25 Biggest Stars of the 1980s: Where Are They Now?

It’s by no means unusual for stars from one era to drift out of the limelight in the next, as fickle industries change and newer stars come through to take their place. But while some actors, singers, sports stars, and other public figures happily continue to work, others prefer to take a step back—sometimes abandoning the world of celebrity altogether. 

Sean Astin

The Goonies propelled actor Sean Astin to immediate fame in 1985, alongside fellow castmates including Josh Brolin, Corey Feldman, and Martha Plimpton. Perhaps best known today for his role as hobbit Samwise Gamgee in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, Astin was elected president of SAG-AFTRA in 2025, a position he’ll hold for two years. 

Ted Danson

Actor Ted Danson became a household name thanks to his lead role as bartender Sam Malone in the TV series Cheers, which ran for 11 years starting in 1982. He has continued to act on both the big and small screen ever since, returning to TV sitcoms with Becker in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, followed by roles in the likes of Fargo, Mr. Mayor, and The Good Place. 

Tiffany Darwish

Under the mononym Tiffany, actress and singer Tiffany Darwish achieved worldwide success in 1987 with her cover of “I Think We’re Alone Now.” Although later hits have not matched her breakout’s success, Tiffany has continued to release and record new music, most recently releasing her eleventh studio album Shadows in 2022. 

Emilio Estevez

The elder brother of fellow ‘80s breakout star Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez was one of the best-known of the Brat Pack stars of the ‘80s and early ‘90s, thanks to roles in the likes of The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire, and The Mighty Ducks. Since the late ‘90s, he has taken more of a backseat role behind the camera, earning a Golden Globe nomination for the 2006 drama Bobby. More recently, he has returned to on-screen work, reprising his ‘90s role in Disney+’s reboot of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers.

Corey Feldman 

Breakout roles in the likes of Gremlins, The Goonies, Stand By Me, and The Burbs made Corey Feldman one of the biggest stars of the ‘80s and early ‘90s, but the pressures of fame at an early age led to years of personal struggles, and Feldman largely disappeared from the limelight in the late ‘90s and 2000s. Although recent controversies have continued to dog his career, Feldman has also been open about the abuses he was subject to in the early years of his career in a number of recent interviews. 

Debbie Gibson

Singer and actress Debbie Gibson became the youngest female artist to write, produce, and perform her own Billboard No. 1 with “Foolish Beat” in 1988. She has continued to write and release new music since, while also making a string of appearances in Broadway and West End musicals, including Les Misérables and Grease. 

Anthony Michael Hall

After roles in the likes of Six Pack and National Lampoon’s Vacation in the early ‘80s, Anthony Michael Hall was another one of the stars who broke out in John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club. Roles in Weird Science (another of Hughes’ ‘80s hits) and Edward Scissorhands followed, as well as an ‘80s stint among the cast of Saturday Night Live. Since the 2000s, Hall has experienced a career resurgence following the hit TV series The Dead Zone, and most recently joined the cast of Amazon Prime’s Reacher. 

Paul Hogan

The title star and Oscar-nominated screenwriter of the hugely popular Crocodile Dundee movies in the 1980s, Paul Hogan continued acting long into the 90s and 2000s, most recently playing a semi-fictionalized version of himself in the 2020 meta-comedy The Very Excellent Mr Dundee (his first film role in a decade) at the age of 80. Now based in the States and stepping back from acting, he has repeatedly spoken of plans to eventually return to Australia.

Timothy Hutton

Becoming the youngest-ever winner of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the age of just 20 in 1980, Timothy Hutton has continued to act both in film and television ever since, recently earning a Saturn Award nomination for his role in Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House. 

Linda Kozlowski

Linda Kozlowski earned a Golden Globe nomination for her role opposite her co-star (and later real-life husband) Paul Hogan in the first of the Crocodile Dundee movies in 1986, and reprised her role as New York reporter Sue Charlton in its 1988 and 2001 sequels. She stepped away from acting in the 2000s amid a dearth of roles for women her age, and she and Hogan later amicably separated and remain on good terms. She now divides her time between California and Morocco, where her second husband, Moulay Hafid Babaa, runs a local tour guide company. 

Shelley Long 

Alongside Ted Danson, comic actress Shelley Long became a household name thanks to the longstanding success of the sitcom Cheers in the 1980s and ‘90s, which was matched by big-screen successes in the likes of ‘80s hits The Money Pit and Outrageous Fortune. Roles in the 1990s big-screen adaptations of The Brady Bunch followed, with a more recent return to TV comedy with a recurring role on Modern Family, but Long has enjoyed something of a quieter life outside of the limelight in recent years. 

Andrew McCarthy

Another breakout Brat Pack star of The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire, Andrew McCarthy also starred in the quintessential ‘80s hits Mannequin and Weekend at Bernie’s before successfully transitioning to TV roles in the ‘90s and 2000s. More recently, he has found fame behind the camera too, as director of several episodes of the prison drama Orange Is the New Black. 

Kelly McGillis

After lead roles in the likes of Top Gun, Witness, and The Accused, Kelly McGillis intentionally stepped away from the film industry at the height of her fame in the late 1990s to raise a family and enjoy a quieter home life outside of the spotlight. She later worked as an acting tutor, and, following her own public struggles, spent time in a rehabilitation center in New Jersey. 

Alyssa Milano

Alyssa Milano became a household name with her role on long-running sitcom Who’s the Boss? in the 1980s and ‘90s, followed by a string of film and TV roles in the likes of Conflict of Interest, Melrose Place, arthouse sleeper Glory Daze, and Charmed. She has continued to work in film, television and theatre ever since, but is also widely known for her continued activism, having helped to popularize the #MeToo movement online in 2017. 

Demi Moore

It’s easy to forget that Hollywood icon Demi Moore began her career on soap opera General Hospital in 1981, before leaving to star in a string of ‘80s Brat Pack movies, including St. Elmo’s Fire and About Last Night… Her career reached new peaks in the 1990s with a string of immense box-office successes, including Ghost, A Few Good Men, and Indecent Proposal. The success made her the biggest female star in the world at the time, and she signed an unprecedented $12.5 million deal to star in Striptease in 1996. She took a step away from the limelight in the 2000s, taking on only minor roles and cameos in film and television, before a recent and long-overdue return to box office success with an Oscar-nominated role in body horror black comedy The Substance in 2024. 

Martha Plimpton

Martha Plimpton made her film debut in 1981’s political thriller Rollover, before breaking out as a star in The Goonies four years later. A string of successful movies in the ‘80s and ‘90s led to a similar string of television successes in the 2000s and 2010s, including The Good Wife and the Emmy-nominated sitcom Raising Hope, as well as back-to-back Tony Award nominations for her work on Broadway in 2007, 2008, and 2009. She has continued to work on film, television, and stage ever since. 

Molly Ringwald

After childhood roles in the likes of Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life, Molly Ringwald became one of the biggest stars of the ‘80s thanks to movies such as The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink. She has continued to act since with a string of roles in film, television and theatre—although she intentionally dropped out of the Hollywood limelight for a time in the early ‘90s when she relocated to Paris, France, seeking a more normal life outside of the public eye. 

Winona Ryder

A string of ‘80s big-screen successes in the likes of Beetlejuice and Heathers infamously made Winona Ryder one of the tabloid press’ most popular targets in the 1990s, eventually leading to her largely stepping away from Hollywood for more than 15 years. More recently, however, a long-overdue “Winonaissance” has seen Ryder enjoy renewed success with lead roles in Netflix’s Stranger Things, the HBO miniseries The Plot Against America, and Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, in 2024. 

Ricky Schroder 

One of the biggest child stars of the late ‘70s and ‘80s, Ricky Schroder made his movie debut in 1979’s The Champ, which led to him becoming the youngest-ever winner of a Golden Globe at just 9 years old, before a lead role in ‘80s sitcom Silver Spoons made him a household name. He continued to work in front of and behind the camera throughout the 1990s and 2000s, with roles in the likes of Crimson Tide, Locker 13, and NYPD Blue, but in recent years has become increasingly known for a string of off-screen controversies (most recently involving an ill-received tribute to Dolly Parton).

Ally Sheedy

Another breakout star from The Breakfast Club, Ally Sheedy has continued to act in film, television and theatre, while also finding time to teach acting, publish two books, and work behind the scenes in publishing as a literary editor. 

Elisabeth Shue

Star of ‘80s favorites The Karate Kid, Cocktail, and Back to the Future II, Elisabeth Shue has continued to amass a long string of critical and commercial successes on both the big and small screen in a career now spanning five decades. An Oscar-nominated role in Leaving Las Vegas in 1995 was followed by roles in the likes of Hollow Man, House at the End of the Street, and Battle of the Sexes, while on television Shue has had success with the likes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and, most recently, Amazon Prime’s The Boys.  

Henry Thomas

Starting his career as a child actor, Henry Thomas became a global star thanks to his role as Elliott in Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster ET: The Extra-Terrestrial in 1982. Roles in the likes of Legends of the Fall, All the Pretty Horses, and Gangs of New York followed in the 1990s and 2000s, and Thomas has continued to act ever since. Most recently, he has become known for his long-standing collaborations with horror director Mike Flanagan, appearing in his films Ouija: Origin of Evil, Gerald’s Game, and Doctor Sleep, as well as all his Netflix horror series, including The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher.

Donnie Wahlberg

Rising to fame in ‘80s boy band New Kids on the Block, Donnie Wahlberg made a successful switch from pop music to acting in the 1990s, leading to roles in the likes of Ransom, Band of Brothers, and the Saw movies. He has continued acting and performing ever since, most recently with a lead role in CBS police drama Boston Blue.  

Mark Wahlberg

Donnie’s younger brother Mark Wahlberg was one of the original members of New Kids on the Block, but left the band after just a couple of months, prior to the release of their debut single in 1986. He went on to become one of the 1990s’ biggest pop stars himself as the frontman of hip-hop group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, and then one of Hollywood’s biggest and most bankable stars with roles in the likes of Boogie Nights, The Perfect Storm, The Departed (for which he was nominated for an Oscar), and Ted. 

Wil Wheaton

Although perhaps best known for his role as Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wil Wheaton’s breakout role actually came a year earlier in the critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama Stand By Me. He has since accumulated a string of credits in film, television, animation, YouTube, and video games—cementing his place as a fan favorite in a number of self-satirizing appearances as himself in the likes of The Big Bang Theory and even Sharknado 2.