'80s Child Stars Who Live Totally Normal Lives Now

The life of a child star during and after their Hollywood heyday can be particularly perilous. From battling typecasting and the difficulty of maintaining career momentum as they age to struggles with addiction, mental illness, and various forms of abuse or neglect at the hands of their family, friends, and/or the industry and its power players, there's no shortage of horror stories about stars navigating their lives and careers for all to see. For his part, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Stand by Me" star Wil Wheaton quit the business for a time before thrilling geeks everywhere with a second act as a host, actor, nerd icon, and mental health champion. Meanwhile, stars like Christina Applegate and Sean Astin never really left the public eye after their early breakouts. 

However, some child stars decided that they didn't want to be a part of the Hollywood rat race, breaking away from the entertainment industry altogether and eschewing fame and fortune in favor of more conventional lives and career paths. In fact, some of the most memorable child stars of the 1980s opted out of the business at the height of their powers, becoming teachers, tech pros, attorneys, P.F. Chang's employees, and the like. From "The Goonies'" Jeff Cohen to "Weird Science's" Ilan Mitchell-Smith, here are some of the '80s child stars who are living totally normal lives now.

If you grew up during the 1980s and hear the phrase "truffle shuffle," chances are you'll instantly recall the now-iconic dance, as performed by the character Chunk in the 1985 Richard Donner-directed, Steven Spielberg-produced smash, "The Goonies." Chunk, who was an integral part of the Goonies crew, was played by Jeff Cohen, and the character became the blueprint upon which all plus-sized, comic relief characters were based for the remainder of the decade. It wasn't Cohen's only memorable '80s role, though. He also showed up in television series like "Family Ties," "Amazing Stories," and "The Magical World of Disney." However, Cohen ultimately felt that his best talents lay elsewhere.

"The fact that I looked like I knew what I was doing and looked like I could act proves that he was a genius," Cohen told Variety of Donner. The legendary director did more than just set him up for acting success in "The Goonies," though. He set him up for success after acting, too, funding his education and paving the way for his Hollywood-adjacent legal career. Cohen last acted in 1991, eventually becoming an entertainment lawyer and partner at Cohen Gardner LLP. "None of that would have happened for me without Dick Donner helping me when there was nothing I could do for him. To me, that's a unique thing in our business. Dick Donner and Lauren Shuler Donner, because they were kind, paid for my college when I went to Berkeley." He also became a legitimate hunk.

You would never know it now if you looked at him and you weren't around in the late 1980s, but once upon a time, Josh Saviano was on one of the most iconic television series of the decade. From 1988 until 1993, Saviano played Paul Pfeiffer on "The Wonder Years," which chronicled the exploits of the Arnold family during the tumultuous late 1960s and early '70s. Pfeiffer was the nerdy best friend of the series' de facto protagonist, Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage), and a key character for the duration of the show's run. Outside of a handful of appearances on NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," though, Saviano never appeared in a major television or film production again after "The Wonder Years" finale aired.

In that finale, it's revealed that Pfeiffer eventually graduated from Harvard and became a lawyer, a path that closely mirrors Saviano's real-life journey. In truth, Saviano attended another Ivy League school, Yale, and became a lawyer, spending several years with the firm Morrison Cohen LLP. More recently, he founded two advisory firms supporting artists, entertainers, athletes, influencers, and entrepreneurs. According to Us Weekly, he has been married to his wife, Jennifer Saviano, since 2002, and the couple has raised one daughter. Of course, he's just one of "The Wonder Years" cast members who don't look like they used to.

Any horror fan with a true understanding of the genre and its history is likely to name-check "The Shining" as one of the greatest scary movies of its time (or any time, for that matter). And while there are a lot of reasons for that — Jack Nicholson's portrayal of Jack Torrance, Wendy Carlos' haunting score, those creepy twin girls, etc. — Danny Lloyd's performance as Danny Torrance, and the sympathy that the character elicits from viewers as he endures the horrors wrought by his father and the Overlook Hotel, are an important piece of the puzzle. Incredibly, Lloyd pulled that off as a 6-year-old appearing in his debut role. Perhaps even more incredible is that outside of a TV movie role two years later and a cameo in 2019's "Doctor Sleep," Lloyd never acted in a major production again.

Instead, he grew up, paid his way through college with farmwork, and, eventually, became an educator himself. As of 2024, Lloyd was a professor in the biology department at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College in Kentucky. His X bio further notes that he's a husband and a father to four children. However, he still looks back fondly on his brief acting career, telling The Guardian in 2017, "I don't do many interviews. But when I do, I try to make it clear, 'The Shining' was a good experience. ... What happened to me was I didn't really do much else after the film. So, you kind of have to lay low and live a normal life."

You may not know the name Carrie Henn, but her position as a veritable icon of sci-fi cinema has been more or less entrenched since the mid-1980s. In 1986, when Henn was just 10 years old, she starred alongside Sigourney Weaver — whose first name actually isn't her real name — in "Aliens," James Cameron's action-infused follow-up to the 1979 Ridley Scott classic, "Alien." Henn portrayed Newt in the film, the sole survivor of the Hadley's Hope settlement on the moon Acheron, which is overrun by Xenomorphs. Newt becomes attached to Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) during a subsequent investigation of the lost colony. While her character and the film are now etched into the annals of sci-fi lore, the only other major acting credit listed on Henn's IMDb page is the 2020 animated miniseries "Thunder Island."

That's because Henn, like other performers on this list, opted for a career in education. "They don't understand that acting wasn't my passion. It wasn't my dream," Henn told Tulsa World in 2016 (via the Daily Mail). "Did I enjoy it? Yes. Was it an amazing experience? Absolutely. Would I do it again? Of course. But it wasn't my passion. Teaching was." After college, Henn went on to teach at an Atwater, California, elementary school. More recently, though, she has been connecting with her "Aliens" fans via Instagram and fan events/conventions. She has reportedly been married since 2005 and has one daughter.

Chris Hebert has an extensive list of acting credits on his resume, making appearances in memorable 1980s television series like "Family Ties," "St. Elsewhere," "Airwolf," "Tales From the Darkside," and "The Twilight Zone." However, he's best known for playing a young Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the 1985 CBS miniseries "Robert Kennedy and His Times" and for his portrayal of Louis Rogan in the 1984 sci-fi classic "The Last Starfighter" (the film that led to Steven Spielberg's awkward introduction to Seth Rogen). In the latter project, Hebert's character is the younger brother of the film's alien-fighting protagonist, Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), who stashes Playboy magazines and wants to be like his big brother.

Hebert continued acting after completing those projects, but his last credit came with the 1996 independent film "Waiting for Mo." As a young adult, Hebert graduated from the University of Southern California with a film degree, later getting his English degree and teaching credentials through Cal State Fullerton, and a master's degree in theological studies through Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (now Gateway Seminary). He then settled into a career as an educator, teaching English at Fullerton Union High School near his childhood home. In 2018, Hebert and his wife co-founded Evergreen Christian School, a homeschooling co-op/private school satellite program.

Few 1980s sitcoms were as successful as "Who's the Boss?" — the Tony Danza/Judith Light series about a retired professional baseball player who takes a job as the live-in housekeeper for a divorced ad exec, and the blending of their respective families. Running from 1984 to 1992, the series was nominated for 10 Primetime Emmy Awards and five Golden Globes, and Danny Pintauro was an integral part of that success. Pintauro played Jonathan Bower, the son of Angela Bower (Light), who finds a surrogate father in Tony Micelli (Danza) and a surrogate sister in Micelli's slightly older daughter, Sam (Alyssa Milano). Despite appearing in virtually all of the series' 196 episodes and becoming a television fixture of the '80s, Pintauro acted only sporadically in the decades after the show ended.

Meanwhile, he got married and held a variety of regular jobs, including (but not limited to) working as a veterinarian tech, P.F. Chang's server trainer and manager, agent's assistant, and a production coordinator. Pintauro, who is HIV positive, serves as an advocate for people who live with the virus and the gay community, as well. He also sells handcrafted book nooks online, some of which can be seen on his TikTok account. More recently, he made a return to acting, landing a role in the 2022 Lifetime movie "A Country Christmas Harmony." In November 2024, Pintauro survived a near-fatal scooter accident. 

If transitioning from a life as the key character on one of the best-remembered sitcoms of a decade to one of total anonymity was an Olympic event, Tiffany Brissette would be held in Michael Phelps-like esteem. In the mid-to-late '80s, Brissette played V.I.C.I., or Vicki — a Voice Input Child Identicant, or android — in the series "Small Wonder," in which the robot is taken home and incorporated into the family of her creator, Ted Lawson (Dick Christie). Needless to say, high jinks ensue, much to the delight of the millions who watched the show over the course of its four-season run.

Brissette's life in the years following "Small Wonder" has been about as low-key as it gets for a popular former television star. In a late-2000s interview on "The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet," Brissette revealed that she was living in Boulder, Colorado, biking, skiing, and going to school to be a nurse. In 2012, she told Page Six that she was working as a registered nurse and was happy with her normal life, saying, "It was a great run ... 'Less is more,' in my words. Moving forward and exploring life kept me normal. It was a fabulous run, but I was ready for what's next." A bare-bones LinkedIn page states more of the same, but updates on Brissette's whereabouts have been few and far between.

Where holiday movies, comedy movies, and the films of the 1980s are concerned, perhaps no film has managed the same levels of notability in all three categories like "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation." Starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo — whose long relationship remains intact — in their third go-around as Clark and Ellen Griswold, the 1989 Christmas classic chronicles the holiday misadventures of cinema's favorite dysfunctional family of star-crossed travelers. In "Christmas Vacation," Clark and Ellen's nephew, Cousin Rocky, is played by Cody Burger. Rocky is one of the children of the hapless Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid), who spends Christmas with the Griswolds in the film. Burger later appeared in films like 1992's "Forever Young" and 1995's "Heavyweights," in addition to the popular television series "Home Improvement."

Having not appeared on-screen since 1995, Burger instead decided to attend college at Tallahassee State College, according to a LinkedIn page in his name. From there, he got into the information technology space, working as a senior network engineer, a network and security team lead, and, most recently, as a systems architect. Burger hasn't forgotten his "Vacation" roots, though, making annual Christmastime appearances on Tallahassee's "The Greg Tish Show."

Steven Mond had a recurring role on the NBC/ABC sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes," which enjoyed a 189-episode run across eight seasons from 1978 to 1986. In the series, Mond played Robbie Jason, the redheaded friend of Gary Coleman's Arnold Jackson. Mond also appeared in television series like "CHiPs" and "Quincy, M.E.," as well as the Steven Spielberg-directed war comedy "1941," in which he portrayed Gus Douglas. However, "Diff'rent Strokes" will always be his claim to fame in Hollywood, and Mond remembers his time on the show fondly. As he told Michael Hersh in a 2018 Medium interview, "My best memories are just generally goofing off with Gary and Shavar [Ross] and Nikki [Swasey] between rehearsals. However, he confessed that he was "much more into academics, right on from junior high."

Rather than continuing his acting career, Mond went all in on his education, getting a bachelor's degree in economics from University of California, Berkeley, a law degree from University of California, Davis, and a master's degree in sports management from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. All that schooling paid off when he later fulfilled a lifelong dream of becoming a "Jeopardy!" champion. However, he found his passion as a math teacher at high schools in Utah and Nevada (where he now lives). Mond was also married for a time and had at least one child, but his Facebook page currently lists him as single.

Ilan Mitchell-Smith's character, Wyatt Donnelly, from the 1985 John Hughes-directed classic film "Weird Science," was a veritable whiz kid. Along with his best friend, Gary Wallace (Anthony Michael Hall), he created a live woman from a doll using little more than some electrodes and their computer hacking skills. Turns out, he was a whiz kid in real life, too. But before Mitchell-Smith found his calling in real life, he also played Andy McAlister in the 1988 television series "Superboy" and starred in the Cameron Crowe-penned coming-of-age comedy "The Wild Life" in 1984. Despite his teenage success, though, Mitchell-Smith ultimately decided that stressing about his next role wasn't for him in the early 1990s, electing instead to advance his education.

After growing up in front of the camera, Mitchell-Smith got his GED, and went on to receive both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in medieval studies from U.C. Davis and Fordham, respectively, and a PhD in English literature from Texas A&M. Eventually, he landed a job as an associate professor of medieval literature and culture at California State University, Long Beach, where he served as co-director of the university's Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. He told Rediscover the '80s in 2017 that he got married and had two kids as well, and noted that he continues to play Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop games when he can. He also wrote about his hobbies for Forces of Geek.

Staci Keanan was a child star whose work in the 1980s and the '90s placed her at or near the top of the sitcom hierarchy in both decades. First, she starred alongside Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan as Nicole Bradford, an orphan raised by her late mother's two ex-boyfriends, in "My Two Dads." Then, just a few years later, playing one of the better-known characters on sitcom television, Dana Foster, on the long-running ABC/CBS series and "TGIF" stalwart "Step by Step," alongside Suzanne Somers and Patrick Duffy. After the show's 1998 cancellation, Keanan logged a handful of television and film credits, last playing a version of herself and sharing the screen with fellow "Step by Step" alums Duffy and Christine Lakin in the 2017 series "Hollywood Darlings."

However, Keanan's greatest success arguably came outside of show business. Keanan went from getting a bachelor's degree in art history from UCLA and tutoring fifth- through 12th-grade students in English, history, and test preparation, to getting her law degree from Southwestern Law School, to serving as a deputy district attorney at the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, and, eventually, to joining the faculty at Southwestern Law as an adjunct professor (under her birth name, Anastasia Sagorsky). Keanan is now married to actor Guy Birtwhistle, and she also hosts a podcast with Lakin, "Keanan and Lakin Give You Déjà Vu."