Here’s What Your Favorite It Girls From The ’90s Are Up To Today
There were plenty of swoon-worthy lead actresses in the ’90s, starring in film and television roles. Some of the most prominent stars of the decade included the likes of Alyssa Milano and Alicia Silverstone. Read on to see what your favorite ’90s actresses have been up to since the turn of the new millennium.
Jessica Biel Starred In 7th Heaven
Jessica Biel started her career by performing in musicals and modeling. She rose to teen idol status when she became the eldest sibling in 7th Heaven. The show went on to become the longest-running family drama on The WB network with 243 episodes.
Biel also won the Young Artist Award for her performance in the 1997 film Ulee’s Gold. She continued her film career in the early 2000s with films like The Rules of Attraction and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Jessica Biel Starred In And Produced The Sinner
After starring in a stream of blockbuster hits like Valentine’s Day and Total Recall, Biel honed in on independent films. She starred in Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013.
Critics praised Biel for her performance in Bleeding Heart, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2015. In 2017, Biel became a producer to take on more complex roles, including her part in the limited series The Sinner. Biel married Justin Timberlake in 2012 and they have two sons.
Denise Richards Was A Bond Girl In The ’90s
Denise Richards started as a model at the turn of the decade before appearing in television shows and movies in the early ’90s. Richards became more widely known for her role as Carmen Ibanez in Starship Troopers.
In 1998, Richards starred in the blockbuster hit Wild Things before becoming a Bond girl in The World Is Not Enough. She went on to appear in Drop Dead Gorgeous, Valentine, Undercover Brother, Scary Movie 3, and Love Actually.
Denise Richards Joined The Cast Of The Bold And The Beautiful
Denise Richards went on to star in the reality shows including Denise Richards: It’s Complicated and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Around this time she also published a New York Times Best Selling memoir, The Real Girl Next Door.
Richards had roles in the sitcom Blue Mountain State and the mystery thriller Twisted. In 2019, she landed the role of Shauna Fulton in The Bold and the Beautiful, a sister soap opera to The Young and the Restless. In 2023, she had roles in The Line, The Housekeeper, Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace, and A Walking Miracle.
Julia Stiles Starred In 10 Things I Hate About You
Julia Stiles entered the film industry in 1996 with the production of I Love You, I Love You Not. In 1998, she won the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Award for her lead role in Wicked.
The following year, Stiles rose to international fame as the lead in 10 Things I Hate About You. Her performance won her the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance. Stiles also received Teen Choice nominations for Down to You and Save the Last Dance.
Julie Stiles Is The Lead In Riviera
After the ’90s, Julia Stiles gradually moved away from her teen idol status as she took on more adult roles. She garnered a Satellite Award nomination for her role in the drama The Business of Strangers.
Stiles became more well-known for her supporting role in the Bourne film series. She received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her recurring role in the series Dexter. In 2017, Stiles landed a lead role in the drama series Riviera. In 2022, she landed the main role in The Lake.
Winona Ryder Starred In Edward Scissorhands
Winona Ryder became well-known in the late ’80s for her roles in Beetlejuice and Heathers. In 1990, she starred in the hit films Mermaids and Edward Scissorhands. Ryder went on to garner Academy Award nominations for her performances in The Age of Innocence and Little Women.
She continued to land prominent roles through the end of the decade in films like Reality Bites, The Crucible, and Alien Resurrection. She also starred in and executively produced Girl, Interrupted.
Winona Ryder Has A Lead Role In Stranger Things
Winona Ryder co-starred in Mr. Deeds in 2002 before taking a break from films. Seven years later, she landed a role in Star Trek and received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her lead performance in When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story.
Ryder starred in Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie before landing the role of Joyce Byers in the science fiction series Stranger Things. Her performance as Joyce garnered her a Golden Globe nomination. The fifth and final season of Stranger Things is set to air in 2025.
Alyssa Milano Starred In Who’s The Boss?
Alyssa Milano became well-known for her role as Samantha on Who’s the Boss? After the show ended in 1992, Milano landed the role of Jennifer Mancini in the soap opera Melrose Place.
Toward the end of the decade, the actress played the lead role of Phoebe in the hit series Charmed. She was also in several movies throughout the ’90s, including Where the Day Takes You, Casualties of Love: The “Long Island Lolita” Story, and Fear.
Alyssa Milano Stars In Insatiable
Milano continued to star in Charmed until the show’s end in 2006. Around the same time, she had a recurring role in My Name Is Earl. Milano went on to star in the romantic comedy My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend and the sitcom Romantically Challenged.
The actress also starred in the drama series Mistresses and was a host and judge on Project Runway: All-Stars. In 2022, she played Grace in Brazen.
Rachael Leigh Cook Was The Lead In She’s All That
Rachael Leigh Cook was a child model before making her screen debut as Mary Anne in The Baby-Sitters Club. Cook’s breakthrough role, and most successful film to date, was as the lead in the sleeper hit She’s All That.
Cook went on to star opposite Elijah Wood in The Bumblebee Flies Away. In 2001, Cook landed the lead role in Josie and the Pussycats. Though the movie bombed at the box office, it became a cult classic.
Rachael Leigh Cook Owns A Production Company
Rachael Leigh Cook went on to star in Steven Spielberg’s miniseries, Into The West. She returned to the silver screen for her role in Nancy Drew and was the lead in The Final Season.
Cook also starred in the crime drama series Perception. She was the lead in multiple Hallmark Channel films, including Summer Love, Autumn in the Vineyard, and Frozen in Love. Cook started Ben’s Sister Productions and produced and starred in Love, Guaranteed. In 2023, she produced and starred in A Tourist’s Guide to Love.
Brandy Was The Title Character In Moesha
As a young teen Brandy released her self-titled debut album in 1993, which sold six million copies worldwide. Three years later, she starred as the title character in the sitcom Moesha. In 1997, Whitney Houston hand-picked Brandy to star in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s television version of Cinderella.
Brandy’s second album garnered her a Grammy and featured two number one hits. The same year she performed “The Boy Is Mine” with Monica, which became one of the best-selling female duets of all time.
Brandy Starred In Broadway’s Chicago
Brandy went on to create more critically successful albums and became a judge on the first season of America’s Got Talent. In 2010, she competed on Dancing With The Stars and starred in the reality show Brandy and Ray J: A Family Business.
After becoming a series regular on The Game, Brandy made her Broadway debut as lead Roxie Hart in Chicago. She produced and starred in Zoe Ever After before releasing her first independent album in 2020. In 2024, she starred in A24’s The Front Room.
Mandy Moore’s Debut Album Hit In ’99
Mandy Moore rose to fame as a musical artist before becoming a well-known actress. Her hit “Candy” made it on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1999. The song was off her debut studio album, So Real, which was certified platinum.
Moore went on to release several more albums in the coming years that were also successful. In 2002, she landed the lead role in A Walk To Remember. She also had a supporting role in The Princess Diaries.
Mandy Moore Was The Lead In This Is Us
Mandy Moore went on to star in several films including Because I Said So and Tangled. She is well-known for her role as Rebecca in the hit show This Is Us.
The role landed Moore a Golden Globe nomination and an Emmy nomination. It also garnered her two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Moore received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2019 and released the album Silver Landings in 2020. Moore released her seventh studio album in 2022 called In Real Life.
Neve Campbell Starred In The Scream Franchise
Neve Campbell’s breakthrough role was as Julia Salinger in Party of Five. While she was still on the show, Campbell broke into the film industry with roles in The Craft and Scream.
Campbell’s performance in the Scream franchise garnered her a Fangoria Chainsaw Award, a Saturn Award, two Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, and an MTV Movie Award. She went on to star alongside Denise Richards in the 1998 film Wild Things before appearing in Drowning Mona and Panic.
Neve Campbell Was LeAnn Harvey In House Of Cards
Neve Campbell went on to star in the films The Glass Man, Singularity, and the Lifetime crime film An Amish Murder. She also guest-starred in numerous series including The Simpsons, Grey’s Anatomy, and Mad Men.
Campbell joined the House of Cards cast as LeAnn Harvey in the show’s fourth season. She starred in Castle in the Ground, which premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. Campbell also starred as author Laura Sobiechthe biographical musical drama Clouds. She served as the executive producer of Swan Song in 2023.
Danielle Fishel Starred In Boy Meets World
After appearing in the show Full House, Danielle Fishel landed the role of Topanga in the teen sitcom Boy Meets World. The character was originally written as a small part, but Topanga became a recurring role and then a regular part of the show.
In 1998, Fishel won the Young Star Award for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy TV Series. Around the same time, Fishel was on the cover of Seventeen and GQ.
Danielle Fishel Reprised Her Role In Girl Meets World
Danielle Fisher went on to co-host the MTV show Say What? Karaoke and appear in various films, including National Lampoon’s Dorm Daze. She was also the voice of the lead character in The Chosen One.
She went on to become a special correspondent for The Tyra Banks Show and a spokeswoman for Nutrisystem. Fisher also starred in the drama Boiling Point, hosted The Dish, and reprised her role as Topanga in the spin-off series Girl Meets World. In 2022, Fishel and Boy Meets World castmates Rider Strong and Will Friedle started a rewatch podcast called Pod Meets World.
Eliza Dushku Was Faith In Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Eliza Dushku made her film debut as the lead in the 1992 romantic drama That Night. The following year, she performed alongside Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in This Boy’s Life. Dushku then played Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis’ daughter in True Lies.
In 1998, she landed the recurring role of Faith in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The character was so popular that producers kept her on for multiple seasons and incorporated her into the spin-off, Angel.
Eliza Dushku Has Done Voiceover Acting
Eliza Dushku became even more famous for her role in the hit film, Bring It On. She went on to appear in various films such as Soul Survivors and City by the Sea. In 2006, Dushku began voicing videogame characters.
In 2008, Dushku starred in and produced the series Dollhouse. She went on to voice She-Hulk in the Disney XD series Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. and had recurring roles in the series Banshee and Bull. In 2017, she starred in The Saint and Bull.
Alicia Silverstone Starred In Clueless
After appearing in an episode of The Wonder Years, Alicia Silverstone landed the lead role in The Crush, for which she won two MTV Movie Awards. She went on to star in multiple Aerosmith music videos, solidifying Silverstone as a teen idol.
Her appearance in the music videos got the attention of filmmaker Amy Heckerling, who cast Silverstone as the lead in Clueless. The role garnered Silverstone multiple awards and her own production company, First Kiss Productions.
Alicia Silverstone Is A Vegan Cookbook Author
After starring in a string of blockbusters hits, Silverstone honed in on smaller-scale films and theater. In 2002, Silverstone made her Broadway debut in The Graduate. She also starred opposite Laura Linney in the Broadway production of Time Stands Still.
In 2020, Silverstone starred in the comedy films Bad Therapy, Sister of the Groom, and Valley Girl, on top of the Netflix series The Baby-Sitters Club. The actress has also published two vegan cookbooks: The Kind Diet and The Kind Mama. In 2023, she starred in Reptile opposite Justin Timberlake and Benicio del Toro.
Carla Gugino Appeared On Saved By The Bell
Carla Gugino appeared in several hit shows through the late ’80s and into the ’90s, including Who’s the Boss and The Wonder Years. Gugino also played Zach’s love interest on Saved by the Bell when the show was still called Good Morning, Miss Bliss.
In 1994, Gugino was in Bon Jovi’s music video for the hit song “Always.” She also performed in several movies through the ’90s, including This Boy’s Life and Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco.
Carla Gugino Starred In Gerald’s Game
Carla Gugino gained more widespread recognition after the ’90s when she starred alongside Antonio Banderas in the Spy Kids trilogy. Gugino went on to star in other major films like Night At The Museum, American Gangster, and Watchmen.
Gugino also had the title role in the shows Karen Sisco and Jett. The actress starred in the series Threshold and The Haunting of Hill House. In 2017, she starred in the Stephen King film Gerald’s Game. In 2024, she starred in Lisa Frankenstein.
Fairuza Balk Was In The Craft And The Waterboy
After starring in Return to Oz, Fairuza Balk starred in several movies throughout the ’90s. In 1992, she won the Independent Spirit Award for her leading role in Gas Food Lodging.
Balk became known for her edgy characters in films such as Imaginary Crimes, The Craft, Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and American History X. However, she also appeared in lighter blockbuster hits like The Waterboy and Almost Famous.
Fairuza Balk Starred In Paradise City
Fairuza Balk has appeared in over a dozen films since the year 2000. She also had a recurring role in the crime series Ray Donovan. Additionally, Balk has done voice work for animated films, shows, and video games.
These include Justice League and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Balk has also released music under her unsigned act, Armed Love Militia, and has exhibited her art since 2011. She is also the star of the musical drama series Paradise City.
