turn into a pretty major movie actor?)
Least successful: French Stewart apparently was beamed back to whatever planet he was from and never allowed to return.
I’m excepting John Lithgow & Jane Curtain from this because both of them were pretty much winding up their careers with this show. I would guess both of them made their money and decided to rest on their laurels.
I don’t know… Lithgow still works pretty steadily. Among other things he had a memorable turn with a major role on season 4 of Dexter, for which he won an Emmy.
Also in that show before they were famous: Ben Foster, (3:10 to Yuma, X-Men: Last Stand, Six Feet Under, The Mechanic, Rampart, Contraband, Busy Phillips, (Dawson’s Creek, ER, Cougartown), and Linda Cardenelli, who’s had success with ER and Mad Men.
