Get to Know the 'Little Women' 1994 Cast 30 Years After the Film's Release

Beth may have died, and Laurie might have ended up with Amy instead of Jo, but that doesn't mean Little Women 1994 wasn't a great film. It had humor, love and a heartwarming family story.

Based on the two-part classic 1868 and 1869 novel by Louisa May Alcott, Little Women is set in Concord, Massachusetts during the American Civil War.  It follows the four March sisters, as they deal with growing up in poverty while trying to be modern women in a very trying time. Jo March wants to be a writer, Amy wants to paint and improve her image, Meg wants to marry for love and Beth just wants her family to be together. But when life seems to get in the way of their goals, the Marches are left to wonder what really matters.

The book was adapted eight times over the decades, and one of those adaptations — the one produced in 1994 — just turned 30! And to celebrate it's birthday, we decided to catch up with the Little Women 1994 cast!

Wanting to watch the film while reading? Little Women 1994 is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Winona Ryder

CHARACTER PLAYED: Jo March

BORN: October 29, 1971 in  Winona, Minnesota.

BEST KNOWN FOR: Beetlejuice (1988), Heathers (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990),  Mermaids (1990), The Crucible (1996), Girl, Interrupted (1999), Black Swan (2010) and Stranger Things (2016 t0 2023).

PERSONAL: Was born under the name Winona Laura Horowitz.

THOUGHTS ON LITTLE WOMEN 1994: "It’s actually one of the few movies of mine I don’t turn off when it comes on, because I really like it, and it was such a special experience."

FUN FACT: Ryder wore a wig while filming because her natural hair was too short.

Trini Alvarado: Little Women 1994

CHARACTER PLAYED: Meg March

BORN: January 10, 1967 · New York City, New York.

BEST KNOWN FOR: Rich Kids (1979), Sweet Lorraine (1987), Stella (1990), The Frighteners (1996), All Good Things (2010) and The Staircase (2022).

PERSONAL: Alvarado has been married to Robert McNeill since 1992. They have two children together.

THOUGHTS ON LITTLE WOMEN 1994: "I do have the distinction of being the only Puerto Rican and Spanish Meg that I know of. It was my Puerto Rican mama who first gave me that book. Except for the corsets, it was a dream."

FUN FACT: Olivia Hussey was considered for the role of Marmee, which ultimately went to Susan Sarandon because production thought Hussey looked too much like Alvarado.

Kirsten Dunst

CHARACTER PLAYED: Young Amy March

BORN: April 30, 1982 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey.

BEST KNOWN FOR: Interview with the Vampire (1994), Jumanji (1995), Bring It On (2000), Spider-Man 1, 2 & 3 (2002/2004/2007), Hidden Figures (2016) and Civil War (2024).

PERSONAL: Dunst has been married to Jesse Plemons since 2022. They have two children together.

THOUGHTS ON LITTLE WOMEN 1994: "I feel proud that I’m part of a classic that people still love to watch at Christmas or show to their daughters. It’s a source of comfort, and it’s about becoming your own person, having your own identity as a woman."

FUN FACT: This is the only adaptation of Little Women to have a young and old Amy. The switch happens at about 1 hour and 3 minutes into the film.

Samantha Mathis: Little Women 1994

CHARACTER PLAYED: Old Amy March

BORN: May 12, 1970 in Brooklyn, New York.

BEST KNOWN FOR: Pump Up the Volume (1990), Super Mario Bros. (1993), Broken Arrow (1996), American Psycho (2000), Kids in America (2005), Affluenza (2014), Billions (2019 t0 2020) and The Exorcism (2024),

PERSONAL: Mathis is fluent in German.

THOUGHTS ON LITTLE WOMEN 1994: Casting director Carrie Frazier revealed, " I still wanted Reese [Witherspoon] to play Older Amy, because she and Kirsten were a superb match. But I was also really crazy about Samantha [Mathis], and I thought she did a beautiful job."

FUN FACT: Mathis only got the part after production decided to have two different people play Amy.

Claire Danes

CHARACTER PLAYED: Beth March

BORN: April 12, 1979 in Manhattan, New York.

BEST KNOWN FOR: My So-Called Life (1994 t0 1995), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Les Misérables (1998), The Hours (2002), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Homeland (2011 to 2020) and Full Circle (2023). 

PERSONAL: Danes has been married to Hugh Dancy since 2009. They have three children.

THOUGHTS ON LITTLE WOMEN 1994: " I’d never done a feature film before. This felt like a beginning for me."

FUN FACT: Danes' hair caught fire during filming while she was walking up the stairs with a candle.

Christian Bale: Little Women 1994

CHARACTER PLAYED: Theodore "Laurie" Lawrence

BORN: January 30, 1974 in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK.

BEST KNOWN FOR: Newsies (1992), Pocahontas (1995), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999), Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Ford V Ferrari (2019), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) and The Boy and the Heron (2023).

PERSONAL: Bale has been married to Sibi Blazic since 2000. They have two children.

THOUGHTS ON LITTLE WOMEN 1994: " I was very possessive on the set of the film. You’ve got Winona, Trini Alvarado, Samantha Mathis, Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst, Gillian – I was experiencing an incredible male possessiveness."

FUN FACT: Bale met his wife Sibi Blazic — who was working as Winona Ryder's assistant — on set. In fact, it was Ryder who introduced them.

Susan Sarandon

CHARACTER PLAYED: Marmee March

BORN: October 4, 1946 in New York City

BEST KNOWN FOR: A World Apart (1970 to 1971), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Thelma & Louise (1991), The Client (1994), Dead Man Walking (1995), Stepmom (1998), Moonlight Mile (2002), Enchanted (2007), Viper Club (2018), A Bad Moms Christmas (2017) and The Gutter (2024).

PERSONAL: Sarandon was married to Chris Sarandon from 1967 until 1979.  She  has three children.

THOUGHTS ON LITTLE WOMEN 1994: Much like their characters on screen, the Marches got along very well off-screen, with Sarandon remembering, "Very often on movies that have a lot of women in the cast, people start rumors about fights, but this was not like that at all."

FUN FACT: Sarandon was 48 years old during filming.

Eric Stoltz: Little Women 1994

CHARACTER PLAYED: John Brooke

BORN: September 30, 1961 in Whittier, California.

BEST KNOWN FOR: Mask (1985), Say Anything (1989), Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), Pulp Fiction (1994), Chicago Hope (1998 to 1999), The Butterfly Effect (2004), Grey's Anatomy (2009), Caprica (2009 to 2010) and Madam Secretary (2015 to 2019).

PERSONAL: Stoltz has been married to Bernadette Moley since 2005. They have two children together.

THOUGHTS ON LITTLE WOMEN 1994: "I’d read the book and Robin’s [Swicord] script, and I told them I’d do anything. Even though the Mr. Brooke role [Laurie’s tutor and Meg’s husband] wasn’t large, everything about it felt right."

FUN FACT: Stoltz and Alvarado also played a married couple in The Last Dance (2000).

Gabriel Byrne

CHARACTER PLAYED: Friedrich Bhaer

BORN: May 12, 1950 in Dublin, Ireland.

BEST KNOWN FOR: The Riordans (1978 to 1979), Gothic (1986), Miller's Crossing (1990), The Usual Suspects (1995), End of Days (1999), Stigmata (1999), This Is the Sea (1997), In Treatment (2008 to 2010), Murder at Yellowstone City (2022) and Dance First (2023).

PERSONAL: Byrne was married to Ellen Barkin from 1988 until 1999 and they had two children together. Then he married Hannah Beth King in 2014 and has been with her ever since.

THOUGHTS ON LITTLE WOMEN 1994: When asked why she went with Bryne for the part of Friedrich Bhaer, casting director Carrie Fraziersaid said, " I was looking for depth, a little more of a poet, and Gabriel Byrne just had all of that."

FUN FACT: The opera that Friedrich Bhaer (Byrne) takes Jo (Ryder) to is The Pearl Fishers by Georges Bizet.

For more 1994 movies, keep reading! 

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