What Your Favorite Stars Of The '90s Look Like Today

No need to adjust your Peacock settings. It really is Zack Morris, now governor of California, in his late forties. NBC's streaming service brought "Saved By the Bell" back for a reboot in 2020, and Mark-Paul Gosselaar, the actor behind the illustrious Bayside High alum, is just as shocked as you are. "We thought we were cancelled every season," he told Variety in 2020. "We thought no one was watching the show."

For more than 30 years, fans have kept the flame alive for one of their favorite Saturday morning series. They've also stayed nostalgic for many other shows, movies, and stars of their youth. The "Saved by the Bell" reboot joined a long list of '90s sitcoms seeing a 21st-century resurgence. From TGIF classics and movie remakes to slip dresses and scrunchies, the '90s came back in a big way.

Some stars of that golden era are still active in the entertainment industry, and others seem to enjoy life away from the spotlight. Wondering what your faves are up to these days? Grab your Beanie Babies and *NSYNC CDs as we check in on some of the biggest '90s stars.

Alicia Silverstone was gifted her character's iconic wardrobe from the 1995 movie "Clueless" — and gave it all away!

"I found Cher on the page to be materialistic and unappealing. And really annoying, to be honest," the perfecter of "As if!" said to Vogue in 2020 for the film's 25th anniversary. She told the magazine that even though she didn't end up keeping the clothes, she found a soft spot for Cher in the end.

In the mid-'90s, Silverstone starred in a trio of Aerosmith videos, including "Crazy" with Steven Tyler's daughter, Liv. She also took on the high-profile role of Batgirl alongside George Clooney in "Batman & Robin." By the turn of the aughts, she stepped back from acting and focused more on her family life with her son and husband, as well as her vegan activism and line of organic vitamins with Garden of Life.

With a recurring role in Netflix's "The Baby-Sitters Club," Silverstone returned to a more prominent spot in Hollywood, something she attributes to the highs and lows of starring in a film as popular as "Clueless." "I didn't expect any of the reaction that we got," she told Vogue. "It was a lot, and I think if anything it all pushed me away from doing this job for a while and got me so much more into my activism. I eventually found my love of acting again."

With her self-titled debut album in 1994, Brandy Norwood arrived on the music scene in a big way and quickly became a first-name-only star. TV and movies soon followed, from her headlining role on the long-running UPN sitcom "Moesha" beginning in 1996 to Disney's adaptation of "Cinderella" with Whitney Houston in 1997 for "The Wonderful World of Disney." She closed out the decade with a duet anthem with Monica, "The Boy Is Mine," which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for 13 straight weeks.

Brandy continued acting after her smash success in the '90s, with roles on shows including The CW's "90210" remake, "The Game," and "Zoe Ever After." Her music career hit a snag after her 2012 release "Two Eleven," when, according to Rolling Stone, her record label sued her over claims that she was putting out music without their permission. Following a countersuit for production costs and then a 2017 settlement, the artist formed her own label, Brand Nu, and released her "B7" album in 2020.

"I really don't like that it took me this long, but I'm glad that I didn't rush it," the "Never Say Never" singer told Rolling Stone. She added, "When you've been absent from music for so long, you want to make sure that it's your best work." Brandy sings with her daughter, Sy'Rai, on the album. The mom celebrates her daughter's talent and "want[s] to continue to do music with her." 

Zack Morris from "Saved by the Bell" is a lot of things — schemer, wise guy, serial dater... Actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar isn't exactly like the character he played, and he's not a naturally blond surfer guy in real life. "My mother is this tiny little Indonesian woman! ... People don't know that Zack Morris is half-Asian," Gosselaar told Jimmy Fallon in 2015 on The Tonight Show. "People think, 'Oh, that's your natural hair color.' It was not. That was color by Clairol."

In the years since Zack ruled the halls of Bayside High on the seminal early '90s sitcom (and its spinoff, 1993's "Saved By the Bell: The College Years"), Gosselaar has been a steady, non-blond fixture on TV. He's had roles in shows such as "NYPD Blue," "Franklin & Bash," and "Mixed-ish."The married dad of four bleached his hair once again to revive his iconic character on Peacock's 2020 reboot of "Saved By the Bell." 

Embracing Mr. Kelly Kapowski even more, Gosselaar also began co-hosting the "Zack to the Future" podcast with Dashiell Driscoll. The hosts look back at "Saved By the Bell" episode by episode. When special guest Leah Remini appeared on Episode 46 to talk about her guest-starring role as Stacy Carosi in the Malibu Sands arc, Gosselaar and Remini talked about their mutual chemistry on-set. "Tiffani [Kelly Kapowski] and I never had a kiss like we have ... on these six episodes," he told Remini.

Ice-cold, Mark-Paul. Zack and Kelly forever!

Tiffani Thiessen has an easy way of finding out when her latest project is a hit. "I always know when I've got a new show that has kind of made it," Thiessen told "Access Live" in 2018, "because then [interviewers will] start talking about that one and not about the past ones."

Those "past ones" happen to be some of the most iconic series of the 1990s, like "Saved By the Bell" and "Beverly Hills, 90210." Since her days as the ever-sunny cheerleader, Kelly Kapowski, and the ever-scheming Valerie Malone, Thiessen has continued to act in high-profile programs, from USA's "White Collar" to Netflix's "Alexa & Katie" and Peacock's "Saved By the Bell" reboot. She became the host of MTV's "Deliciousness," too.

In 2015, Thiessen joined the celeb cooking and lifestyle space with her Cooking Channel series, "Dinner at Tiffani's," which showcased her culinary and entertaining skills as she hosted famous friends at her home. On the show's 2016 holiday episode, the author of the "Pull Up a Chair" cookbook welcomed her fellow '90s co-stars, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Jason Priestley. She shared that some of her cooking inspiration came while she was playing Kelly Kapowski.

"My love of food kind of started a little bit with you [Mark-Paul], traveling through Europe," the married mom of two said on her show (via Entertainment Tonight), "like we did when we were teenagers [on a promotional trip for 'Saved By the Bell']."

Aww, you see? Zack and Kelly forever!

For almost 10 years, Jaleel White played the suspenders-loving Steve Urkel on ABC's TGIF sitcom "Family Matters." White, who was originally only supposed to be a guest star, was so good at the role that he stayed on and played other characters to perfection. Remember the Urkelbot? Myrtle Urkel? The ultimate master of suave, Stefan Urquelle?

Since leaving his geeky alter ego behind 1998, White has continued to show off his range on shows including "Psych," "House," "Drunk History," and "Fresh Off the Boat." He's also dad to daughter Samaya and host of the "Ever After" podcast. But he's well aware of, and cool with, the fact that he'll always be remembered for being hopelessly devoted to Laura Winslow.

"If you go to talk to Disney about anything related to Mickey Mouse ... you're going to get 50 people in that room," White told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. "That is the crown jewel of their brand, and so they protect it. And so for better or worse, the crown jewel of my legacy still remains Steve Urkel and Stefan Urquelle."

In 2021, White cashed in on that legacy by launching his cannabis line, ItsPurpl, with variants of the "Purple Urkle" strain and Steve Urkel-esque character branding on the packaging (via Forbes). If a "Family Matters" reboot ever gets off the ground, Stoner Steve just might be joining the ranks of the Winslows and Stefan.

Jonathan Taylor Thomas broke teenage hearts everywhere when he left ABC's "Home Improvement" in 1998 before its eighth and final season. Thomas had played wise-cracking middle son Randy Taylor since the beginning, but he felt it was time to focus on school.

In a 1999 interview for the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, Thomas said he'd made the right call: "It's been a very demanding year, and, you know, looking back, I made such a good decision, because had I stayed at the show and tried to do academically what I'm doing now, I would've, you know, put myself in an early grave." By the way, Jonathan Taylor Thomas attended Harvard and St. Andrews University in Scotland; he graduated from Columbia.

Thomas starred in a string of hit movies in the '90s and voiced Young Simba in Disney's "The Lion King." His picture was taped to millions of walls thanks to his teen magazine omnipresence. But since movies like "Man of the House" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas," JTT has largely stepped back from his once very public persona, besides appearances on "Smallville," "8 Simple Rules," and "Veronica Mars" in the 2000s. In 2013, he reunited with his TV dad, Tim Allen, for his first of four guest spots (plus a directing gig) on Allen's sitcom "Last Man Standing." (In the fourth, he played Randy!)

For Entertainment Weekly's 2011 "Home Improvement" reunion, the elusive Thomas shared that he was interested in directing but also open to acting: "I still have a passion for TV and film [and] could see myself working in it."

For five years, Jenna von Oÿ was the fastest-talking, bestest-best friend Six LeMeure to Mayim Bialik's Blossom Russo on NBC's "Blossom," which aired from 1990 to 1995. The flower-bedecked floppy hats and numerical name notwithstanding, von Oÿ credits her and star Bialik's "normal" lives for the authenticity of their teenage friendship onscreen.

"We didn't have boob jobs, and we did not bleach our hair," she told Entertainment Weekly in 2017, in conversation with Bialik for the magazine's "Blossom" reunion. "That was the beauty of it, is we got to be ourselves. ... We were actually the age, essentially, that we were playing. That just wasn't really the case for all of the shows on the air at the time. In fact, we were going through some of the things that our characters were going through simultaneously."

After "Blossom," von Oÿ's most memorable role was on UPN's "The Parkers," where she played another BFF character. In the years following, she wrote and recorded two albums, moved to Nashville, and turned to mommy blogging for People after getting married and having two daughters.

The "Situation Momedy" author still takes on the occasional acting role. Her latest: the 2019 movie "Cecil."

All that talk of "Blossom" and big hats has probably got you reciting the show's catchphrase — catchword, rather. Right?? "Whoa!"

"It's so weird [how] that word has transcended 20 years," Joey Lawrence, who played big brother Joey Russo, said on HuffPost Live in 2013. Lawrence said it was originally written in the script to be said like a surfer dude would say it, but the line wasn't landing with the live audience. So the "Dancing With the Stars" alum gave it his own spin: "I just tried it once and did this weird thing and people laughed. ... We did a second take, and they laughed again." And, as he told Bustle in 2017, everyone loves saying it to him, even his pastor!

Lawrence got his first big break on the aptly titled sitcom "Gimme a Break!" in 1983. After "Blossom," he starred with his brothers, Matthew and Andrew, on the comedy "Brotherly Love" on NBC from 1995 to 1997 — and let's not forget their Disney Channel Original Movies, "Horse Sense" and "Jumping Ship." Lawrence's pairing with fellow '90s star Melissa Joan Hart in ABC Family's TV movie, "My Fake Fiance," led to their successful 2010–2015 show, "Melissa & Joey," on the same network.

Some of his more recent roles have been influenced by his politics, but the actor is on board with going back in time. In summer 2021, he told Us Weekly that he's hopeful a "Blossom" reboot will soon be in the works.

Melissa Joan Hart starred in two of the most popular teen shows of the '90s, Nickelodeon's "Clarissa Explains It All" and ABC/The WB's "Sabrina the Teenage Witch." The star founded a production company, Hartbreak Films, with her mom in 1993. Though she's worked a lot since then, Hart is totally fine with keeping a lower profile as an adult. "I'm working and paying my mortgage and am fulfilled creatively," she told Glamour in 2020. "It doesn't worry me that people don't know what I'm up to."

After keeping it real as the sarcastically witty Clarissa Darling and then the actually bewitching Sabrina Spellman, Hart found success with TV movies in the 2000s. She starred opposite Mario Lopez in "Holiday in Handcuffs" (a true Christmas classic) and worked alongside Joey Lawrence for "My Fake Fiance" and a 2010-2015 sitcom, "Melissa and Joey." Hart has continued acting onscreen but is also an accomplished stage actor and a prolific television director.

Even though she has top '90s star status, Hart was also a fan back in the day and got to work with one of her favorites in a 2020 holiday TV movie, "Dear Christmas." "Back in my 'Clarissa' days, the only time I ever had off was Wednesday evenings," she also told Glamour. "I would get home, make myself a big bowl of cookie dough, and immediately watch 'Beverly Hills, 90210.' I admitted that to [Jason Priestley] a few days into filming. My 15-year-old self was freaking out."

Sisters who TGIF together stay together. Tia Mowry-Hardrict and Tamera Mowry-Housley starred in ABC's "Sister, Sister" as separated-at-birth twins who have a chance encounter as teens at the mall, bringing them back into each other's lives. The hit sitcom debuted in 1994 during the network's coveted Friday night lineup. (Two years later, it moved to The WB.)

Despite the show's instant popularity, Mowry-Hardrict told Entertainment Tonight in 2020 that she and her sister faced racism as their sitcom success was booming. They were denied the cover of a major magazine, Mowry-Hardrict said, "because we were Black, and we would not sell. ... I will never forget that."

Mowry-Hardrict and Mowry-Housley have maintained their close bond as they've navigated the industry post-"Sister Sister." They appeared together in the Style Network reality show "Tia & Tamera" from 2011 to 2013, and both of the married stars had their children around the same time. Mowry-Hardrict has acted in shows like "The Game," "Instant Mom," and Netflix's "Family Reunion," while Mowry-Housley was an original co-host of the talk show "The Real" for seven years until 2020.

About the prospects of a "Sister Sister" reboot, Mowry-Housley has it all worked out. "I would like to see something unexpected of the girls," she told PopSugar in 2021. "I always had this vision of them like the 'Sex [and] the City' girls: sexy, smart, witty, [but] obviously still having an amazing sisterhood."

During the holiday season, you're guaranteed to encounter a few pop culture staples. You will hear Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" at least a thousand times, and "Home Alone" will be on TV on some channel about every day. According to National Today, "Home Alone" wins the most states in a "most popular Christmas movie" map.

Macaulay Culkin, the film's star and Kevin McCallister himself, isn't typically one of those many viewers. "It's background radiation at Christmastime," Culkin said on the "Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2018. "I've had people who want to sit down and watch it with me, which is both flattering and creepy."

Culkin starred in the smash hit's 1992 sequel, "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York," as well as a string of memorable movies like "My Girl" and "Richie Rich." Though he stepped back from high-profile roles by the mid-'90s, the creator of the humor website and podcast "Bunny Ears" popped up in movies like 2004's "Saved!" and the 2021 FX series "American Horror Story: Double Feature." In 2021, he welcomed his first child with his partner, Disney Channel star Brenda Song.

As for indulging the fans who hope to see a recreation of Kevin McCallister's face-slapping shaving scene? "No. Been there, done that already, guys. ... Okay? Okay, Mom?" Culkin joked to Ellen.

When they make you into a doll, you know you've made it.

"Do I have a Brandon Walsh doll? I do!" Jason Priestley told Entertainment Weekly in 2019. "I have a complete, pristine set of all of our dolls." On October 4, 1990, teen twins Brandon and Brenda Walsh moved from Minnesota to the toniest zip code in America when "Beverly Hills, 90210" premiered on Fox. The prime-time soap, produced by the legendary Aaron Spelling, focused on a group of friends at the fictional West Beverly High. It was an instant hit and would go on to follow the kids to college and beyond, until May 2000.

Priestley played the dutiful and civic-minded Brandon until 1998, when he left after feeling the character had run its course (something he told CNN he regretted). Before his departure, the actor started making a turn toward directing and helmed 15 episodes of the series. After "90210," the Vancouver native and dad of two continued acting on shows like "Psych" and "Hot in Cleveland," in addition to directing and acting on a number of Canadian TV series.

When the original "90210" cast reunited for the 2019 Fox reboot, "BH90210," Priestley, who directed an episode, also told Entertainment Weekly that he was glad to be back: "Since I've worked on that show, I've worked on 100 other projects, and working on all those other projects gives you an appreciation for how special that time was."

Unlike her onscreen twin, Shannen Doherty wasn't initially excited about jumping back into playing Brenda Walsh in "BH90210."

"I didn't want to do it," Doherty told her friend and fellow '90s star, Sarah Michelle Gellar, in a 2020 Entertainment Tonight interview. "I've played the character so many times and I've done so many versions of '90210' that it felt like we had exhausted that avenue."

What changed her mind? Around the time she was making her decision, her former "90210" co-star (and Brenda's great love) Luke Perry passed away, and Doherty was also facing the return of the breast cancer she'd had since 2015. She decided to join the reboot to honor both Perry and her "cancer family" and told Gellar she ended up enjoying the improvisational atmosphere with her former cast mates.

Doherty, who was in '80s classics like "Heathers" and "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," left the original "90210" in 1994 amidst rumors of difficult behavior and frequent tardiness on set, which she denied. Drama also surrounded Doherty's exit from The WB's "Charmed" after three years in 2001.

After The CW's "90210" remake and "BH90210," Doherty is finally, solidly Team 90210, as she told TV Insider in 2019: "We have just weathered so much, either professionally or personally, so now we are all here, and we all want the same things for the show. ... We are a team."

Brian Austin Green was all sorts of everywhere in the '90s. Though his first big role was on the '80s soap "Knots Landing," in the next decade he popped up on everything from "Growing Pains" and "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" to "MADtv." He also played himself in an episode of "Saved By the Bell: The College Years" and even dated one of that show's stars, Tiffani Thiessen! But by far, his most notable gig was playing David Silver on "Beverly Hills, 90210" for the show's 10-year run.

For the reality-esque reboot, "BH90210," Green was lured in by the chance to do a different spin on Mr. Donna Martin. "I played David Silver for 10 years, and that was enough for me," he told AP News in 2019. "I liked the fact that I could go back and play David, sort of."

After "90210" ended in 2000, Green continued his prolific streak with roles on shows like "Desperate Housewives" and "Anger Management." His higher profile in later years came from his marriage to actress Megan Fox in 2010. The parents of three split in 2020. (Green also has another child from a previous relationship.)

With "BH90210," Green was glad to get revisit his old friends, as he also shared with AP News: "We have sort of a new chemistry and a new bond that forms because we have so much more in common now than we did before."

The creator of "the Carlton dance" says you have to embrace your inner nerd to really do it right. "That's not a move you're supposed to be doing in public, but when you do it, everybody is joyous around you," Alfonso Ribeiro told NPR in 2021.

Ribeiro perfected the dance over six seasons as geeky Cousin Carlton on NBC's "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." He played the part so well, he told The Ringer in 2020, that he was often typecast after the show ended its run in 1996. The experience pushed him to work on other skills, and he eventually found success as a host, particularly on "America's Funniest Home Videos" and "Catch 21."

"We live in 2020 where the idea of being an entertainer is almost foreign," Ribeiro also told The Ringer. "But if you go back to the '50s, '60s, and '70s, almost everybody who was on TV were entertainers. ... You can go through so many of the stars of that time, and they did everything. ... So I really look at myself as a throwback to a time long ago."

The Carlton, as well, is timeless. Ribeiro incorporated it into one of his routines on Season 19 of "Dancing With the Stars," which he won, and shared his enthusiasm for the dance (and the fact that co-star Will Smith couldn't do it right!) on HBO Max's 2020 "Fresh Prince" reunion special.

Tatyana Ali was young daughter Ashley Banks on NBC's African-American-led "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and learned a lot from her older co-stars, especially the late James Avery, who played patriarch Philip Banks. "He introduced me to Black art in ways that I wouldn't have gotten that education anywhere else," she said on HBO Max's "Fresh Prince" reunion special in 2020 (via NBC News). "His thing was, 'I am in such a unique position, and that responsibility ... you must elevate your craft. You have to represent, and you are paving a way.'"

After "Fresh Prince," Ali embarked on a music career. Her single "Daydreamin" was a Top 20 hit in 1998, and Ali collaborated with her former co-star, Will Smith, on another song. In the late '90s, she dated another star of the decade, Jonathan Brandis, who passed away in 2003.

Ali's part as Ashley could've gone another way, as "Sister, Sister" stars Tia Mowry-Hardrict and Tamera Mowry-Housley both auditioned for the role (via People). Twenty-five years later, Tatyana Ali is still thrilled to be a part of "Fresh Prince," as she told Allure in 2021: "Something that meant so much to us personally for all those years still means something to people? It's a gift of a lifetime."

Ben Savage is glad you remember the zany parts of "Boy Meets World," everything from Eric's Feeny call to Savage's character, Cory Matthews, yelling out "Undahhpannnts!"

"We were on TGIF and were just kind of going for it and having a ball," he told Time in 2014. The show was a staple of ABC's classic Friday night lineup for its seven-season run from 1993–2000. At its heart, Savage said, "was an earnest young man who was growing up in the world and had a big heart and a wonderful girl that we loved and a wacky brother and a good best friend."

Before his big role, Ben Savage hung out on set at older brother Fred's show, "The Wonder Years," and after "Boy Meets World," Ben guest-starred on "Chuck," "The Leftovers," and "Homeland." In 2014, he reunited with his "Boy Meets World" family for Disney Channel's spin-off, "Girl Meets World," which centered on Cory and now-wife Topanga's daughter, Riley.

In 2015, he shared with Vulture that he loves hearing about fans' connections to both of the shows: "What really means a lot to me is when people come up to me ... and say, 'I grew up on 'Boy Meets World,' and it means so much to me, and I like that I'm now able to watch 'Girl Meets World' with my kid because it's like passing the torch between generations."

Ben Savage isn't the only '90s fave Danielle Fishel's been linked to. In the late '90s, she dated (and went to prom with!) *NSYNC singer Lance Bass.

But her most memorable pairing was her character Topanga Lawrence's relationship with Savage's Cory Matthews on "Boy Meets World." Fishel and Savage made many a fan's dreams come true in 2014 when they reteamed for "Girl Meets World." Fishel, who's acted and done voiceover work through the years, co-starred on the show but has turned more to directing, including a handful of "Girl" episodes and other Disney Channel series.

The icon that is Topanga, though, will always be closest to her heart. "She was so absolutely sure of who she was and who her friends were," she told HelloGiggles in 2019. "She never let the people around her decide that it was okay to be less than the best that they could be."

"Girl Meets World" ended its run in 2017, and though Fishel says "never say never" to returning to the character, she also told HelloGiggles that she and her former co-stars are ready to, lovingly, move on: "I'm really happy moving into the second phase of my career as a director, and I know all of the guys are really happy moving into the next phase of their careers as well. So I think we're ready to honor and love 'Boy Meets World,' but maybe leave it in the past."

As for the notoriously private Olsen twins, not even John Stamos could lure them back to TV. When Netflix debuted its 2016 "Full House" reboot, "Fuller House," all of the original cast returned, except for Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen, who dually played precocious toddler Michelle Tanner in the 1987–1995 ABC TGIF sitcom. 

"I get where they're at," Stamos, who played Uncle Jesse, told People in 2016. That would be luxury fashion brand The Row, since 2006, along with the lesser-priced Elizabeth and James line (named after their other siblings). The road from "Full House" to fashion moguls was paved by a tween empire. The twins followed up their time as Michelle with movies and videos including the "You're Invited" and "The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley" series.  The associated merchandising was bringing in $1 billion a year at its height, and the Olsens were worth an estimated $100 million by the time they were 20.

As they moved into the world of high-end fashion, Mary-Kate (who had a high-profile divorce in 2021) continued to act sporadically, including on Showtime's "Weeds." Ashley, though, isn't interested in appearing onscreen anymore, according to "Full House" producer Bob Boyett (via People).

Decades after the sisters burst onto the scene, their partnership has remained strong, whether in fashion or on film. "We've always worked together, so it feels natural to us," Mary-Kate told British Vogue in 2015. You got it, dude!

Unlike her former onscreen younger sibling(s), Candace Cameron Bure relished the opportunity to step back into her big-sister shoes.

"It was such a gift in my life to be able to reprise the show and do a whole new show based on the same characters," Cameron Bure, who played DJ Tanner, told the The Washington Post in 2020. "It really was an amazing gift."

Cameron Bure led Netflix's reboot of her classic series and also directed three episodes. Before her biggest role, though, she was all over '90s TV, with spots on shows like "St. Elsewhere," "TJ Hooker," and her big brother Kirk's "Growing Pains." After DJ, Cameron Bure acted steadily and found great success with TV movies on the Hallmark Channel, including "Aurora Teagarden Mysteries." She also co-hosted "The View" for many years.

The author and mom of three, who married right after "Full House" ended, has been open about working in Hollywood with her strong Christian faith. "I'm very happy that I've been able to navigate both being very open about my faith and ... still have all of these different jobs in the entertainment industry and be able to incorporate some of that into them — not all of them, because that's also not my goal," she told The Washington Post.

In 2021, she joined Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in the fashion world, with a "West Coast lifestyle"-inspired line for QVC.

"I just wanted to do more. I wanted to be more," Sarah Michelle Gellar told Marie Claire in 2017 about her move into the food industry. At the time, she'd already returned to TV with CBS' 2013 sitcom "The Crazy Ones." But when her co-star Robin Williams passed away in 2014, she told the magazine that she began reprioritizing. "I wanted to be present in my kids' lives because you realize how short life is."

Gellar was a star in some of the biggest movies and TV shows, from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Cruel Intentions." Along the way, her friendship with fellow '90s lead Freddie Prinze Jr. turned romantic, and the two married in 2002. In early 2020, Gellar Instagram-commemorated a fateful dinner with Prinze Jr. in 2000 with a sweet caption: "20 years ago this week, my friend @realfreddieprinze and I were supposed to have dinner with a mutual friend from out of town. That friend missed her flight, but we decided to still meet and catch up. Now 20 years together, 17 plus married and two kids, we still go to that restaurant for dinner."

Though she's busy with Foodstirs, the organic line of at-home baking mixes she co-founded, Gellar hasn't totally left her TV days behind. She's been an active presence in animation, doing voiceover work for shows like "Star Wars Rebels" and "Robot Chicken."

Many celebs have embraced the cooking and lifestyle space, but not so many have traded culinary school for acting.

"I did an interview with Howard Stern when Sarah [Michelle Gellar] and I first started dating, like 15 years ago, and he said, 'What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?'" Freddie Prinze Jr. told People in 2016 when his first cookbook launched. "I said, 'I'd probably open a restaurant or write cookbooks because that's what I love.'"

With Gellar, Prinze Jr. was one of the big young stars of the '90s, starring in movies like "She's All That" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (which co-starred Gellar). He worked with his wife again in 2002's live-action "Scooby-Doo" movie and its 2004 sequel. Prinze Jr., son of the late comedian and actor Freddie Prinze, headlined his own ABC sitcom, "Freddie," in 2005, but the show lasted just a year. He has continued acting and was featured in 2021's "Punky Brewster" reboot.

Prinze Jr. and Gellar have been together for more than 20 years, but the dad of two can still bring the "Aww" factor. "Sarah and I still make each other laugh, which is really important," he told InStyle in 2017. "When I say certain things to Sarah, and I see the look on her face, I know she loves me. And I live for that look, you know?"

Jennifer Love Hewitt has been in show business since she was a kid, but she's never let any of her successes over the years faze her. "I always just had a real ... understanding and appreciation for the fact that there are thousands and millions of people in the world who would give anything to get to do what we do," she told Drew Barrymore in 2021 on "The Drew Barrymore Show."

Hewitt started out in commercials and got her big break on NBC/Disney's "Kids Incorporated" alongside other future stars like Fergie and Mario Lopez. She was the It Girl everywhere in the '90s, with roles on hit shows and movies including, "Party of Five," "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and "Can't Hardly Wait." (There were music videos, too. Remember LFO's "Girl on TV"?)

After Hewitt's "Party of Five" spinoff, "Time of Your Life," was canceled, she turned to music of her own for a time before finding TV success again on 2005's "Ghost Whisperer" and Fox's "9-1-1" in 2018.

In 2020, Hewitt reflected on how the industry has changed since the days when she was asked about her figure as much as her work. Referring to her press interviews for the movie "Heartbreakers," she told Vulture, "We're in a time where, hopefully, that narrative is going to change for young girls who are coming up now, and they won't have to have those conversations."

It's a real-life "Party of Five" for Scott Wolf! The actor, who starred as the rebellious but good-hearted Bailey Salinger on the 1994–2000 Fox hit, became a dad of three in 2014 with his wife, "The Real World" alum Kelley Limp. Wolf told ABC News that he knew he'd never outgrow his '90s stardom. "I'll be 88 years old and have somebody come up to me and talk about Bailey from 'Party of Five,'" he said.

Wolf, who appeared in eight episodes of "Saved By the Bell" in uncredited parts, also starred in the popular 1996 movie "White Squall." After his time as Bailey on "Party of Five" came to an end, the actor worked on shows like "Everwood" and 2019's "Nancy Drew." Despite that, it's Bailey that everyone wants to talk about — and Wolf is fine with it.

"I had so much fun doing it, and I'm still so proud to have been a part of it." he told People in 2017. "It just struck an emotional chord in such a way that when I would encounter somebody — and it could be eight years after the show had aired — they would talk about it as though they'd just watched it last week."

After the whirlwind success of her '90s projects like "Party of Five" and the "Scream" movie series, Neve Campbell booked a flight to England. Campbell told Tom Power on CBC Radio's q in 2019 that she felt she was getting typecast and that jetting away helped her put her career in perspective.

"I took a couple years off with Caspian, my son, and then was lucky that the things that I chose and also that came to me were 'Mad Men,' ... 'Grey's Anatomy,' then 'House of Cards,'" Campbell said. "That was the quality of work I had been hoping to do 10 years before. ... I needed people to forget about my other work."

But Campbell hasn't entirely left her '90s roles in the past. She signed on to return as Sidney Prescott in another "Scream" installment, and before the cancellation of the "Party of Five" remake in 2020, she told Andy Cohen that she was open to revisiting Julia Salinger. "I think [the new show idea is] really poignant and important, so I'm really impressed," she said on "Watch What Happens Live" in 2018. "And if they want me to come [and] support somehow and do a scene in it, I probably would."

Joey Lauren Adams starred in a roster of movies worthy of a true '90s star, but by 2007, she'd left Los Angeles in her rearview mirror. "Hollywood is so business-oriented, the movie business. Everyone there seems to either be in it or wanting to be in it," she told the Jackson Free Press that year. "You lose touch with reality, and what is important in life. ... I'm just not cut out for L.A. I'm older now, I guess, and want different things."

The Arkansas native expressed that she wanted to continue acting and pursuing worthy projects, but she didn't "really have a desire to go play the girlfriend. ... I don't feel like that [acting] is my only source of income and creative outlet," she said.

The star of "Mallrats," "Chasing Amy," and "Big Daddy" has pivoted to writing and directing, but she's continued acting in several series, including "Veronica Mars," "United States of Tara," and "Still the King." Adams seems to split her time between work and home. She wrote on Instagram in 2016, "I go back a lot to Oxford Mississippi where I have a house, and watch the high school performances there because it makes me remember why you get into [acting] in the first place, which is just the love of doing it, and it's not about getting an agent or a job."

Kel Mitchell, the star of "Kenan & Kel" and "All That," was having as much fun on Nickelodeon as you thought he was.

"At Universal Studios (where we shot the first couple of seasons), I remember Kenan and I . . . we got a golf cart and we were driving through the backlot as [our characters] Mavis and Clavis," Mitchell told PopSugar in 2015. "At one point, the water started rising up, and we were smack in the middle of 'Jaws!' And then the cops came and were like, 'Ay, you can't be back here!' And they wrote us up as old men because they didn't know it was us. We stayed in character."

While his partner in crime, Kenan Thompson, went on to become the longest-serving cast member on "Saturday Night Live," Mitchell battled both death and Wendy's franchise rumors in 2008, despite acting steadily over the years. The "Good Burger" star and dad of three returned to his Nickelodeon roots in 2015, with a role on the sitcom "Game Shakers." In 2019, he joined Thompson and his other former co-stars in the premiere of the "All That" reboot, a series which he also produced.

And making that nostalgic circle complete? Kel Mitchell's panelist spot on MTV's "Deliciousness" with fellow '90s star Tiffani Thiessen!

Andrew Keegan was all over big and small screens in the '90s, popping up on "Party of Five," "Baywatch," "Full House," "Moesha," and "Boy Meets World." He also had parts in hit movies, including "10 Things I Hate About You" and "Independence Day." "It was like total mayhem," Keegan recalled to ABC News in 2015 about getting swarmed by fans wherever he went. "It was malls, malls and any gathering place where you had a, really what you would call mob mentality."

After his recurring role as Mary Camden's (Jessica Biel) boyfriend on The WB's "7th Heaven" ended, Keegan turned to the real estate market and also the spiritual side of life. In 2014, he founded the group Full Circle but insisted to ABC News that he didn't see himself as its leader or a guru of any kind. The group disbanded in 2017. Keegan told OK! in 2021, "I wouldn't call it a religion. I would call it a creative community in a temple. ... [It] was about building community."

With a production company and projects in development, Keegan seems to be alright with moving on from his '90s heartthrob days.

Tia Carrere's roles in some of the biggest movies of the 1990s propelled her to both comedy and action movie stardom. In the years that followed, the "Wayne's World" and "True Lies" star's career "has been a tapestry of different adventures," she told TooFab in 2020.

One of those adventures was music, particularly the sounds of her native Hawaii. She voiced (and sang as) Nani in Disney's "Lilo & Stitch" in 2002 (and worked on the subsequent animated series). After releasing a pop album, she decided to return to her roots with her next musical effort. Her instincts were spot-on. She won two Grammys for best Hawaiian music album.

With her role as Lady Danger on Netflix's "AJ and the Queen," Carrere has embraced all the ups and downs of her career. "I was the hot, sex symbol ingenue, and then you go through this period where you're not quite old enough to be the mom, which is kind of funny because it dovetailed with me being a mom, being a Girl Scout troop leader, PTA member, fundraiser and going on camping trips," she also told TooFab. "And then now, [with this role], I'm a crazy grandmother in this, which is hilarious. ... I just love it!"

As for the possibility of another "Wayne's World"? "We three [herself, Dana Carvey, and Mike Myers], we'll come out on our walkers and rockers. I'm down for it," she shared with HollywoodLife in 2020. Shwing!

James Van Der Beek has worked in TV regularly since "Dawson's Creek" debuted in 1998, but his days as aspiring filmmaker Dawson Leery are still close at hand. On the U.K.'s "This Morning" in 2017, he reminded one interviewer that he hadn't gone away. "I have been on television the last 20 years. I just wanna let you know," Van Der Beek said after the host set up their segment by comparing his post-"Dawson's" success to that of his former co-stars, Michelle Williams, Katie Holmes, and Joshua Jackson.

Van Der Beek's work after the drama (and following the hit 1999 film "Varsity Blues") has been varied and steady, encompassing "One Tree Hill," "CSI: Cyber," "Modern Family," and "Don't Trust the B— in Apartment 23," in which he played a fictionalized version of himself as a send-up to being pigeon-holed as nice guy Dawson Leery. In 2012, ahead of the show's premiere, he told Huffpost TV that he was glad to be doing a lighthearted role: "It's so much more fun to not take yourself so seriously. This is the kind of sense of humor I've always had."

The happily married dad of five flexed his acting chops again with a role on FX's "Pose" and is focused on doing more writing, as he shared with News.com.au in 2018: "I'm just looking to tell stories that resonate."

Just seeing their name got you singing, right? "MMMBop, ba ba du bop, MMMBop." The pop-rock trio — brothers Isaac, Taylor, and Zac — were just 16, 13, and 11 when their era-defining hit single was released in 1996. Decades later, Hanson is still together and recording music — and glad they never went the boy band route.

"When we first came out, being so young, the attempt to group us into the teen-pop thing was strong," Taylor told Spin in 2017. "But we were like: We're just a band. We just happen to be really young. You'd be amazed at how many situations were like, 'Put on a suit. It's very nice, very flashy.' You're like, 'That's not happening."

"Middle of Nowhere," the album featuring "MMMBop," soared to the #1 spot in 27 countries, according to Vice, and eventually sold 16 million copies. Hanson mania was everywhere, including many teen magazine covers. A few decades later, with seven albums and 15 children (!!) between them, the brothers are still enjoying making music together while staying true to their creative principles. "More than anything, we just want to be connecting with those that have stuck with us, followed us, come to shows," Taylor told Entertainment Tonight in 2021 about what's ahead for the band. 

Alexa, play "MMMBop!"