What The Cast Of Melissa And Joey Are Doing Today

From 2010 to 2015, "Melissa & Joey," an American sitcom that united '90s teen stars Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence, graced the small screen. Following some legal troubles involving her sister and brother-in-law, Toledo city councilor Mel Burke (Hart) takes in her niece and nephew, Lennox (Taylor Spreitler) and Ryder (Nick Robinson). She quickly realizes she can't do it all, so she employs fallen businessman Joe Longo (Lawrence) to help out as the kids' new nanny.

"Melissa & Joey" was born out of the ABC made-for-TV movie "My Fake Fiancé" where Hart and Lawrence pretended to be a couple. "Both of us just work together really well and from there we knew we wanted to spin-off and do something in television, and ABC Family agreed," Hart told Entertainment Weekly. "We all came together and ABC Family had the concept, we had characters we wanted to play."

The series proved popular and aired over 100 episodes during its run on ABC Family (now Freeform). By the fourth season, the comedy had come full-circle, with Lennox and Ryder all grown up and Mel and Joe married and expecting twins. The characters of the sitcom certainly found their happy ending, but let's find out what the stars of "Melissa & Joey" have been doing since the show ended.

Melissa Joan Hart captured hearts when she bagged the title roles in teen sitcoms "Clarissa Explains It All" and "Sabrina the Teenage Witch." Decades later, these are the shows she gets asked about the most but, surprisingly, the actor told TV Insider she didn't "identify" with either of the characters. It wasn't until "Melissa & Joey" that the television star finally found a role that really clicked with her. "Mel was my favorite character I got to play," Hart revealed to the outlet. "She was just fun and lovely and flawed."

Since "Melissa & Joey" ended, Hart has continued acting, but she's been taking on fewer roles. The roles that she chooses tend to be in heartwarming romances and comedies. "I love doing them because they do give people a good happy feeling," the actor explained to MediaVillage. 

While Hart has no plans to completely stop acting, the "No Good Nick" actor says her real passion is directing. Hart made her directorial debut while starring in "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and has since directed episodes of other sitcoms including "Melissa & Joey," "The Goldbergs," and "Young Sheldon." Speaking to Glamour, Hart explained, "It doesn't worry me that people don't know what I'm up to currently because I know I'm working and paying my mortgage and am fulfilled creatively." Spending time behind the camera seems to suit the former teenage witch just fine.

Nick Robinson played Lennox's younger brother Ryder Scanlon in "Melissa & Joey." When the series began, Ryder was a pre-adolescent kid, but by the time it ended he had graduated high school and enlisted in the Navy — and grown about a foot too.

Robinson grew up alongside his on-screen character too, and took every opportunity to further his career, racking up quite a few film credits while filming "Melissa & Joey." Notably, he appeared in the Disney Channel film "Frenemies" alongside Bella Thorne and Zendaya. Robinson's career continued to climb, and during the last season of "Melissa & Joey" he bagged a major role in the Hollywood blockbuster "Jurassic World" alongside Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. This was Robinson's first big feature film, and he said in Collider that he was "blown away" when he landed the role. "When you walked onto set and seeing the scope of this thing, you knew it was going to be something big and special," he shared.

Though he didn't reprise his part for the "Jurassic World" sequel, Robinson scored major jobs in other Hollywood feature films like "Everything, Everything" and "Love, Simon." He also landed a lead in the FX miniseries "A Teacher," where he plays a high school student in a program that, as he said to AwardsWatch, "wasn't really meant for teenagers." As Robinson told the outlet, "the actual content of the show felt much more adult and elevated."

Christopher Rich had a recurring role in "Melissa & Joey," playing Mel's father, Senator Russell Burke. Russell would pop into town now and then, but his (often unexpected) arrival usually brought some drama into Mel's life. In Season 1 he tried to take Lennox back to D.C. with him, and in a later episode, he reappeared to thwart his daughter's political agenda.

Rich's character could be trying to say the least, but that's not how the actor would describe his experience working on the show. "It was so much fun to do it," he told StylinOnline. Rich revealed that he had just finished an arc on "Desperate Housewives" when he got the call to "come and play an ex US senator who's the father of Melissa Joan Hart," and he couldn't pass up the opportunity. "The script was just awesome," he explained, adding that while he joined the cast early in Season 1, "it was like being in the second year of a show." "They got it down," he said.

Off-screen, Rich has had to deal with serious health complications since "Melissa & Joey," though. The actor had a stroke in 2018 and has since spoken about his experience and been actively raising stroke awareness through a series of videos for the Centre for Neuro Skills. When he started to recover from the stroke, Rich decided to slow down his acting career and focus more on philanthropic work in the green energy space.

Lucy DeVito joined the cast of "Melissa & Joey" midway through the first season as Stephanie Krause, who essentially replaced Elizabeth Ho's character for the rest of the series. As Mel's devoted personal assistant, Stephanie was involved in both Mel's professional and personal life, making for some entertaining scenes.

As the daughter of Hollywood legends Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, Lucy DeVito looks to her parents for their support and guidance about working in Hollywood. "They are my gurus," she explained to Fabiosa. But, she admits it's not always easy navigating the acting world with her father's last name. "It's a curse and a blessing having that last name," the actor revealed.

However, Lucy seems to do just fine without her family's help. She brought a hilariously adorable character to the screen in "Melissa & Joey" so she's definitely bagging roles in her own right. Since the sitcom ended, Lucy has gone on to appear in episodes of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" and the feature film "Blonde."

Before getting together with Joe, Mel had a couple of serious love interests throughout "Melissa & Joey." In Season 1, she has a significantly younger boyfriend, George Karpelos, played by "Greek" star Scott Michael Foster. "I'd never done multiple episodes of a multi-cam show, so when ABC Family came to me about this role, I wanted to be able to do an arc in that format," Foster told TVLine. "I took the job and it turned out to be a really amazing experience. And I would definitely do it again."

After appearing on "Melissa & Joey," Foster bagged a main role in the romantic musical comedy-drama "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" as Nathanial Plimpton III. "Sometimes you get a character and it's that same character for six seasons and you never change, but this character, in a season and a half, has grown a lot!" Foster said in Variety. "That's what I like about the show," he added.

Even though "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" ended in 2019, Foster's career shows no signs of slowing down. As Deadline reported, the television star is due to appear in the third season of "You," the Netflix psychological thriller — quite an interesting pivot from comedy.

British actor Gregg Sulkin rose to fame starring in Disney Channel series and original movies. In 2010, he scored a regular role in the popular teen sitcom "Wizards of Waverly Place" as Mason Greyback. He shared the screen with Selena Gomez, who played his on-screen love interest, Alex Russo. Soon after, Sulkin nabbed a recurring spot in the second season of "Melissa & Joey" as Lennox's boyfriend Haskell Davis.

When his time on the sitcom came to an end, Sulkin reprised the role of Mason Greyback for "The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex," a Disney Channel special that premiered in 2013. Since then, much of Sulkin's on-screen work has been affiliated with Disney in one way or another. From 2017 to 2019, the actor had a major role in the Marvel television series "Runaways" playing teen superhero Chase Stein. "It's exciting, but there's definitely a lot of pressure [entering the Marvel franchise]," Sulkin explained to The Hollywood Reporter. After his three-year stint on "Runaways," Sulkin took on a more lighthearted role in the Netflix film "Cinderella Story: A Christmas Wish" which he co-starred in with former Disney Channel actor Laura Marano. Sulkin is also set to share the screen with Emily Osment, another Disney Channel alum, in an upcoming Netflix series, per Deadline.

Off-screen, Sulkin is dating actor Michelle Randolph. "I enjoy every moment with you, before and after you've had coffee (prefer after tho)," he joked on Instagram in 2021 alongside a snap of the happy couple.

Trevor Donovan of "90210" fame joined the cast of "Melissa & Joey" as Austin, a recurring character in Season 3. Donovan helped bring a hilarious plot line to life on the series — he was initially a love interest for Mel, but the pair soon worried that they might actually be brother and sister. Though they discovered they weren't related, the speculation certainly put a dampener on Mel and Austin's relationship and Donovan exited the show at the end of the season.

After leaving "Melissa & Joey," Donovan found his groove with made-for-TV movies with Hallmark. The actor has starred in a tonne of flicks like "Marry Me at Christmas" and "Love, Fall, and Order." "To be honest, I wasn't very familiar with the Hallmark Channel before doing my first movie," the actor admitted to My Devotional Thoughts. But Donovan quickly found a place at Hallmark: "But since being a part of the Hallmark family, I've seen why they are so successful. I think Hallmark is a place people can go to watch a morally uplifting movie for the whole family and know they're getting a happy ending."

Faith Prince guest starred as Joe's mother, Gloria Longo, in seven episodes of "Melissa & Joey." She made her first appearance in Season 3 and became a familiar face for the rest of the series. "We'll have Faith Prince back again," Melissa Joan Hart said in Pop City Life before Season 4 began airing. "We've been having some fun bringing back some old guest stars that we love and adore."

Before popping up on the sitcom, Prince had an extensive theater career. As the Broadway star's website notes, she boasts a vast array of theater credits including "Guys and Dolls," "The Little Mermaid," and "Annie." When "Melissa & Joey" ended, Prince returned to her theater roots, appearing in a Broadway production of "Disaster!"

The actor admitted that she never really reflects on what she's done in the past, though. "I really never think about it, I'm always thinking about what's next," she told Broadway.com's Show People. Prince's attitude has obviously been working for her because she's had a slew of television appearances in recent years, too. Most notably, she's had roles in "Scream Queens," "Modern Family," and "Emily in Paris."

Kevin Fonteyne joined the cast of "Melissa & Joey" in Season 3 as Joe's nephew Marco. He soon became a serious love interest for Lennox, though, who was newly single following her break-up with her long-time boyfriend Zander. Marco was a recurring character for much of Season 4, but their relationship eventually ended when Lennox got back together with Zander and Marco took a job offer in Japan.

Fonteyne left before "Melissa & Joey" had ended, but he remembers his time on the sitcom fondly. "I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of working with everyone on that set," he explained to Trainwreck'd Society. "I couldn't have asked for a better cast and crew to share it with. I fortunately was already friends with Taylor Spreitler (Lennox) before booking the role, so it was great working with a friend."

Following his departure from the sitcom, Fonteyne took the opportunity to act in more adult roles in shows like "Masters of Sex" and "Sun Records." The actor says he has enjoyed the variety of his career so far: "It's a challenge to stretch my imagination and body for these roles but I'm eternally grateful to not be typecast."