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The Wonder Years Cast Doesn't Look Like This Anymore
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00:00For those of us who grew up with Kevin Arnold, Winnie Cooper, and Paul Pfeiffer on the coming-of-age
00:05series The Wonder Years, the grainy home-video images of the show's iconic opening credits
00:09will forever inspire a feeling of nostalgia.
00:11Still, it's hard to believe that nearly 30 years have passed since its 1988 premiere.
00:17Over the span of its six-season run, the innovative comedy-drama brought in a slew of awards and
00:21nominations, including an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series after airing only six episodes.
00:26It also earned the Peabody Award in 1989 for pushing sitcom boundaries.
00:30The show's deep influence on television is evident, with Rolling Stone ranking the ABC
00:34series at No. 63 on its 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time list.
00:38The success of the series was due in no small part to its incredibly talented cast.
00:43So what has the cast of The Wonder Years been up to since the series wrapped?
00:46Let's find out.
00:47Fred Savage
00:48Kids of the 80s and 90s love Kevin Arnold, the Wonder Years' protagonist, and it's still
00:53hard not to be won over by Fred Savage's boyish charm and natural everyman relatability.
00:58This adoration translated into critical accolades, as he was the youngest person to earn an Emmy
01:02and Golden Globe nominations for his performance.
01:05After the show ended, Savage went on to attend Stanford University, and he's now one of the
01:09most sought-after comedic directors in the business.
01:11But as Savage told GQ,
01:13The Persona of the Wonder Years is something that's going to be with me forever.
01:16And I'm happy for that.
01:17It's nothing that I'd ever shy away from, and it makes me feel so good that it's something
01:21people still remember and talk about it and think of it so fondly."
01:24The former child star has been happily married to childhood friend Jennifer Lynn Stone since
01:282004, and they have three children together.
01:31But we won't ever forget this moment with Winnie.
01:33When a man loves a woman
01:41Dan Loria
01:42Jack was the Arnold family's gruff yet loving war vet patriarch.
01:45I get up at 5 in the morning, I fight traffic, I bust my hump all day, I fight traffic again,
01:54and I come home.
01:55Since Wonder Years ended, Loria has steadily guested and starred in dozens of television
01:59shows and movies, including hits like The Good Wife, Grey's Anatomy, and Hot in Cleveland.
02:04But one of Loria's most distinctive roles was actually as another dad named Jack.
02:08The main character's bar owner father on TBS has now canceled Sullivan & Son from 2012 to
02:122014.
02:13In addition to his impressive on-screen work, Loria has devoted much of his professional
02:18life to the theater.
02:19When he's not working, Loria remains close with his Wonder Years co-stars and still boasts
02:23about his TV family's accomplishments like a proud father.
02:26Allie Mills
02:27This charming lady is widely known for her role as Kevin's caring mother and Jack's wife,
02:40Norma.
02:41Her character was the ideal mom.
02:43But while she played the put-upon 1970s homemaker part, Norma was a modern character with incredible
02:47ambition, looking to break out of her housewife role.
02:51Throughout the series, she returned to school, earned a college degree, and eventually obtained
02:54a job at a software company.
02:56Her inspiring story arc was an undeniable reflection of the time's second-wave feminism.
03:01Over the years, Mills has also often worked as a theater producer in collaboration with
03:04her husband, actor and writer Orson Bean.
03:07Mills is a Yale graduate and has guested on several TV series and movies like Sabrina the
03:11Teenage Witch, but her longest-lasting role is her portrayal of Pam Douglas on the soap
03:15opera The Bold and the Beautiful, starring in over a whopping 500 episodes.
03:20Olivia Dabo
03:22Olivia Dabo may still be most recognizable as Kevin's older sister, the rebellious hippie
03:26Karen.
03:27After Karen got married and moved to Alaska with her husband Michael, Dabo's role on The
03:31Wonder Years diminished, which allowed her to move on to other projects, mainly supporting
03:35roles in TV and film.
03:37Best known among these was a recurring role as criminal Nicole Wallace on Law & Criminal
03:40Intent.
03:41And in 2005, Dabo appeared on stage alongside Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane in the Broadway
03:46production of The Odd Couple.
03:48Dabo has a son named Oliver and amicably co-parents with her ex-husband and friend, music producer
03:52Patrick Leonard.
03:54Jason Hervey
03:55While his breakout role may have been as Kevin's older, antagonistic brother Wayne, Jason Hervey
03:59has since become one of Hollywood's leading producers of reality TV.
04:03Hervey's rare television appearances following The Wonder Years included voice acting roles
04:07such as Dove on Justice League Unlimited, and his production company has developed a
04:11number of reality shows such as I Want to Be a Hilton and Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship
04:15Wrestling.
04:16Unfortunately, the producer infamously spent two days behind bars for an arrest that occurred
04:20in January 2015 following an alleged DUI incident caused by ambient use, not alcohol.
04:26He later told People he was grateful police intervened before anything happened.
04:29Hervey is also a proud father of four, and has happily been married to Shannon Hervey for
04:33nearly 20 years, but we'll always see him as the sage older brother of Kevin Arnold.
04:38Born a butthead, lived a butthead's life, died a butthead.
04:46Danica McKellar
04:47Kevin's on-screen heartthrob, Winnie Cooper, was played by Danica McKellar.
04:59And if you were an 80s or 90s kid, you were either in love with her or you wanted to be
05:03her — or both.
05:04But following The Wonder Years, the actress's career took an interesting turn, proving that
05:08she's even cooler — and nerdier — than her on-screen persona.
05:12She became a mathematician and education advocate.
05:15McKellar studied mathematics at UCLA, where she and two colleagues proved their own theorem.
05:19She's also written four acclaimed non-fiction books to encourage young readers who are interested
05:23in math — the first of which, 2008's Math Doesn't Suck, How to Survive Middle School
05:27Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail, was a New York Times bestseller.
05:32While working as an author and academic, McKellar has maintained a steadily successful career
05:36in television with spots on The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.
05:39She also had a recurring role as Elsie Snuffin on The West Wing, a stint on Dancing with the
05:43Stars, and now stars as The Quail on Netflix's Project MC2.
05:47McKellar has one son, Draco, six, with her ex-husband, composer Mike Verda, and she is reportedly
05:52happily married to lawyer Scott Sevzlowski.
05:54Josh Saviano
05:56Despite the persistent, weird rumor from the early days of the internet, Josh Saviano is
06:00not Marilyn Manson.
06:01But equally interesting, the kid actor who played Kevin Arnold's archetypal nerdy best friend
06:05Paul Pfeiffer actually left show business to become a successful lawyer.
06:09He went to Harvard, of course.
06:13Actually, he went to Yale, not Harvard, eventually joining Morris & Cohen LLP as a senior counsel
06:18and partner between 2003 and 2015, before leaving the firm to start his own brand consulting
06:23service for entertainers and media entrepreneurs.
06:26Lately, Saviano has slowly been breaking back into show business with his highly anticipated
06:30return to acting in 2014, playing what else but a lawyer on Law & SVU.
06:35According to TV Guide, the showbiz lawyer now lives in New York City with his wife, Jennifer
06:39Romer, and their daughter, Noah Isabel.
06:41We're just glad he had that one last dance with Carla.
06:44Oh!
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