In 1985, the term The Brat Pack was coined in a New York Magazine article as a take on the iconic Rat Pack of the '50s and '60s. The group consisted of a slew of young actors who partied together and were featured in St. Elmo's Fire and/or The Breakfast Club. The group had a bunch of revolving members, but the core group consisted of Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy, and Judd Nelson.
Even if you weren't around in the early '80s, you might recognize members of the group as famous actors today. See who they were back in their heyday and where they are now, 30 years later.
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Known as the "leader" of the group, Estevez starred in both The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire. He was also briefly engaged to fellow Brat Packer Demi Moore.
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He's acted and directed over the years, and besides his 80s roles he is most famous for starring in Young Guns, The Mighty Ducks, and various guest TV appearances, including a stint on his brother Charlie Sheen's show, Two and a Half Men.
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She dropped out of school at 16 to pursue acting and eventually landed a role in St. Elmo's Fire. Director Joel Schumacher caught her high on set one day and reportedly forced her to get clean.
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Her looks have defied gravity over the years, and she's enjoyed more blockbuster successes such as Ghost, A Few Good Men, and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Besides her acting career, Moore has had two high-profile marriages and divorces to Bruce Willis and Ashton Kutcher.
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In his early years, he was known as the pretty boy with a wild side. His real life imitated his art, however, as he was reportedly one of the hardest partying members of the Brat Pack.
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After he got sober in the '90s, Lowe went on to have a successful career as an actor and author starring in hit television shows such as The West Wing and Parks and Recreation. He's written several bestselling books, including Stories I Only Tell My Friends and Love Life. He's currently starring in The Grinder on Fox.
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She played the spoiled princess in The Breakfast Club and went on to become a teen icon in a slew of John Hughes films. Who didn't love her in For Keeps, Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink?
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No stranger to the camera over the years, she was most recently in the '80s remake of Jem and The Holograms and played the mom on the hit TV show The Secret Life of the American Teenager. She's also written two books: Getting the Pretty Back: Friendship, Family, and Finding the Perfect Lipstick and When It happens To You: A Novel in Stories.
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He was typecast as the beloved geek in many teen classics such as Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. He partnered with director John Hughes for many of his pivotal roles.
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In an effort to break out of always playing the geek, Hall went on to become a cast member of Saturday Night Live in 1985. More recently he has starred in a lot of television shows and films, including The Dark Knight and The Dead Zone.
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In the early years, he seemed to always get cast as the dream boyfriend (hello Pretty in Pink and St. Elmo's Fire).
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Besides having a successful acting career throughout the years, McCarthy is also a travel writer with his own travel memoir, The Long Way Home, and has published pieces in Travel + Leisure, The Atlantic and more.
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Her roles in The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire couldn't have been more different. She went from a playing a quirky freak to a yuppie with big career goals.
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She's had the fewest high-profile roles of all the original Brat Pack members. She had a guest role on Hall's The Dead Zone alongside Anthony Michael Hall and starred in Psych, WarGames and High Art.
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Similar to Sheedy, Nelson had two drastically different parts in his early movies. In St. Elmo's Fire he played a yuppie with political aspirations and in The Breakfast Club he was the tough-guy loner. A few movies followed, but none had the success of these two films. In the '90s he starred in TV's Suddenly Susan alongside Brooke Shields.
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He recently had a stint on the hit show Empire and has had guest appearances on many shows, including CSI: NY and Two and a Half Men. But Judd (pictured with fellow Brat Packer Ally Sheedy) ceased to become the major star he seemed destined to be during the '80s.
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