“The Breakfast Club” cast: Here’s where the iconic Brat Pack actors are now

Entertainment Weekly catches up with Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, and more.

In 1985, John Hughes’ dramedy The Breakfast Club introduced moviegoers to a new genre of teen movies. Unlike the gory slashers and raunchy sex comedies that primarily courted young audiences, this film was a dialogue-heavy exploration of adolescent angst and the pressures of growing up. It told the story of five high school students, each representing archetypes from the athlete to the geek, who are forced to spend their Saturday morning in detention for transgressions ranging from truancy to bullying. Tasked with writing a 1,000-word essay on “who you think you are,” they begin to discover they have more in common than their social circles would lead them to believe.

The success of The Breakfast Club, on the heels of Hughes’ directorial debut Sixteen Candles (1984), turned the former National Lampoon scribe into one of Hollywood’s hottest filmmakers and made him the de facto voice of a generation. Its young stars — Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, and Judd Nelson — were quickly catapulted to fame and infamously dubbed the Brat Pack. The film continues to inspire and was selected in 2016 for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

It’s been almost 40 (!) years since The Breakfast Club cast turned in their group essay and left detention behind. Read on to find out where the actors are now.

Emilio Estevez (Andrew Clark)

Emilio Estevez sported the varsity letter jacket of “athlete” Andrew Clark.

The son of actor Martin Sheen (born Ramon Estevez) and brother of Charlie, Emilio made his uncredited feature debut in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it role in his father’s film Badlands (1973). Following a handful of TV appearances, he starred in Tex (1982), Francis Ford Coppola’s star-studded coming-of-age drama The Outsiders (1983), and the cult classic Repo Man (1984) before getting cast in The Breakfast Club.

“I think the [school] setting allowed for us to give those kinds of performances,” he told The Guardian in 2020. “John [Hughes] allowed the time for us to get under the skin of those characters.”

Estevez then starred in another Brat Pack classic, St. Elmo’s Fire (1985), alongside his Club cohorts Nelson and Sheedy as well as his then-fiancée Demi Moore. The couple re-teamed for the crime drama Wisdom (1986), Estevez’s directorial debut. He went on to star in Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive (1986) and the action comedy Stakeout (1987) before teaming with his brother Charlie in the Western Young Guns (1988) and its sequel, Young Guns II (1990). Franchise costar Lou Diamond Phillips told Entertainment Weekly in 2023 that Estevez has written a script for a third film and hopes to direct it.

Estevez later headlined The Mighty Ducks (1992), Judgment Night (1993), and the Lethal Weapon parody Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) opposite Samuel L. Jackson before teaming up with Tom Cruise for the franchise-launching Mission: Impossible (1996), in which his character shockingly (and famously) dies in the opening sequence.

As the years went on, Estevez turned his attention more to directing TV episodes and features like The War at Home (1996), Bobby (2006), and The Public (2018). He still takes on acting jobs occasionally, even reprising his role of Coach Gordon Bombay in the Disney+ sequel series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (2021). He left after its first season.

After his relationship with Moore ended in 1986, Estevez married pop star Paula Abdul in 1992, but the couple split in 1994. The actor has two children, Taylor and Paloma, from a prior relationship with model Carey Salley.

Molly Ringwald (Claire Standish)

Molly Ringwald played the popular high school “princess” Claire Standish.

Ringwald began her career on sitcoms like Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life before taking to the big screen in the modernized Shakespeare adaptation Tempest (1982) and her breakout in Sixteen Candles (1984), which also costarred Anthony Michael Hall. That, of course, led directly to her signature character in The Breakfast Club.

She wrestled with the complicated legacy of both Hughes and The Breakfast Club in a 2018 essay for The New Yorker, writing "John’s movies convey the anger and fear of isolation that adolescents feel, and seeing that others might feel the same way is a balm for the trauma that teen-agers experience. Whether that’s enough to make up for the impropriety of the films is hard to say — even criticizing them makes me feel like I’m divesting a generation of some of its fondest memories, or being ungrateful since they helped to establish my career."

Following The Breakfast Club, she starred in the Hughes-written film Pretty in Pink (1986), worked opposite Robert Downey Jr. in The Pick-Up Artist (1987), and did more experimental Shakespeare in Jean-Luc Godard’s King Lear (1987). But the American roles began to dry up as the Brat Pack era faded. After playing the title character in the star-studded rom-com Betsy's Wedding (1990), Ringwald bounced from French cinema to high-profile miniseries like Stephen King’s The Stand (1994) to network sitcoms like Townies (1996). In recent years, she’s introduced herself to a new generation of teen viewers with roles as moms and teachers in The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008–2013), Riverdale (2017–2023), and The Kissing Booth (2018).

In addition to her TV and Broadway work, Ringwald has written the memoir Getting the Pretty Back, the novel When It Happens to You, and the English translations of the French books Lie with Me and My Cousin Maria Schneider.

During the '80s, Ringwald dated musician Dweezil Zappa and Beastie Boys rapper Ad-Rock. She was married to writer Valery Lameignere from 1999 to 2002. She wed writer Panio Gianopoulos in 2007 and they have three children.

Judd Nelson (John Bender)

Judd Nelson landed in detention as “criminal” John Bender. The Breakfast Club was only the actor’s fourth film following turns in Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel (1983), Making the Grade (1984), and Fandango (1985).

He discussed The Breakfast Club's continued popularity with EW in 2012. “It’s very cool… it shows the strength of John Hughes’ script and what he was doing in his films,” Nelson said. “He was the first guy who saw someone who was young and that did not mean that they were less, it just means that they were young.”

Molly Ringwald revealed in a 2012 Reddit “Ask Me Anything” that Nelson was almost fired from the film for taking method acting too far. He managed to keep the role thanks to the intervention of his castmates and subsequently joined Estevez and Sheedy in St. Elmo’s Fire. He lent his voice to the autobot Rodimus Prime in the animated Transformers: The Movie (1986), then appeared in the miniseries Billionaire Boys Club (1987) before starring with Wesley Snipes and Ice-T in the hit crime thriller New Jack City (1991).

Over the next several years he appeared in films like Airheads (1994), the Anthony Michael Hall-directed Hail Caesar (1994), and the Shaquille O’Neal-led superhero movie Steel (1997). Towards the end of the '90s, Nelson took on his first series regular role on television in the Brooke Shields sitcom Suddenly Susan (1996–2000). He has since worked steadily in movies like Light it Up (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), and The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009), and TV shows such as CSI (2006), Psych (2010), Two and a Half Men (2010), and Empire (2015–2019).

Ally Sheedy (Allison Reynolds)

Ally Sheedy sauntered into detention as “basket case” Allison Reynolds.

Before she made it as an actress, Sheedy became a bestselling author at age 12 when she penned the book She Was Nice to Mice. She made her big screen debut with Sean Penn in Bad Boys (1983) and broke out in the Cold War-themed high school hacker thriller WarGames (1983) before starring in The Breakfast Club.
“It was the first time I felt like I really belonged,” she told PEOPLE in 2015 while promoting the movie's 30th anniversary. “It was a very special family... I didn’t have a group like that when I was in high school at all. It was a really happy time in my life.”

Sheedy soon added hits like St. Elmo’s Fire and Short Circuit (1986) to her résumé. She reunited with Ringwald in Betsy’s Wedding (1990) and worked on the Hughes-produced Only the Lonely (1991), but fell off the radar until an award-winning performance in the indie drama High Art (1998). She followed that resurgence with a brief Off-Broadway run in the title role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. 

Since the turn of the century, Sheedy has appeared in TV shows like Oz (2001), The Dead Zone (2003), CSI (2007), and Kyle XY (2008–2009) in addition to film roles in Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime (2009) and the Kristen Stewart/James Gandolfini indie Welcome to the Rileys (2010). Most recently, she was in the main cast of Single Drunk Female (2022–2023).

Sheedy was married to David Lansbury from 1992 to 2008. They share a son, Beckett, who came out as trans during his teenage years. Sheedy talked to PEOPLE in 2022 about Beckett’s transition journey, saying she’s “learned a lot” and has become “very comfortable talking to anyone whose kid is just beginning the process of transition.”

Anthony Michael Hall (Brian Johnson)

Anthony Michael Hall struggled under the pressures of academic achievement as “the brain” Brian Johnson.

Hall began his onscreen career in a handful of TV movies before moving to the big screen in the Kenny Rogers vehicle Six Pack (1982). He then starred as Rusty Griswold in the Hughes-penned National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), the first of four collaborations with the filmmaker.

“There was a soul connection there,” Hall told Page Six in 2020. “[John] was always like a big brother. He was such a big influence in my life.”

After portraying Brian, Hall worked with Hughes once more in Weird Science (1985). He was offered roles in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) and Pretty in Pink (1986), but declined to avoid typecasting. At age 17, he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (1985–1986), becoming the youngest cast member in the show’s history. He played against type as a jock in Johnny Be Good (1988) then made a heel turn as the villain in Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (1990). His directorial debut soon followed with Hail Caesar (1994), featuring Judd Nelson in a small role.

Hall later had a career renaissance thanks to his acclaimed lead role in Stephen King’s The Dead Zone (2002–2007), a TV version of the character first played by Christopher Walken in the 1983 film. He’s been a reliable character actor ever since, appearing in major films like The Dark Knight (2008), Halloween Kills (2021), Foxcatcher (2014), and the Breakfast Club-inspired film The Class (2022). He also had an arc in The Goldbergs (2019–2023).

Hall and Ringwald dated briefly following The Breakfast Club. He wed Lucia Oskerova in 2020 and the couple became parents in 2023.

Paul Gleason (Vice Principal Richard Vernon)

Paul Gleason dished out discipline as Vice Principal Vernon.

Gleason, a former minor league baseball player, made several guest-star appearances on TV shows like The Green Hornet (1967), Mission: Impossible (1972), and All My Children (1978). As his movie career began taking off, he played the scheming villain Clarence Beeks in Trading Places (1983), one of his most memorable big-screen roles.

After spending his Saturday babysitting unruly teens in The Breakfast Club, Gleason appeared in the Star Wars TV movie Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985), John Hughes’ She’s Having a Baby (1988), and Johnny Be Good (1988) before appearing in another era-defining hit as stubborn Police Chief Dwayne Robinson in Die Hard (1988). He was best known for playing hard cases and authority figures, notably doing so in Money Talks (1997), Boy Meets World (1997), National Lampoon’s Van Wilder (2002), and Dawson’s Creek (2003). He even made a cameo as an FBI agent in Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) with Emilio Estevez.

He reprised the role of Richard Vernon in the 1999 video for the A*Teens song “Dancing Queen” as well as in the parody Not Another Teen Movie (2001), which also featured a Ringwald cameo. In January 2006, he published a book of poetry titled Uleta Blues & Haikus.

Gleason was married to actress Candy Moore from 1971 to 1978. He wed Susan Kehl in 1995 and they remained together until he died at age 67 from pleural mesothelioma in 2006. He had one daughter from each marriage.

John Kapelos (Carl Reed)

John Kapelos played former high school hotshot turned high school janitor Carl Reed.

A veteran of Chicago’s Second City improv troupe, Kapelos made his film debut with a small role in Michael Mann’s Thief (1981) before working with Hughes and Ringwald in Sixteen Candles. When Rick Moranis, who was originally cast as Reed, was let go from the film due to creative differences, the director called up Kapelos.

He told The Chicago Tribune, “When I was doing Sixteen Candles, John had said, ‘I’ve got this great movie that I’m going to do next and you’re going to be in it.’ He was making all sorts of cool promises. And then I saw this story that Rick Moranis was in it and I thought, damn. And that afternoon I got a call from my agent and she said, ‘They want you to come and do The Breakfast Club tomorrow, can you do it?’ They had been filming I think for a month or so. And I was in shock."

After The Breakfast Club, he reunited with Hughes in Weird Science and then starred in the comedy Roxanne (1987) with Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah. During the mid-’90s, he was a series regular and writer on the cult vampire detective series Forever Knight (1992–1995). Kapelos has over 200 credits on his résumé, featuring roles in Seinfeld (1993), Angel (2000), Queer as Folk (2005), Gilmore Girls (2005), Justified (2013–2014), Suits (2017–2018), and The Umbrella Academy (2020). His other notable film roles include Internal Affairs (1990), The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), and The Shape of Water (2017). 

He is married to salon owner Heidi Kapelos and has one son, Barry.

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