Then: Although Ted Levine had been working on stage and in films for years, 'Silence of the Lambs' was definitely the trained stage actor's big break. Unfortunately, he was so good at being creepy and evil that he was typecast as a villain for some time after the film's release.
The stars burn brightest during Oscar season. But for some the spotlight is short-lived, even when they win.
In the FOX drama 'Party of Five,' the five Salinger siblings are forced to fend for themselves when both their parents are killed in a car accident.
The show wasn't a hit when it premiered in 1994, but strong reviews kept it going long enough for it to gather a following. The drama ended up lasting six season and launched the careers of some fairly big stars.
Then: Darrin Kenneth O'Brien AKA Snow gained international success with his debut single 'Informer.' O'Brien grew up in a rough neighborhood in Toronto, and Jamaican neighbors had introduced him to reggae music. He had just finished serving time in jail for assault when the song became a hit.
One part comedy show, one part game show, 'Whose Line Is It Anyway' brought the whimsy and energy of improvisational comedy clubs into homes across America. Sure, the points didn't matter, and there were no actual prizes handed out. Nonetheless, it was riveting television with whip-smart comedians spinning wild narratives and creating kooky characters off the top of their heads!
Then: Gabriel Iglesias was 24-years-old when he joined 'All That' for its sixth season. Prior to that, he was a struggling comedian, and the show marked his first big break.
Then: Lori Beth Denberg had been performing in community theater and school plays since the age of six, but it wasn't until she was 18 that she landed her first professional gig, on Nickelodeon's 'All That.' She was a cast member on the show for four years, most memorably as the tell-it-like-it-is host of 'Vital Information.'
Since 1981, MTV has been a taste-maker, influencing teens and tweens in the ways of music, fashion, movies and social awareness. And if you're old enough to remember when MTV actually centered its programming on showing music videos, then you're old enough to feel nostalgia over the wide array of beautiful people who served as VJs over the past thirty-some years.
The title of the 1989 family comedy 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids' pretty much explains the plot.
In the movie, an inventor played by Rick Moranis ends up shrinking his two children and two neighborhood kids to a quarter-of-an-inch tall and then has to figure out how to un-shrink them.
So our faces are red. When we published our 'Then and Now' feature on the '90s sports classic 'The Little Giants' a couple weeks ago, we forgot about Marcus Toji, who played the team's kicker who was also named Marcus.