’90s Idols That Completely Pivoted Their Careers
By Distributel
While some of the biggest TV and movie actors of the ’90s continued to follow the lights and cameras to star in some of the best entertainment today, others have left the red carpet behind to take completely unexpected career directions.
You won’t believe what these ’90s TV idols are doing now.
Alicia Silverstone
Potentially the most stylish character of the ’90s, Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz in Clueless has never been far from our hearts – or our closets. But Silverstone has done much more than star in iconic roles. Going vegan in 1998 completely changed her health and her career path. Since then, she’s created the Kind Diet blog and published a cookbook of the same name. When she became pregnant, she got to work creating the cleanest vegan prenatal supplements on the market, and she recently created a line of herbal supplements as well.
Freddie Prinze Jr.
’90s heartthrob Freddie Prinze Jr. might have been one of the hottest actors of the decade, but family life has proven to be his greatest joy and passion. While Prinze Jr. has continued to do some work as a film, TV, and voice actor, his role as full-time dad and husband is the one that thrills him most. He’s also become quite a chef, publishing a cookbook filled with family favourites – even the spicy chicken dish he used to make for his wife, Sarah Michelle Gellar, when she was pregnant, and a lobster pasta so dangerous it made another unnamed actress fall head over heels for him.
Amanda Bynes
Thankfully, Amanda Bynes seems to be in a much better place than a few years ago. She became invested in her substance abuse recovery and even went back to school to earn a degree from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in L.A. Reports say that Bynes is taking good care of herself by continuing to live in a mental health facility and focusing on her health and her future aspirations, which include getting back to acting and possibly launching her own fashion line.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
He was the cutest brother on Home Improvement and even voiced Simba in the original The Lion King, but Jonathan Taylor Thomas walked away from the spotlight completely – save for a few guest star appearances.
JTT has been focused on family life, travelling, and learning. He studied at Harvard, Columbia, and even St. Andrew’s University in Scotland (the one where Prince Harry met Kate). There are rumours that he’s considering a comeback, but we’ll have to wait and see if it’s on screen or behind the scenes.
Tia and Tamera Mowry
The twins of hit show Sister, Sister have been on a number of shows on the Disney Channel, as well as a reality show documenting their lives. Since then, they’ve gone in different career directions.
Though Tia continues to work mainly in television, she’s also released a cookbook. Tamera has worked as a co-host on the talk show The Real and has a successful lifestyle blog.
The sisters still collaborate, though, co-writing “Twintuition: Double Vision,” a YA book series.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
OK, you probably already know that, with the exception of a very few prime guest appearances, MK and Ashley have totally dropped off screens large and small. Instead they’ve been flexing their creativity and entrepreneurial muscles in the world of fashion.
With two clothing lines –The Row, launched in 2006, and Elizabeth & James, in 2007 – they’re among the most successful crossover careerists on our list.