Whatever Happened To Darla From The Little Rascals?
Brittany Ashton Holmes — also known as "Darla" from The Little Rascals — is all grown up, but what has she been up to since her star turn in the kids classic? It turns out... not much. At least not on the public's radar, that is. Her last public appearance, as far as we can tell, was at the 20th reunion celebration for The Little Rascals, during which she revealed that she was "newly married" and vaguely indicated that she left Hollywood for academia.
It's kind of unclear just how serious Holmes ever took her acting career, since she only appeared in a handful of project since her signature role in 1994. However, in 2014, it seemed like she could have been staging a career comeback of sorts, before taking another dive back into selective obscurity. Intrigued? Well keep reading, because girls are definitely allowed in this report on what happened to Darla from The Little Rascals.
She filmed a McDonald's ad
Back to family fare: Holmes appeared in a TV spot for McDonald's in 1995. The commercial featured the little starlet and her TV family chowing down at the fast food joint and admiring their Happy Meal toy treasures.
She acted in horror movies, then retired in 1996
In 1996, Holmes played a small role in a remake of the Roger Corman classic Humanoids From the Deep, which, like the Red Shoe Diaries, was produced for Showtime. She starred in the low-budget horror flick alongside Emma Samms and "the almighty" Robert Carradine, who, according to reviewer according to critic Stefan Birgir Stefansson "[couldn't] save this fish." Yeesh.
That same year, Holmes also played a small role in the sci-fi thriller Inhumanoid and in a crime drama called Death Benefit. By the end of that year, without pomp and circumstance, she appeared to retire from acting. But after an 18 year gap, Holmes returned to the set to shoot a pilot for the first-ever AMC scripted comedy series, We Hate Paul Revere. Unfortunately, we don't know anything about her role as "Townslady Brit," and we probably never will, because according to Deadline, the network "didn't think [the pilot] quite hit it out of the park," so it "quietly passed" on moving forward with the project.
She pursued a higher education
According to Life & Style magazine, Holmes became a political science major. The magazine claims her MySpace social media page once said, "I was [an] actress when I was little and did this movie called Little Rascals. It's, like, really embarrassing to watch and I don't want to act anymore." In 2014, AOL reported she was living in Los Angeles, newly married, and pursuing that degree, a claim seemingly backed up by Holmes at the 20th reunion celebration for The Little Rascals.
Holmes allegedly joined Twitter in 2012
In 2013, Buzzfeed reported that Holmes' Twitter handle was @BrittanyAshtonH. "This Is My Official Account, I Played Darla In The Little Rascals (1994). [I'm] Working Hard To Make My Twitter Official So Please Help By Following," she reportedly posted. However, at the time of this writing, that account has roughly 1,700 followers, is not verified, and has not tweeted once. The account also hasn't followed anyone, and was not being followed by any verified accounts belonging to The Little Rascals castmates. Holmes also seems to have no Facebook or Instagram presence, so if that Twitter account is, in fact, Holmes' only social media account, we're nothing but intrigued over her strategy.
She reemerged for the Rascals 20th anniversary
Though she's been off the radar for years, Holmes reappeared in 2014 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Little Rascals with the film's original stars. The not-so-little rascals — who were all in their twenties at the time — recreated the poster from the original flick, and the results were adorable. Blake McIver, who played Waldo in the film, shared a before and after pic with the caption, "It's #Rascals20th day! Hooray!"
Holmes didn't reveal much during the cast interviews for the reunion, but she did say, "The whole movie was a dream," and that "everybody still has that core rascal, you know, inside of them." Here's hoping Alfalfa doesn't still hate her stinking guts.
There's a Photobucket account with her name on it
Remember Photobucket, the image-sharing site that was popular before Instagram and Twitter? Holmes — or a girl with the same name and an extraordinarily striking resemblance to her — had an account that includes lots of pictures with friends doing adolescent stuff and perhaps exercising some questionable judgment. Teens will be teens, but the internet remembers everything, and that account may be our best glimpse into Holmes post-Hollywood world.