\nSome of today\u2019s biggest stars actually got their big break already during the 1980\u2019s. The era of big hair, shoulder pads and awesome high school movies is what turned them from aspiring actors to Hollywood superstars. Check out where your favorite 80\u2019s icons – including Molly Ringwald<\/strong><\/em>, Pheobe Cates<\/strong><\/em>, and Linda Evans<\/strong><\/em> – are now.
\n[post_page_title]Brooke Shields – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nWhen thinking of the eighties, there’s no doubt that one of the most familiar faces to pop in one’s mind would be the beautiful Brooke Shields. Who doesn’t remember the child star turned model who got famous in the controversial film, Pretty Baby and then was famous for her unforgettable role in the adventure drama, Blue Lagoon alongside Christopher Atkins. Shields turned to modeling later in her teenage years and continued to act in several movies and TV shows.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Brooke Shields – Now[\/post_page_title]
\nBrooke’s modeling and film career continued to grow and she appeared in endless movies and television shows. After she decided to pause her modeling career, Shields attended Princeton University and in the beginning of the ninties she returend to her true passion which is acting. One of her more famous appearances was on the NBC sitcom, Suddenly Susan which was on air from 1996 to 2000. Shields is also famous for dating pop icon, Michael Jackson. The actress is still together with her secobd husband whom she has two daughters with and she also serves as the spokeswoman for Tupperware’s Chain of Confidence SMART Girls.
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title]Geena Davis – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nWith her unique beauty, it’s no wonder that Davis’s early career was in fact a modeling one before turning to acting. She has a BA in Drama from Boston University where she graduated from in 1979. Davis first tried her luck with television, but her big break came when Sydney Pollack cast her for the 1982 film, Tootsie. Following the good critics on her rolem Geena packed her stuff and moved to LA and from then everything’s history.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Geena Davis – Now[\/post_page_title]
\nDavis later continued to succeed in different films, where one of the more famous ones being Thelma & Louise. The actress won a Golden Globe Award for her exquisite role on Commander in Chief in 2005. Her most recent appearance was on the popular Grey’s Anatomy where she played Dr. Nicole Herman. Geena’s second marriage was to plastic surgeon, Reza Jarrahy and the two have three children together.
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title]Melanie Griffith – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nThe 59 year old rose to fame and had her big break for her 1984 role in Body Double which she earned her first important award for. Subsequently she appeared in Something Wild before her big role as Tess McGill on Working Girl where she starred alongside Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver. She received a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination. Griffith’s first career move was in commercial when she was only nine months old.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Melanie Griffith – Now[\/post_page_title]
\nTill this very day Griffith has had many film and television appearances, the latest being on the film The Masterpiece. During the nineties she mainly worked on mainstream movies such as Now and Then and Two Much in 1996, where she met her future and famous husband, Antonio Banderas. The two were one of Hollywood’s power and most high profile couples being married for 19 years until they recently divorced.
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title] Pheobe Cates – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nPhoebe Cates may have not had the longest acting career in history, but she did have one of the most infamous scene known in Hollywood today. The teen icon broke onto the scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and grew in popularity after 1984\u2019s Gremlins. Her last film of the decade was Drop Dead Fred and unfortunately for Phoebo fans everywhere, she retired after Fred flopped.
\n
\n[post_page_title] Pheobe Cates – Now[\/post_page_title]
\nToday, Phoebe reportedly enjoys her life as a mother. She has two children with her husband, Kevin Kline, and the family lives on Madison Avenue in New York City. Together, the married couple runs a boutique called Blue Tree and we hear they\u2019re quite successful. It sounds like Phoebe had her cake and got to eat it too!
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title]Kirstie Alley – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nAlley’s career wasn’t always an acting one, in fact she started as an interior designer before her big breakthrough in 1982 when she played Lieutenant JG Saavik in the epic fictional film, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Besides her movie career which included Summer School, Shoot to Kill, Look Who’s Talking and Sibling Rivalry, Kirstie also did some great television roles, one which she is mostly known for as Rebecca Howe on Cheers, NBC’s sitcom which ran from 1982 to 1993. Kirstie also won an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for her acting skills on the sitcom.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Kirstie Alley – Now[\/post_page_title]
\nLater in her acting career, Alley continued to land roles on the small screen and she starred as the lead role in the sitcom, Veronica’s Closet for three years, a role she received two nominations for. Just like many stars, Alley turned to Reality Television and in In 2000 she had a reality show that was following her real life. Just recently she joined the cast of Scream Queens, the Fox horror comedy series, as Ingrid Hoffel.
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title]Kirk Cameron – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nThe young hunk from the eighties had his big breakthrough and rose to fame on when he played Mike Seaver on the family sitcom, Growing Pains, which debuted in 1985. His acting career began when he was just nine years old when he landed his first job at a breakfast cereal commercial. Cameron later starred in the 1987 hit Like Father Like Son, and was a guest star on a Full House episode in 1988, where he played alongside his famous sister, Candace Cameron, aka, D.J Tanner. Kirk was on the cover of many teen magazines as he was huge star by the end of the eighties.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Kirk Cameron – Now[\/post_page_title]
\nUndoubtedly, Cameron’s career was at its peak in the eighties. The actor appeared in the Growing Pains movie in 2000 and its sequel in 2004, Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers. Later he appeared in some low budget films and documentaries and even unfortunately received an award for Worst Actor. Cameron married his Growing Pains costar, Chelsea Noble and the two have six children, four of which they adopted.
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title]Christina Applegate – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nIt was only until the later years of the eighties that Christina hit stardom with her role as the ditzy, careless and very funny Kelly Bundy on the hit sitcom, Married With Children where she starred alongside Ed O’neill. Applegate’s mom, Nancy Lee Priddy, was also an actress and in fact she has her television debut when she costarred with her own mother in Days of Our Lives. Her first film appearance was in 1979, Jaws of Satan.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Christina Applegate – Now[\/post_page_title]
\nApplegate later appeared in a few movies and television shows. Her first television film was she played the role of the young Grace Kelly in the movie in 1983. In recent years she starred in The Vacation and in Bad Moms which was released earlier this year. She also had some small screen appearances as a guest star, one of them was on a Friends’ episode. Since 2008, Christina has been bravely fighting breast cancer.
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title]Nina Hartley \u2013 Then[\/post_page_title]
\nMarie Louise Hartman, aka Nina Hartley started off her career as an exotic dancer. At the time she was also studying nursing at the San Francisco State University.\u00a0Although being a nurse was and still is considered quite a solid profession, Hartley decided to pursuit a little more exciting career in the adult film industry. She then became one of the top actresses in her field.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Nina Hartley \u2013 Now[\/post_page_title]
\nToday, Hartley is still a big name in the adult film industry, she has more than a thousand movies in her resume and she’s considered an iconic star in her field. Hartley also starred in several documentaries about the adult film industry and even won Best Actress and a Lifetime achievement award.
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title]Madonna – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nThe queen of pop, also known as Madonna, is probably the most famous female singer and performer in the world, and as much as she doesn’t look her age, the iconic star came to fame when she debuted her first album: Madonna: The First Album, in 1982. Madonna later pursued a career in film and ended up playing in movies such as Desperately Seeking Susan, Dick Tracy and Evita, which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 1996. One of the more iconic moments was when the singer performed her famous “Like a Virgin” at the 1984 VMA.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Madonna – Now[\/post_page_title]
\nMadonna has some of the most famous songs which she also produced including: “Papa Don’t Preach”, “Like a Prayer”, “Vogue”, “Frozen”, and more, many of which hit number one records on the charts. The singer has sold over 300 million records all around the world and hit the first place on VH1’s list of 100 Greatest Women in Music. In 1985 she married actor, Sean Penn and later divorced. In 1998 she married director Guy Ritchie, whom she has a son with, Coco. The two eventually divorced in 2008. Madonna has an adopted son from Malawi named David Banda.
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title]Tom Cruise – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nCruise who was born in 1962, is one of the highest paid and famous actors in the world today. He began his acting when he was already in high-school and at 18 he moved to New York to pursue his dream. His film debut was when he played a small role in the 1981 film, Endless Love. His next years in the eighties were probably some of the more important ones in his career when he starred in some great hits including Top Gun, Rain Man and The Color of Money.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Tom Cruise – Now[\/post_page_title]
\nCruise is still one of the busiest actors in Hollywood today with an impressive record of hit movies where he starred throughout the years including Jerry Maguire and the Mission Impossible series. He was married to three famous actresses: Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes and today is a strong advocate of Scientology.
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title]Jessica Lange – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nJessica Lange is a bit of an acting legend these days. She burst onto the scene with an Academy Award for her role in Tootsie, and she’s never looked back since.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Jessica Lange – Now[\/post_page_title]
\nShe has won the so-called Triple Crown of acting (Oscar, Emmy and Tony Award). And most recently she has a recurring role in American Horror Story.
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title]Rob Lowe – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nThe blue-eyed hunk rose to fame when he appeared in the eighties films The Outsiders, Oxford Blues and About Last Night. He also had a role on the television film Thursday’s Child, a role he received a Golden Globe nomination. His big break came when he was cast on The Outsiders where he co starred with Emilio Estevez. Lowe received his second Golden Globe nomination after he appeared on Square Dance where he had a challenging yet incredible role as a mentlly disabled.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Rob Lowe – Now[\/post_page_title]
\nLowe’s career continued to rise in the nineties and many remember him from the Mike Myers hit film, Wayne’s World, and later in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and the 2002 sequel. His small screen career was also on the rise where he played Robert McCallister on ABC’s Brothers & Sisters and most recenly starred on The Grinder. Lowe is still happily married to Sheryl Berkoff, whom he met on a blind date in 1983 and the couple has two sons.
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title]Loni Anderson – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nIt’s been quite a while, but we’re betting you haven’t forgotten about this lovely lady from the ’80s, Loni Anderson. You’ll especially remember her if you were a fan of hit sitcom, WKRP in Cincinnati, where she played the role of sultry receptionist, Jennifer Marlowe. In fact, she did such a good job portraying this character that she was able to earn three Golden Globe Awards, as well as two Emmy nominations – and just wait till you see what she looks like now.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Loni Anderson – Now[\/post_page_title]
\nHaving gone through a number of disappointing marriages and divorces, one of them to notable noted ladies’ man actor Burt Reynolds, Anderson ended up getting married to Bob Flick in 2008, and they are reportedly still together. Since her time on Cincinnati, Anderson has appeared in a number of other projects on screen, including the cult classic comedy film A Night At The Roxbury, which came out in the late ’90s. As you can see here, she’s still looking pretty good!
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title]Molly Ringwald – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nThe red headed teen idol will always be remembered from her legendary roles in the some of the eighties greatest teen movies including Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty In Pink, all directed by John Hughes. She subsequently starred in The Pick-up Artist and the comedy drama teen movie, For Keeps. She was also a very talented singer and was even the main vocalist on two Disney Albums. In 1982 she had a Golden Globe nominee for her role in Tempest.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Molly Ringwald – Now[\/post_page_title]
\nThe actress kept on with her acting career all though the nineties with films like Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story and The Stand which was released in 1994. Ringwald was ranked number one on VH1’s 100 Greatest Teen Stars. Molly’s marriage to Panio Gianopoulos, a Greek-American book editor is her second marriage and the two have three children together, one daughter and twins. Molly recently appeared on the Canadian sitcom, Raising Expectations.
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title]Vanna White – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nWhen we think about game shows in the ’80s, Vanna White immediately comes to mind. However, she started out as a model in pageants before her game show debut as a contestant on The Price is Right. White took over hosting the Wheel of Fortune in 1982, and has been the face of the game show ever since. Her background in modeling and performing came in handy, and she quickly became a household name. White went on to star in the TV movie Goddess of Love.
\n
\n[post_page_title]Vanna White – Now[\/post_page_title]
\nAfter over 35 years, Vanna White is still hosting Wheel of Fortune. In fact, her current contract keeps her in her role until 2022. She has guest starred in a number of TV sitcoms including The King of Queens and Full House, as well as popular movies such as horror film Graduation Day. White has worn over 6,700 gowns during her time on Wheel of Fortune, and also holds the Guinness World Record for “most frequent clapper.”
\n
\n
\n[post_page_title]Traci Lords – Then[\/post_page_title]
\nAmong other things, Traci Lords is an actress, singer, and model. She was born in Ohio, but soon moved to California after her parents got divorced. Traci made her Hollywood debut in the 1988 version of the 1957 science fiction movie, ‘Not of This Earth.’ In the movie, Traci acted as the nurse, Nadine, who got tricked into helping out an evil alien from planet Davanna. After that film, Traci starred in much more classics such as ‘Cry-Baby’ and ‘Skinner.’
\n