“Jumanji” cast: Where are they now?

Robin Williams was running from wild animals in the suburbs long before Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan went exploring in the jungle.

A staple of the video store era, Jumanji is the type of live-action family adventure movie that's hard to come by these days. (Those sequels just don't scratch the same itch.) At the time, director Joe Johnston — who previously directed Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) with Rick Moranis and The Rocketeer — specialized in this type of PG-rated, scary but not too scary fare. And when he teamed up with Robin Williams, then the biggest comedic star in the world thanks to his roles in Aladdin (1992) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), the results were hilariously thrilling and memorable enough to have ‘90s kids asking decades later: Where is the Jumanji cast now?

Robin Williams (Alan Parrish)

Robin Williams came to the Jumanji cast as a huge star. Kids knew Williams as the Genie in Aladdin and Peter Pan in Hook (1991), while their parents remembered him from Mork & Mindy and his stand-up career circa the '70s and '80s. In 1987, he notably starred in Good Morning, Vietnam, in which he played real-life radio DJ Adrian Cronauer. Jumanji was another hit for Williams, and his hot streak continued through the rest of the '90s with starring roles in feel-good movies like Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Flubber (1997), and Patch Adams (1998).

Around the same time, Williams began exploring more dramatic roles as well. He won an Academy Award for playing supportive therapist Sean in Good Will Hunting (1997), and he received critical acclaim for his dark turn as a dangerously obsessive photo technician in One Hour Photo (2002). Williams continued alternating between family-friendly films and more satirical adult comedies — Death to Smoochy (2002) and World’s Greatest Dad (2009) are two of his edgiest roles — until 2014, when he died by suicide at his home in California.

The news of Williams' death shocked the world, and tributes to him poured in from his many colleagues, friends, and admirers. President Barack Obama issued a statement that read, in part: "Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between ... He arrived in our lives as an alien — but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit." An area of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park has since been renamed Robin Williams Meadow in his honor.

He is survived by his wife, Susan Schneider, and three children, including Zelda Williams, who has followed in her father's footsteps through show business.

Kirsten Dunst (Judy Shepherd)

Kirsten Dunst is one of a handful of actors who successfully transitioned from child star to full-grown movie star. Judy Shepherd in Jumanji is just one of her iconic roles as a young actress. She had her breakout film the year prior by starring opposite Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in Interview With the Vampire (1994) and as the youngest March sister, Amy, in the 1994 movie version of Little Women.

After Jumanji, Dunst appeared in a recurring role on ER and voiced the kid version of the title character in Anastasia (1997) before making a string of teen-oriented comedies like Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) and Bring It On (2000). (One notable exception from that era is her acclaimed performance in the drama The Virgin Suicides, which premiered in 1999.) Her role as Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man (2002) brought even more fame in the early aughts, followed by more mature work in the 2010s with starring roles in Melancholia (2011) and The Beguiled (2017) — her third collaboration with The Virgin Suicides director Sofia Coppola.

While on the press tour for The Beguiled in 2017, she made a playful swipe at the producers behind Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which was released the same year. "I honestly didn't even know they were making a Jumanji movie," she told Entertainment Tonight, joking, "I'm offended I haven't been reached out to be in it!"

Dunst is married to actor Jesse Plemons, and they have two children together. The pair often appears as couples onscreen, such as when they met on the set of Fargo season 2 and each received Emmy nods. They later collaborated on Jane Campion's Oscar-winning film The Power of the Dog (2021), for which they also both earned acting nominations.

Bradley Pierce (Peter Shepherd)

A seasoned child actor, Bradley Pierce had appeared in more than a dozen films before landing the role of the younger Shepherd sibling, Peter, in Jumanji. Much of Pierce's work at that time was voice acting: He played miniature teacup Chip in Beauty and the Beast (1991) when he was 9 years old and voiced Tails on the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon series.

One year after Jumanji, Pierce reunited with his onscreen sister Dunst to play siblings once again in the 1996 TV movie The Siege at Ruby Ridge. From there, he appeared in The Borrowers (1997) and continued doing voice work and one-off TV appearances. However, his depression diagnosis at age 16 caused him to pull back from acting.

Pierce spoke out about his experience with mental illness after Williams' suicide. "I really played it close to the vest until Robin died, actually," he told TMZ. "And then I decided, 'You know what, I'm going to go ahead and try to use his death and the tragedy that it was to open up to people and put it out there,' and so I did."

As an adult, Pierce still appears in the occasional film (he's credited as "additional voices" in 2019's Pokémon: Detective Pikachu) but his passion is the nightlife business. He owns a consulting firm called Pierce & Luna, which provides bartending education and specialty cocktail recipes for businesses and events around Los Angeles.

He has three children with his ex-wife Shari Holmes.

Bebe Neuwirth (Aunt Nora)

Bebe Neuwirth began her career in show business as a ballerina before breaking out on Broadway in the '80s with roles in A Chorus Line, Sweet Charity, and Chicago. (She won Tonys for her work in the latter two.) She played Dr. Lilith Sternin on Cheers (winning two Emmys) and reprised the part as a recurring guest star on the spinoff series Frasier opposite her TV ex-husband Kelsey Grammer. Neuwirth's notable movie roles include Summer of Sam (1999) and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003).

All the while, she continued to work on Broadway and express herself through dance. (She also appeared as herself in an episode of Will & Grace in 2004.) In addition to a starring role on the Max series Julia, Neuwirth played Lilith once more on the 2023 revival of Frasier on Paramount+, but it wasn't her first time reprising a famous role — she returned to the world of Jumanji as Aunt Nora in the 2019 film Jumanji: The Next Level.

Neuwirth spoke to The New York Times in 2017 about a certain prop she took from the set of the original Jumanji: "I have hippopotamus salt-and-pepper shakers. I don't remember how they fit into the story, but somehow I have them."

She is married to director/writer/producer Chris Calkins.

David Alan Grier (Carl "The Soleman" Bentley)

David Alan Grier is another actor who got his start on Broadway before making the transition to film and TV. He also had experience in comedy before appearing as eccentric inventor Carl in Jumanji. At the time Jumanji was filmed, Grier had just wrapped up a run on the popular series In Living Color. He's also made appearances on other sketch shows like Comedy Bang Bang, A Black Lady Sketch Show, and Crank Yankers.

But Grier is most recognizable as a sitcom star, having led DAG and The Cool Kids. Additionally, he made an impression in the ensemble casts of Martin, The Carmichael Show, and Life With Bonnie, which reunited him with his Jumanji costar Bonnie Hunt. He played Pops Dixon on the Jamie Foxx-led Netflix series Dad Stop Embarrassing Me and appeared in 10 episodes of the Paramount+ series Joe Pickett. His guest-star roles are too numerous to name here but include Saturday Night Live, Pinky and the Brain, Happy Endings, The Cleveland Show, and The Eric Andre Show.

All the while, Grier has maintained his theater roots. In 2015, he notably played the Cowardly Lion in the TV movie musical The Wiz Live and won his first Tony in 2021 for A Soldier's Play. He also had a supporting turn as Reverend Avery in the film version of the musical The Color Purple (2023).

Grier is a father of one, sharing a daughter, Luisa Danbi Grier-Kim, with his ex-wife Christine Y. Kim. He was previously married to actress Maritza Rivera.

Bonnie Hunt (Sarah Whittle)

A comedic actress known for her warm and relatable screen presence, Chicago native Bonnie Hunt plays Alan Parrish's long-lost love Sarah Whittle as an adult in Jumanji.

"When I read the script, it reminded me a lot of The Wizard of Oz," Hunt told The Oklahoman of Jumanji. "I was so involved in it; my imagination was going crazy reading it. I thought it'd be nice to be involved in a film that's nice for the whole family to see."

Early in her career, Hunt worked as a nurse while performing improv on the side. That all changed when she nabbed a role in Rain Man (1988) opposite Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. In the early '90s, Hunt co-created a sitcom called The Building with her friend David Letterman. Although the show was praised by critics, it never took off in the ratings and was canceled after five episodes. Another project, Bonnie, suffered a similar fate. Life With Bonnie fared better and aired on ABC from 2002 to 2004. In 2008, Hunt launched a talk show, The Bonnie Hunt Show, which aired for two seasons in syndication.

She also continued appearing in family flicks, often playing mothers in movies like Beethoven (1992) and Cheaper by the Dozen (2003). Her other notable films include Jerry Maguire (1996) and The Green Mile (1999), but she's probably best known for her voice work in Disney and Pixar movies, lending her talents to A Bug’s Life (1998), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), Zootopia (2016), and their sequels.

Jonathan Hyde (Sam Parrish/Van Pelt)

A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Australian-English actor Jonathan Hyde plays a dual role as Alan's father, Sam Parrish, and the diabolical big-game hunter Van Pelt in Jumanji. Since then, he's continued to combine his love of Shakespeare (playing Hamlet's uncle Claudius on stage in London in 2021) with film and TV work.

His dignified aura and classical training make Hyde a frequent presence in period pieces. In fact, kids who grew up watching him in Jumanji may also recognize him from other beloved films of that era. He played Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury in Richie Rich (1994) Bruce Ismay — the mustachioed manager whose impatience dooms the RMS Titanic — in the 1997 mega-blockbuster Titanic, the ill-fated Warren Westridge in Anaconda (1997), and the greedy British Egyptologist Dr. Allen Chamberlain in The Mummy (1999). Hyde's later credits include main roles on shows like The Strain and Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia.

He has been married to opera singer Isobel Buchanan since 1980; one of their two daughters is actress Georgia King.

Patricia Clarkson (Carol Parrish)

A New Orleanian who attended the prestigious Yale School of Drama, Patricia Clarkson had yet to find fame when she played the small supporting role of Carol Parrish in Jumanji. Three years later, she broke out in the movie High Art (1998), in which she gave a harrowing performance as an actress struggling with drug addiction. Other notable movie roles from around this time include The Green Mile (1999) and Far From Heaven (2002).

The early-2000s were a busy time for Clarkson. She recurred on the acclaimed HBO series Six Feet Under, an early example of "prestige TV" that earned her two Emmys. She also appeared in a series of celebrated independent films. In 2003, she was in four Sundance showcases: The Baroness and the Pig, The Station Agent, All the Real Girls, and Pieces of April — the latter for which she received an Oscar nomination. Since then, she's done a wide variety of movies and shows, from Shutter Island with Leonardo DiCaprio, to Easy A with Emma Stone, to Sharp Objects with Amy Adams. A well-respected figure in the cinematic community, she served on the jury of the 2023 Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic.

Adam Hann-Byrd (Young Alan)

His role as a young Alan Parrish in Jumanji wasn't Adam Hann-Byrd's biggest achievement as a child actor. That would be Little Man Tate, which he starred in opposite Jodie Foster in 1991. And while Hann-Byrd continued to appear in supporting roles in movies like The Ice Storm and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later throughout the '90s, he never really topped the success of his earlier works.

That's not to say that he has left Hollywood behind. Hann-Byrd has since transitioned into a successful career as a writer for TV and video games. He got in on the ground floor at Hulu as a writer on the satirical series The Morning After from 2012 to 2013. He also worked in the writers' rooms of Fringe and The Librarians in addition to co-writing the games Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery and Signs of the Sojourner.

He recalled his experience working with Robin Williams to The New York Times in 2017. "Robin was such a gentle soul," Hann-Byrd said. "He had this larger-than-life manic persona, but he could turn that off when he wanted to. He was a complicated guy."

Hann-Byrd has been married to his wife, Dara Epstein, since 2017.

Laura Bell Bundy (Young Sarah)

Laura Bell Bundy, the actress who plays a younger version of Sarah Whittle in flashback scenes, was 14 years old when Jumanji hit theaters. It wasn't her first movie role — she had previously appeared in The Adventures of Huck Finn and Life With Mikey, both in 1993 — but it is her most famous. She also portrayed Sweetheart in Dreamgirls (2006) and Becky in five episodes of How I Met Your Mother. Today, however, Bundy is best known as a Broadway star.

Among her theater credits, Bundy originated the roles of Amber Von Tussle in the musical Hairspray and Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. The latter earned her a Tony nomination for Best Actress, and she continued to play Elle in a touring production. Bundy also made a name for herself on TV — she starred as Dr. Jordan Denby on the sitcom adaptation of Anger Management — and in music. So far, she's recorded six albums as a country singer. Her latest LP, Women of Tomorrow, was released in 2021.

Bundy is married to TV executive Thom Hinkle, with whom she has a son.

Related content:

• Ranking all the Jumanjis in Jumanji

• Jumanji sequel stars explain how the new movie honors Robin Williams' legacy

• World's first Jumanji ride promises 'pitfalls, surprises, and dangers' in the jungle

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.