RELATED: The Biggest ’00s TV Teen Idols, Then and Now. Thanks to a series of dramatic TV movies and his role as Mike Seaver on Growing Pains, Kirk Cameron was one of the premiere teen idols of the late ’80s and early ’90s. An Evangelical Christian, Cameron still works as an actor, but almost entirely in TV and movies (like the Left Behind series) with religious themes. He also made a cameo as himself on sister Candace Cameron Bure’s series Fuller House in 2019. RELATED: How Old 15 Stars Really Were When They Played Teen Idols. Keri Russell’s first major acting gig was in 1992’s Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, but she became a teen icon when the college dramedy Felicity premiered in 1998. Russell’s spy drama series The Americans wrapped in 2018; in 2019, she appeared in the final flick in the most recent Star Wars trilogy. Neil Patrick Harris had his breakthrough role in 1988’s Clara’s Heart and then rose to fame playing a kid genius in Doogie Howser M.D. Harris has had tons of success on stage and screen as an adult as well, from winning a Tony for his starring role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch to playing lovable ladies’ man Barney on How I Met Your Mother for nine seasons. Most recently, he appeared in the documentary Dads and an episode of the acclaimed British drama, It’s a Sin. Rider Strong became one of the decade’s most beloved floppy-haired heartthrobs playing Shawn Hunter, Corey’s best friend, on Boy Meets World. Strong has continued to act, but has also dabbled in other aspects of the entertainment industry, including podcasting, playwriting, and filmmaking. He also made a few appearances as Shawn in the Boy Meets World reboot, Girl Meets World. Claire Danes played Beth March in Gillian Armstrong’s Little Women in 1994, the same year My So-Called Life, her short-lived but much loved teen drama, premiered. For eight seasons, Danes starred as a CIA agent on the drama-thriller Homeland. Jared Leto rose to fame as the aloof object of Danes’s character Angela’s affections: Jordan Catalano. In 2021, Leto’s Joker appeared in the infamous Zack Snyder cut of Justice League, and the actor will be seen later this year in the biopic, House of Gucci. He also fronts the band Thirty Seconds to Mars. Twin actors Tia and Tamera Mowry played long-lost twins reunited on the sitcom Sister, Sister, which aired its first episode in 1994. Tia (left) and Tamera (right) are both Hallmark Christmas movie frequent fliers and have several other individual ventures. Mark-Paul Gosselaar started playing wise guy Zack Morris in 1987, when Good Morning, Miss Bliss premiered. But it was in the early ’90s, when the retooled version of the sitcom—Saved by the Bell—premiered in 1989 that he became a bonafide teen heartthrob.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb Gosselaar recently starred as Bow’s dad on the black-ish spinoff mixed-ish. And he also reprised his defining role in Peacock’s Saved by the Bell revival. The jock to Zack’s prep, A.C. Slater made Mario Lopez equally as popular with the kids. Lopez was also back for more Saved by the Bell, as Slater is now the PE teacher and football coach at Bayside. But he’s otherwise kept busy more as a host than an actor. Elizabeth Berkley started her career as a model and a dancer before being cast as high achiever Jessie Spano on Saved by the Bell. Berkley’s most recent acting gig was, you guessed it, playing grown-up Jessie on the Saved by the Bell reboot. In addition to acting, she’s also delved into the self-help arena, running an advice site for teen girls called Ask Elizabeth, which later became a book and a documentary. RELATED: The Best Teen Movie That Came Out the Year You Graduated. Then known as Tiffani Amber Thiessen, she played cheerleader Kelly on Saved by the Bell, Saved by the Bell: The College Years, and the TV movie where Zack and Kelly tie the knot. She also joined the cast of another influential teen drama, Beverly Hills, 90210. Thiessen, like her other costars, also recently returned to her teen dream role for a couple of episodes. She also stars on the Netflix series Alex & Katie and has led her fair share of Hallmark holiday movies. Lark Voorhies (pictured above with cast-mate Dustin Diamond, who sadly passed away from cancer this year) played Bayside’s fashion plate, Lisa Turtle, on Saved by the Bell. She went on to roles in soap operas Days of Our Lives and The Bold and the Beautiful. Voorhies has not acted much since the late ’00s, but she did make a cameo in the show’s reboot. Steve Urkel wasn’t originally meant to be the main character of the TGIF sitcom Family Matters, but the heart wants what the heart wants. Jaleel White became the show’s breakout star, playing not just the lovable nerd next door, but his dreamy alter-ego, Stefan Urquelle. Since early in his career, White has been doing voice acting in addition to onscreen work. His 2020 credits include the animated series DuckTales and Teen Titans Go, as well as being in the main cast of the Netflix sitcom The Big Show Show and appearing on the Disney revival series, Raven’s Home. Neve Campbell’s big break came when she was cast as Julia Salinger in the drama Party of Five, about siblings who have to look out for each other after their parents die. Roles in The Craft and the Scream series cemented her as a teen idol. You can see Campbell in the 2020 Disney+ movie Clouds and the 2018 Dwayne Johnson disaster flick Skyscraper, but the big news for ’90s kids is that she’s also returning to the Scream franchise for the fifth film in the series, due out in 2022. Will Smith was already famous as a rapper by the time his series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air started airing in 1990. Smith is one of the most bankable actors of all time, but he hasn’t forgotten his roots. He was a part of the Fresh Prince reunion special that premiered on HBO Max last fall. Tatyana Ali played Will’s little cousin Ashley on Fresh Prince and also released her own pop music. Ali can be spotted all over the small and big screens (including, yes, the occasional holiday romance), but her most recent project was the son (her second) she welcomed in 2019. For more celebrity trivia sent right to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter. Sarah Michelle Gellar staked countless creatures of the night on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which aired from 1997 to 2003. Gellar still grabs the occasional acting role, but she’s also known for her cookbook and her adorable marriage to fellow ’90s teen icon, Freddie Prinze Jr. Alyson Hannigan had been acting for a few years when she was cast as Buffy’s bookish best friend Willow, but it was undeniably her breakout role. Just two years after Buffy ended, Hannigan ended up on another long-running TV show: How I Met Your Mother, which ran through 2014. More recent credits include the Disney Channel Original Movie Kim Possible and the 2018 slasher flick, You Might Be the Killer. She’s also married to another former Sunnydale resident: Alexis Denisof, who played Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. If you weren’t a ’90s kid, you’ll never know just how ubiquitous Blossom star Joey Lawrence and his catchphrase—“Whoa!—were at the time. Lawrence, who had a couple of fairly popular hits back in the day, released some new music as recently as 2017, and also was on Celebrity Big Brother in 2019. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been acting on screen since the late ’80s, and if you grew up watching him, Angels in the Outfield might be the first place you remember seeing him. But two years after that, he began starring in 3rd Rock From the Sun, a sitcom about a group of aliens pretending to be an average, human family. In 2020, the actor appeared in two Netflix movies: Project Power and The Trial of the Chicago 7. Like a lot of former teen stars on this list, he’s also dabbled in writing, directing, and producing, and he runs a creative site called HitRecord, which promotes collaboration among artists who’ve never even met. James Van Der Beek became a hero to film nerds everywhere when he played the eponymous aspiring director on Dawson’s Creek, which came to The WB in 1998. In 2019, Van Der Beek competed on Dancing With the Stars (coming in a respectable fifth) and made a cameo in the Kevin Smith movie Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. He was also in the 2020 horror movie, Bad Hair. As Joey Potter, Katie Holmes was the next door neighbor with a secret crush on her best friend, Dawson. In 2020, Holmes appeared in the movies Brahms: The Boy II and The Secret: Dare to Dream. Michelle Williams broke out playing new girl Jen, Joey’s rival and eventual friend, on Dawson’s. In 2019, Williams won an Emmy for playing the dancer Gwen Verdon in the miniseries Fosse/Verdon. In 2020, she announced that she’d gotten married to the series’ director Thomas Kail and they welcomed their first child in June. Prior to playing Pacey Witter, Dawson’s Creek’s resident sarcastic class clown, Joshua Jackson was known for The Mighty Ducks movies. In 2020, Jackson starred with Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington on the series Little Fires Everywhere and announced the arrival of his first child with wife and fellow actor Jodie Turner-Smith. His new Peacock series, Dr. Death, just premiered. Shannen Doherty had tons of credits under her belt—including Little House on the Prairie—before playing Brenda Walsh on Beverly Hills, 90210, which premiered in 1990. In 2019, Doherty joined her old friends back at the Peach Pit on the revival series BH90210, and made a tearjerking cameo in the Riverdale episode honoring the late Luke Perry. Jason Priestley won millions of hearts playing Brenda’s twin brother Brandon on 90210. Priestley was also onboard for BH90210 and currently plays a detective on the Canadian series, Private Eyes. Brandy Norwood, or just Brandy, was well known to her teen fanbase before taking on the lead role of Moesha in 1996. Her 1994 debut album was a massive hit. In 2020, Norwood released her new album, B7. She was also recently a regular on the showbiz drama Star. For three seasons, Corin Nemec played the eponymous character in the sitcom, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose—a kid who seemed to be able to get away with just about anything. Post-Parker, Nemec has stayed active in front of and behind the camera. In recent years, you may have seen him acting in one of the movies in Lifetime’s “The Wrong X” series (i.e. The Wrong Cheerleader Coach, The Wrong Stepfather), but he also produces, writes, and directs. Melissa Joan Hart grew up with her fans. She followed up her role on the Nickelodeon series Clarissa Explains It All in the early 1990s with the primetime sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch in 1996. In 2019, Hart led the Netflix series No Good Nick, and can often be seen in TV Christmas rom-coms. RELATED: Ranking Every ’90s Teen Movie, From Worst Reviewed to Best.
