The Biggest, Brightest Stars Of The 1980s: Then And Now

When people think about the 1980s, they may well picture big hair, outsized shoulder pads, and world-dominating celebrities. This was the era that had everyone dirty dancing along with Jennifer Grey and falling in love with Molly Ringwald in, well, pretty much every teen movie. But where are these stars now? Let’s take a look at the decade’s most memorable icons today — and see how much they’ve changed over the years.

1. Kelly LeBrock (1984)

Kelly LeBrock became a major sex symbol in the ’80s thanks to the double whammy of The Woman in Red and Weird Science. But at the height of her fame, LeBrock made the shocking decision to take five years off to focus on her family. She returned with 1990's Hard to Kill opposite her second husband, Steven Seagal. And while the actor took another break from Hollywood shortly afterward, she still has the ability to turn heads.

Kelly LeBrock (2022)

The Daily Mail certainly couldn't resist running a story about her after she appeared on the red carpet at the Brent Shapiro Foundation 2022 Summer Spectacular in Beverly Hills. The year before, LeBrock told ET why she stepped away from the movies. "Hollywood wasn’t a place where I wanted to raise my children," she said. "I never really liked the attention. I wanted to have dirt in my nails and be in the outdoors."

2. Judd Nelson (1985)

Who could forget Judd Nelson’s star turn as John Bender in The Breakfast Club? And after another "Brat Pack" role in St. Elmo’s Fire, his role in the popular imagination was confirmed. His movie career arguably never reached this high point again, but Nelson has been a regular fixture on our screens ever since.

Judd Nelson (2020)

Nelson's most prominent roles in the 1990s came in the film New Jack City and in the TV show Suddenly Susan. More recently, though, he had a recurring gig in Empire and in Nikita. He has also appeared in numerous TV movies and lent his voice to the Transformers franchise.

3. Jennifer Grey (1987)

Jennifer Grey shot to fame after 1987’s Dirty Dancing. The film made $214 million at the box office and created a plethora of iconic moments. But Grey, by her own admission, was never able to capitalize on her instant fame. “After Dirty Dancing, I was America’s sweetheart, which you would think would be the key to unlocking all my hopes and dreams,” the actor wrote in her 2022 memoir, Out of the Corner. “But it didn’t go down that way.”

Jennifer Grey (2022)

In part, Grey blames plastic surgery for the decline of her career. “I went in the operating theater a celebrity and came out anonymous,” she admitted to the Daily Mirror in 2012. “I’ll always be this once-famous actress nobody recognizes... because of a nose job.” But recognizable or not, Grey does still act, having recently made appearances in Grey’s Anatomy and The Conners. She also won Dancing with the Stars.

4. Jon Bon Jovi (1985)

Jon Bon Jovi’s one of the most successful men in rock. As the frontman of Bon Jovi, he’s rocked the world since the mid-1980s, releasing 15 studio albums and playing countless stadium gigs. He was even awarded the coveted Sexiest Rock Star title from People in 2000.

Jon Bon Jovi (2022)

These days, he’s still working on music, all while focusing on philanthropy with his Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation. His personal experience with COVID in 2021 affected how he approached his work and life. It made him realize "how volatile we are and how fragile life is. It didn't matter if you were young or old, American or Egyptian, no matter who you were or where you were from, the COVID-19 pandemic affected you."

5. Kirstie Alley (1983)

As most fans will know, Kirstie Alley shot to fame after she was cast as Rebecca Howe in the iconic sitcom Cheers. Subsequent roles in popular movies including Shoot to Kill and Look Who’s Talking brought the star even bigger success, too. But these days, Alley is probably better known for reality TV shows.

Kirstie Alley (2022)

That includes The Hills, Kirstie Alley's Big Life, Celebrity Big Brother, and two stints on Dancing with the Stars. Alley has continued to act as well, though, as she was part of the main cast in Scream Queens. Most recently, she made a big impression as Baby Mammoth on The Masked Singer. "I've done a lot of things in my career, but I've never gotten to be in the circus," Alley said after being unmasked.

6. Patrick Dempsey (1989)

Patrick Dempsey played the nerdy protagonist in movies such as Loverboy and Can’t Buy Me Love and became something of a heartthrob in the 1980s. But that didn't result in continued success at first. “I had a lot very early on, so I learned what that was like, and then I learned what it was like to be cold and not getting the roles,” Dempsey told Jetset Magazine in 2012. “I was always working, but it was also a very difficult thing to get a job.”

Patrick Dempsey (2022)

But then he found a second life as McDreamy in Grey’s Anatomy — and capitalized on his 11-season run with more movie and TV work. The actor — who most recently appeared in 2022's Disenchanted — also discovered a new love in the form of race car driving. "If I could just walk away from acting, I think I could do that very easily, and just focus on the driving, I would love that more than anything else," he told Eurosport in 2013.

7. Justine Bateman (1985)

Justine Bateman made a name for herself as a teenage star in the 1980s. She played Mallory for 176 episodes of the popular show Family Ties, running from 1982 to 1989. And as well as making her a permanent fixture on bedroom walls across the country, it also led to lasting success throughout her career.

Justine Bateman (2022)

Bateman continued to notch up credits in TV and film over the next 30 years, and in 2021 she made her feature film debut as a writer and director. The multi-hyphenate has also turned her hand to fiction writing, publishing a novel in both 2018 and 2021. Her book Fame relates some of her own experiences of life in the public eye.

8. C. Thomas Howell (1982)

After roles in E.T., The Outsiders, The Hitcher, and Red Dawn, C. Thomas Howell made something of a splash in the first part of his career. The only major misstep — in terms of cultural controversy, if not box office returns — was his part in Soul Man, which has aged very poorly. Still, Howell has acted steadily in both film and television for years.

C. Thomas Howell (2022)

You've probably seen him in shows such as The Walking Dead, The Blacklist, The Punisher, and The Terror. He achieved success in the movie world, too, with a celebrated role in Gettysburg and a small-but-significant part in The Amazing Spider-Man. Not bad for someone who, growing up, thought he was going to be a stuntman.

9. Lisa Bonet (1987)

Lisa Bonet took the country by storm as Denise Huxtable in first The Cosby Show and then in her own spinoff, A Different World. And her fame only continued to grow when people cottoned on to her spectacular fashion sense — and her marriage to rocker Lenny Kravitz. A star turn in Angel Heart didn't hurt, either.

Lisa Bonet (2022)

Now Bonet’s a poster girl for aging gracefully. She has credited coconut oil, African dance classes, and Dayle Breault’s skincare line for her seemingly never-changing beauty. Her daughter, Zoë Kravitz, has picked up the acting baton from her super-successful mom — but Bonet is still working the circuit. She last had a recurring role in Ray Donovan.

10. Andrew McCarthy (1986)

A member of the '80s Brat Pack, Andrew McCarthy popped up many movies that people love from that decade: Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo's Fire, Mannequin, Less Than Zero, Weekend at Bernie's — need we go on? McCarthy was a fixture in films throughout the entire decade, but he took his career to a different level when the '90s came around.

Andrew McCarthy (2022)

McCarthy mixed in TV and movie work in the 1990s and 2000s, and these days he seems to be carving out a second career as a director. Most notably, he's directed 15 episodes of Orange Is the New Black and 22 episodes of The Blacklist. In 2022, though, he joined the main cast of The Resident, showing how acting will always be close to his heart.

11. Grace Jones (1985)

Grace Jones was huge in the ’80s, conquering both the film and music scenes and even re-popularizing the flattop hairstyle. Her largest roles on the big screen saw her battling beside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan the Barbarian and trading blows with James Bond in A View to a Kill.

Grace Jones (2022)

In October 2018 Grace Jones was awarded the Order of Jamaica, the country's fifth-highest honor. “I am excited. It is a great honor. I love Jamaica so much, which makes it even better,” Jones said at the time. “This award is very special.” The Jamaica-born star earned the title for her contributions to the entertainment industry.

12. Mickey Rourke (1981)

Mickey Rourke was the guy in the 1980s. He first caught people's attention in smaller roles in Body Heat and Diner. Then he graduated to leading man parts with Rumble Fish, 9½ Weeks, and Angel Heart. But the wheels started to come off a little bit, and Rourke left acting to become a professional boxer for a few years.

Mickey Rourke (2022)

He returned to acting in a big way with 2008's The Wrestler, for which he was nominated for an Oscar. And then he peaked at the box office as the main bad guy in Iron Man 2. Rourke is still very much in the business, though, with no fewer than eight projects currently in post-production.

13. Molly Ringwald (1985)

After teaming up with director John Hughes for Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, and The Breakfast Club, star Molly Ringwald became something of a sensation in the ’80s. But she seemingly dealt with her fame very well. "I didn't want to give the wrong message to teenagers," she said in 2010. "I sort of felt a certain responsibility – I mean, I was a very, very famous teenager and I thought a lot of teenagers were looking up to me."

Molly Ringwald (2022)

Ringwald didn't thrive quite as much in the '90s as she had in the 1980s, but it's doubtful anybody would have been able to top her landmark decade. These days, though, Ringwald is back on our screens on the regular. She has a recurring role in the ultra-popular Riverdale series, and she was part of The Kissing Booth trilogy on Netflix. Ringwald also saw massive success with Dahmer in 2022.

14. Kirk Cameron (1985)

The boy-next-door himself was quite the heartthrob back in the '80s thanks to his part in Growing Pains. But it was actually while working on Growing Pains that Cameron started a path to his new life. It's when he became a born-again Christian. "I definitely kind of made an about-face, going toward another aspect of my life," he said in 2000.

Kirk Cameron (2022)

Cameron has seemingly never looked back. The majority of the acting or presenting roles that Cameron has taken since finding religion have been in faith-based projects. His beliefs have gotten him into plenty of trouble with the public, too. In 2020, for instance, he organized at least three mask-free gatherings to protest the government's COVID restrictions — and a lot of people were not happy with his actions.

15. Lea Thompson (1983)

Lea Thompson first turned heads opposite Tom Cruise in All The Right Moves — and then she blew everybody away as Lorraine in Back to the Future. And people still talk to Thompson about the movie today. In 2022 the actor posted some pictures with the cast on Instagram, saying it has been "a blessing and an honor" to be involved with the iconic flick.

Lea Thompson (2022)

It would be hard to be in something as unique as Back to the Future twice, but Thompson has nonetheless formed an impressive resume in front of and behind the camera. On TV, she was the title character for all 97 episodes of Caroline in the City, and she appeared in 73 episodes of Switched at Birth. Thompson also found another franchise with the Jane Doe series. Most recently, Thompson has directed episodes of Stargirl, Star Trek: Picard, and Resident Alien.

16. Slash (1980)

In the late 1980s, Guns N’ Roses were a sensation. Slash was the band's lead guitarist, and he became a huge star, famed for his insane playing and his much-imitated look. He is regularly noted as one of the best guitarists in music history and in 2012 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Slash (2022)

These days, he’s still a guitar god who’s in a working band. In fact, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators released a studio album entitled 4 in early 2022! He also returned to Guns N' Roses in 2016 — after leaving 20 years earlier — and embarked on an incredible three-year-long tour.

17. Phoebe Cates (1982)

Was anybody bigger than Phoebe Cates in the ’80s? After Paradise — a film Cates herself denounced as "lower quality" and a "rip-off" in 1982 — she became everybody's favorite with Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins. But after putting in work on stage, screen, and TV, Cates seemingly dropped off the Hollywood radar in 1994.

Phoebe Cates (2017)

The actor seemingly turned her back on Hollywood after marrying actor Kevin Kline and raising their children. But if you're ever in New York, you might find Cates in her store, Blue Tree, on Madison Avenue. She opened the shop in 2005 and said it was the culmination of her dream "to have it be like a general store but according to [her]."

18. Axl Rose (1980)

Saying Axl Rose is a controversial figure is kind of like saying water is wet — talk about stating the obvious! Rose, though, has always had an ace up his sleeve — he’s the frontman of arguably the greatest rock band of its generation. The band's first album, Appetite for Destruction, hit the shelves in 1987 and went on to shift over 30 million units.

Axl Rose (2022)

The band broke down in 1994, and Rose mostly disappeared from the spotlight for the rest of the '90s. Spin named Rose the world's greatest singer in 2014. And in 2021 new Guns N’ Roses material saw the light of day after their extensive touring. So who knows what the future holds for the band?

19. Kathleen Turner (1981)

Kathleen Turner ensured her place on the Mount Rushmore of 1980s stardom with a run of movies that included Body HeatThe Man with Two BrainsCrimes of PassionRomancing the StonePrizzi's Honor, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. But Turner had to retreat from Hollywood partly due to a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. In 1993 the actor could barely walk and was told she might have to use a wheelchair.

Kathleen Turner (2022)

But Turner has never been out of work — particularly when performing award-winning roles on Broadway. She also released a memoir in 2008 that finally put to bed the rumors that had been circulating about her appearance and her personal life. In fact, her brutal honesty about working in the industry has kept her in the headlines in recent years, too.

20. Nikki Sixx (1985)

Mötley Crüe has sold 100 million albums since forming in 1981. The band was at its biggest and best throughout the 1980s, and the members knew how to make the most of it. If you don't believe us on that front, all you have to do is read their tell-all book The Dirt to find out what people really mean when they say "rock 'n' roll lifestyle."

Nikki Sixx (2022)

Guitarist Nikki Sixx is a man with many irons in the fire. In 2021 he was asked by the Wall of Sound website how he’d stayed busy in the past few years, and he answered, “Well, I wrote a book. SIXX:AM recorded a bunch of new music and put out a HITS album.” He added, “I also formed an animation company for children’s programming… And I started working on a coffee table poetry/photography book.” Whoa.