The Cast of The Breakfast Club Then and Now

1. Then: Molly Ringwald

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Molly Ringwald played the part of Claire Standish in The Breakfast Club, who was one of the popular girls at Shermer High School. She ended up in detention after she skipped class to go on a shopping trip, and we learn more about her as the movie goes on. She’s fed up with her parents fighting all the time, and begins to open up to her new friends in detention.

2. Now: Molly Ringwald

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Molly Ringwald has been VERY busy since her role in the 80s classic. She’s landed parts in Not Another Teen Movie, Townies, and Psych, as well as the hit Netflix show Riverdale. Molly has also written a revealing essay for the New Yorker which focuses on The Breakfast Club in the #MeToo era, and examines the casual sexual harassment her character faced in the film.

3. Then: Judd Nelson

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Judd Nelson made an impact with his role as John Bender. John wasn’t just a classic high school bad boy; he tore up books, kept drugs in his locker, and spent the entire movie harassing Claire. While it was clear that his character had problems, his character is now considered problematic by modern standards. So, it's no surprise he landed himself in this detention session!

4. Now: Judd Nelson

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Judd Nelson looks unrecognizable these days. After ditching the bad boy role, the actor’s career has gone from strength to strength, and he has tons of notable films and TV shows under his belt. He’s been in everything from St. Elmo’s Fire and Suddenly Susan to TV shows like Two and a Half Men and CSI:NY. He’s also lent his voice to characters in Transformers, Family Guy, Phineas and Ferb and Ben 10: Omniverse.

5. Then: Emilio Estevez

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Emilio Estevez was given the part of wrestler and all-round sports star Andrew Clark in the 1985 classic. After pulling a prank on another student, Andrew winds up in detention. While he tries to keep the cool-guy façade up, we learn that Andrew does a lot to try and fit in; he feels that he constantly needs to win, and worries about disappointing his father.

6. Now: Emilio Estevez

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Emilio’s performance put him on the radar of the Hollywood bigwigs, who cast the young star in the cult classic Mighty Ducks. He’s also appeared in everything from Bon Jovi music videos to Two and a Half Men (Charlie Sheen is his younger brother dontcha know). Emilio’s also recently written, directed and starred in the movie The Public, which focuses on a public library that becomes a shelter for the homeless after a natural disaster.

7. Then: Anthony Michael Hall

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Anthony Michael Hall was perfect for the part of bookworm Brian Johnson. While Anthony’s character seemed like the last person who would wind up in detention, the maths, business and physics whizz got in trouble for using a fake ID to vote. While he was initially mocked by a lot of the other kids who ended up in detention, they became friends with him in the end.

8. Now: Anthony Michael Hall

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Anthony Michael Hall looks completely different these days. Now sporting a skinhead and a well-built figure, the actor has starred in the likes of Riverdale, The Goldbergs, The Dark Knight and Marvel: Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. He also had a run-in with the police after an argument with his neighbor got physical; he was charged 3 years of probation and 40 hours of community service for breaking his neighbor’s wrist.

9. Then: Ally Sheedy

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Ally Sheedy played Allison Reynolds, who was the outcast of The Breakfast Club. She’d cover her face with her hair and wear black every single day (which is a mood we can get behind), but she ends up transforming into a ‘pretty girl’ with feathered bows in her hair. And Ally wasn’t a fan of this ending for her character. “It was uncomfortable even when we were filming it,”

she said.

10: Now: Ally Sheedy

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After her time with The Breakfast Club, Ally went on to star in St. Elmo’s Fire with her fellow Brat Pack alumni Judd Nelson and Emilio Estevez. She’s also been in a whole host of films including Short Circuit, WarGames, Home Alone and X-Men: Apocalypse. And just like co-star Molly Ringwald, the actress has spoken out in the #MeToo movement, and made allegations against James Franco.

11. Then: Paul Gleason

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Paul Gleason gave an incredible performance as the teacher we all loved to hate. Teacher Richard Vernon famously told students not to ‘move, sleep or talk’ during their time in detention, and was particularly spiteful towards bad boy John Bender. Paul Gleason’s character became the movie’s villain, which is a role he reprised for the A-Teens Dancing Queen music video.

12. Until 2006: Paul Gleason

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Paul Gleason was pretty good at playing tough guys and white collar slackers. He built on his famous in The Breakfast Club to score the part of the blundering Deputy Police Chief in Die Hard, and also starred in Trading Places and Miami Blues. The actor made tons of guest appearances in the likes of Seinfeld, Friends and Dawson's Creek before his death in 2006. His death was caused by mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer associated with asbestos.

13. Then: Mary Christian

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Simply given the title ‘Brian’s sister’, Mary Christian has just one line in the entire film: ‘Yeah!’, as she agrees with their mom that Brian needs to find a way to study while serving detention. It seems like she and Brian don’t get on all that well, and several fan sources have confirmed this. Seven-year-old Mary is only seen with Brian and their mom in this one scene at the start of the movie.

14. Now: Mary Christian

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Interestingly, Mary Christian and actor Anthony Michael Hall (who played Brian) are half siblings in real life – but we haven’t seen them pictured together once. Mary Christian took on teeny tiny parts in adverts and the odd TV show after The Breakfast Club, but she doesn’t seem to act anymore. Nobody’s really sure, as she prefers to live her life out of the limelight.

15. Then: John Kapelos

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Did you spot John Kapelos in The Breakfast Club? He plays the minor character Carl the Janitor, who seems to hate his job. We’re first introduced to him in the opening sequence, but not in person; we see that he has a ‘Man of the Year’ plaque, which suggests that he once attended Shermer High School himself. He appears sporadically in the film, and is a calming influence on both the kids and teacher Vernon.

16. Now: John Kapelos

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After his time playing the lovable caretaker, John Kapelos has gone on to do big things. He’s been a firm cast member in the Crossword Mysteries, and has featured in everything from Magnum P.I to Days of Our Lives. He’s also branched out into writing, and is known for hits including Big Sky, The Shape of Water and hit Netflix show The Umbrella Academy.

17. Then: Tim Gamble

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Tim Gamble isn’t in The Breakfast Club for all that long. He appears as Claire’s father, so all of his scenes take place in a car with Molly Ringwald. He’s spotted sporting a Burberry scarf, so it’s clear that Claire’s family is fairly wealthy! This is also a bit of an Easter Egg from director John Hughes; he has Kevin’s dad Peter (played by the late John Heard) also wearing Burberry in Home Alone.

18. Now: Tim Gamble

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Tim Gamble hasn’t been seen for years now. The most recent picture we could find of him was taken in the early 2000s! Tim went on to star in The Untouchables, and made a couple of appearances in the TV show Missing Persons. He also featured in the film The Lucky Ones in 2007, where he played a police officer. Nobody knows for sure if Tim is still acting these days, as he’s very much off grid.

19. Then: Perry Crawford

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So Perry Crawford is barely seen in The Breakfast Club. He plays Allison’s father Mr Reynolds, but not much is known about him. Allison says that her dad and her mom barely pay any attention to her, and his character has been created in a way where the audience will barely pay any attention to him! He pulls over his Cadillac to tell John to watch where he’s going, and he’s barely in shot when he and Allison’s mom come and pick her up after detention.

20. Until 2020: Perry Crawford

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Perry Crawford doesn’t have any other acting credits to his name, so it’s presumed that he wanted to spend his life away from the limelight. There’s not much information on the internet about his life, but it seems that he spent a long time battling corticobasal degeneration, which is an incurable brain disease. He passed away in 2020, and has a memorial website dedicated to him.

21. Then: Ron Dean

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Ron Dean is used to playing ‘tough guy’ roles, and he does the same in The Breakfast Club. He makes a brief appearance as Arnold’s pushy father in the 1985 teen drama, who is obsessed with his son becoming a huge jock. It’s clear that Mr Clark’s constant pressure on Arnold really damages his relationship with his son, which is explored throughout the movie.

22. Now: Ron Dean

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Ron Dean is now 84 years of age, and it seems he has retired from acting. He had a great career though; he starred in mega movies including Cocktail, The Fugitive, Risky Business, The Light Of Day,  Code of Silence, The Client and The Package, which allowed him to explore that ‘tough guy’ persona he was known for. His last film appearance was in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight in 2008.

23. Then: John W. Corso

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Director John Hughes had a few key people that he liked to work with, and one of them was John W. Corso. John was The Breakfast Club’s Production Designer, and was responsible for the overall design style for the movie. He worked closely with John Hughes and producer Ned Tanen to get the right look and feel for Shermer High School and its classrooms.

24. Until 2019: John W. Corso

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John W. Corso had a great career until his death in 2019. During his time in Hollywood, he was nominated for three Emmys for art direction, and he won one in 1983 for his outstanding work on the Tales of the Gold Monkey TV series. He regularly teamed up with John Hughes for other flicks like Sixteen Candles, Weird Science and Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

25. Then: Jennifer Polito

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Jennifer Polito was The Breakfast Club’s set designer, and she’s got some seriously impressive work under her belt. Unfortunately, there are no photos of Jennifer back when she was designing the set for the 80s cult classic, so we’ll have to make do with admiring her work instead! She prefers to live her life away from the limelight, and stays away from social media.

26. Now: Jennifer Polito

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This is a rare snap of Jennifer as she cracks on with her set design work. She partnered with John Hughes all the way through the 80s, and created sets for the likes of Pretty in Pink, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day off and She’s Having a Baby. Jennifer also has credits to her name including Matilda, Gilmore Girls and Yes Dear, which she worked on for a whopping 90 episodes.

27. Then: Marilyn Vance

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Costume designer Marilyn Vance has an iconic portfolio of work behind her. She carefully collaborated with director John Hughes to design outfits for the key characters in The Breakfast Club so the audience would instantly be able to understand more about them and their families. In the case of Claire, Marilyn said: “Claire’s got the diamond earrings and the whole suede and leather look. It’s obvious that the relationship with her father is that she’s it. She’s their little girl and she’ll get whatever she wants.”

28: Now: Marilyn Vance

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Marilyn Vance is now an Award-winning designer, having won the Saturn Award for Best Costume for the movie The Rocketeer. She’s also received numerous BAFTA and Academy Award nominations for her work across films including Bonnie and Clyde, The Untouchables and Pretty Woman (yes, Marilyn created THAT outfit for Julia Roberts in the movie. Marilyn has now created designs for over 60 films, 5 TV films, and one mini-series.

29. Then: John Hughes

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After starting out writing essays and stories for the Nation Lampoon magazine in the 1970s, director John Hughes went on to become the grandfather of 80s cult classics. The Breakfast Club is probably one of the most popular films he ever made, along with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Eagle-eyed fans will have spotted the director's cameo in The Breakfast Club at the end of the film, where he appears as Brian's dad.

30. Until 2009: John Hughes

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John Hughes didn’t want to be pigeon-holed for making teen movies, so after he made The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink, he went on to write, direct and produce Trains, Planes and Automobiles. He also had hits with Uncle Buck, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and the Home Alone films. The influential filmmaker was 59 years old when he died of a heart attack.