What Happened To The Cast Of Revenge Of The Nerds?

"Heeh! Heeh! Heeh!" With a wheezy laugh and goofy grins, "Revenge of the Nerds" took 1984 by storm. In a theatrical year dominated by Axel Foley, Indiana Jones, Gizmo, the Ghostbusters, and Mr. Miyagi, it was a raunchy college comedy for the older kids, promoting the triumph of the intelligent and the uncool over the strong and the sexy. 

Beloved at the time, it has aged poorly in some respects, as it treats sorority girls as prizes to be won, and depicts some decidedly non-consensual intimate moments exploited and played for pranks. For the sequel, which helped launch Bradley Whitford's career, the nerds' hijinks were toned down to a PG-13, and two subsequent films, made for TV, had to deal with even stricter network censorship. There's still occasional talk of a reboot at some point though.

Most of the main cast returned for every installment, while others went on to bigger things, and at least one (Wormser) was recast as a local hire to save money. Two of the supporting actors, meanwhile, went on to become ubiquitous movie stars, and if you haven't seen it in a while, you might be surprised by who they are. 

Here is what happened to the main cast of "Revenge of the Nerds."

Gilbert was Anthony Edwards' first lead role but hardly his last or even his most famous. Edwards shook the nerd label soon thereafter to play navy pilot "Goose" in "Top Gun," in which he dies so that Tom Cruise's Maverick can experience personal growth. After returning to the Gilbert role once for "Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise," he starred opposite Mare Winningham in the cult hit "Miracle Mile," about finding true love right before the apocalypse. Not initially a hit, it has only gained in esteem and fandom in the years since, and it's arguably one of the best movies about life in Los Angeles.

In the '90s, transitioning into TV, he became even more ubiquitous, first as Mike Monroe in "Northern Exposure" and then as Dr. Mark Greene in "E.R.," arguably the biggest primetime drama and definitely the definitive medical drama of the decade. When George Clooney left the show to become a movie star, Edwards stayed and became the star of the show. Riffing on his "Top Gun" past, he voiced Echo in the animated "Planes," and he's been a steady fixture on TV, in shows that include "Girls" and "Tales of the Walking Dead."

In 2021, 33 years after "Miracle Mile," he married his former costar Winningham. Thankfully, there's been no apocalypse yet.

The son of actor John Carradine, and brother to Keith and David, Robert made his movie debut in "The Cowboys" with John Wayne. In subsequent movies like "Mean Streets," "Cannonball," and "Coming Home," he played tough characters, so it was a major change of pace to gain more fame as an amiable nerd with an infamously discordant laugh. To prove he was right for the role, he went undercover at the University of Arizona and attempted to join a fraternity. When none would have him, he was convinced he could do it.

After all four "Revenge of the Nerds" movies, Carradine bounced around in TV guest star roles for a bit before aging into a new nerdy niche: a dorky dad for Disney. First in the movie "Max Keeble's Big Move" and then in the "Lizzie McGuire" franchise, he charmed a new generation of fans with a different kind of social awkwardness.

He likes returning to westerns when he can, with parts in "The Marshal," "Django Unchained," and "Tales of the Wild West," among others, and he's always game for nostalgic cameos on a "Robot Chicken" or "Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda." In 2013, he and fellow "Nerds" alum Curtis Armstrong hosted the reality competition show "King of the Nerds." As of this writing he has eight movies in various stages of production.

A male model from Newport Beach, McGinley was noticed by a talent agent in the pages of GQ, which got him a role on "Happy Days." Despite having leading-man good looks, his signature roles have him as more antagonist than protagonist. Following his portrayal of smarmy jock villain Stan in the "Revenge of the Nerds" franchise, he became best known in the '90s on "Married...With Children" as Al Bundy's himbo neighbor Jefferson D'Arcy, second husband to shrewish killjoy Marcie, replacing David Garrison's Steve Rhoades. 

Due to similar TV roles on shows like "The Love Boat," "Happy Days," and "Dynasty," he was dubbed the patron saint of shark-jumping by website JumpTheShark.com, noting his tendency to replace regular characters, often shortly before the show gets canceled. He rolled with the joke at first, then realized the perception was costing him work. Still, he can be proud of being one of the major cast members still alive from "Happy Days."

McGinley has also done voice acting for cartoons like "Justice League" and "Family Guy," and he's been in several Christian movies, including "Christmas With a Capital C" and "God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness." Most recently, however, he's been a regular on the Apple TV+ series "Shrinking," as husband to Liz (Christa Miller) and next-door neighbor to Jason Segel's Jimmy Laird.

Although classically trained as an actor, Curtis Armstrong's first two movie roles would come to typecast him as a lowbrow character. As Miles in "Risky Business," one of Tom Cruise's 15 best movies, he gave us an all-time delivery of "What the f**k," and as the slovenly Booger in "Revenge of the Nerds," his defining moment is winning a belching contest. He has leaned into it, though, essentially parodying the Booger character as the voice of Snot on "American Dad." 

During the '80s he was also Herbert Viola on "Moonlighting," a supporting character who more than once had to take the spotlight due to behind-the-scenes problems with leads Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd. He's been in many comedy movies good and bad, from "Van Wilder" and "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" to "Beer for My Horses."

In 2010, Armstrong starred in the animated series "Dan Vs.," about a misanthrope who picks a new fight every episode, sometimes with a person like his dentist or an entire state like New Mexico. In 2013 he co-hosted "King of the Nerds" with Robert Carradine.

Next, he'll be appearing in the dark comedy "Dead Guy" alongside Michael Shannon and Judy Greer.

Never take the small roles for granted. In 1984, who would have guessed that the guy playing the villainous coach in "Revenge of the Nerds" would become the biggest movie and TV star of them all? After notable appearances in the original "Nerds" and "C.H.U.D." in 1984, Goodman scored his first lead in 1986's Talking Heads movie "True Stories," as perennial bachelor Louis Fyne. In 1987, he began a long and fruitful partnership with the Coen brothers when he played Gale in "Raising Arizona."

Then, in 1988, he was cast opposite Roseanne Barr on the sitcom "Roseanne" as her husband, Dan Conner. The blue-collar sitcom, which didn't shy away from the problems of the working class, originally ran for 11 years and was revived in 2018. Renamed "The Conners" after the network fired Barr for offensive Tweets, it ran for seven more years. 

In between, he has been a regular "Saturday Night Live" host and consistent movie star, most famously as Fred Flintstone in a "Flintstones" live-action movie that Steven Spielberg developed specifically for him (and Goodman begged not to make a sequel to), and as the huggable blue monster Sully in Pixar's "Monsters, Inc." franchise, which includes a prequel that costar Billy Crystal compares to "Revenge of the Nerds."

Recently seen in Legendary's Monsterverse, beginning with "Kong: Skull Island," he still currently appears as the patriarch of HBO's megachurch family satire "The Righteous Gemstones." Next, he'll voice Papa Smurf in the upcoming "Smurfs" reboot.

One of those perennial "I know that face!" character actors, the wildest Alpha Beta can be seen in many TV shows and movies, usually playing a biker, football player, barbarian, or some other kind of fighter. In addition to the first two "Nerds" movies, the second of which concluded with Ogre embracing his own inner geek, Donald Gibb appeared in the first two "Bloodsport" films as American tournament fighter Ray "Tiny" Jackson."

Gibb found the most success, however, on HBO"s football-themed comedy "1st and Ten," starring Delta Burke, O.J. Simpson, and Shannon Tweed. As a linebacker nicknamed Dr. Death, he lasted the entire run of the series, from 1984 through 1991. More recently he has done voice acting for video games like "Rage" and "Mafia II," while his last movie was the gritty Will Smith superhero riff "Hancock."

As the co-owner of Chicago bar Trader Todd's, Gibb has marketed his own Ogre beer.

Betty was the classic '80s archetype — the wholesome girlfriend of the lead villain, who doesn't truly realize how awful her man is. We don't like to talk about the way she decides nerdy Lewis is the one for her instead, as it's a super-problematic, sex-by-deception scene by any modern standards. Still, the characters later got married, and she appeared in all four "Nerds" movies, albeit only in a photo in the second one.

Julia Montgomery didn't go on to much further fame, with her most notable subsequent roles being in 'Stewardess School," "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!" and "Milk Money." A former daytime soap regular on "One Life to Live" as Samantha Vernon, she returned to the show in 1987 and recently made a cameo on "The Young and the Restless" in 2022.

Montgomery went to high school with Jason Alexander in Livingston, New Jersey, and the two frequently acted together in school plays.

While Timothy Busfield was filming "Revenge of the Nerds," he was still a regular on the "M*A*S*H" spinoff "Trapper John, M.D." as John's son J.T. In 1987, he grew a beard to star as Elliott in the acclaimed drama "thirtysomething," winning an Emmy for the role in 1991. In 1989, he played Kevin Costner's antagonistic brother-in-law Mark in "Field of Dreams."

He has since been a regular on "The West Wing," "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," and "For Life," while making appearances in front of and behind the camera on many other shows. In fact, his career as a director for television may even surpass his work as an actor. But he recently voiced Old Man Star-Lord on the podcast series "Marvel Wastelanders" and was last seen playing an immigration officer on Fox's "The Cleaning Lady."

Busfield is married to former "Little House on the Prairie" star Melissa Gilbert, whom he lives with in New York City, where he also continues to do stage acting.

The child prodigy of the nerds, Andrew Cassese is probably the most active on the convention circuit, meeting fans and doing Q&As. He's also part of a volunteer trash-cleaning crew in New York City called the Pick Up Pigeons. In a nod to his real-life nerdity, his handle on Twitter/X is "landru428," a reference to the philosopher-turned-supercomputer in the original "Star Trek."

An actor and musician, Cassese is best known apart form his two "Nerds" movies for the 1988-89 CBS drama "TV 101," which also featured Matt LeBlanc, Stacey Dash, and Teri Polo. The series was about a divorcee, played by Sam Robards, who returns to his high school to teach the kids how to make a TV news program. Seventeen episodes were made, but only 13 aired, as low ratings, possibly influenced by a controversial abortion plot point, led to cancellation.

Cassese's last movie role was in the anthology comedy movie "Underdogs," set in the New York acting scene.

The same year Larry B. Scott played the flamboyant, openly gay Lamar in the first "Revenge of the Nerds," he also portrayed one of Daniel LaRusso's tournament opponents in "The Karate Kid," making him one of the few players not to return for the otherwise exhaustive parade of cameos throughout "Cobra Kai." He has worked steadily since and between appearing in all four "Nerds" movies, most significantly as gadget master F.X. Spinner on the syndicated superhero/sci-fi series "Super Force," which starred Ken Olandt and featured Patrick Macnee and G. Gordon Liddy in regular supporting roles. In the video game realm, he voiced the Paladin in "Diablo" II and IV.

Scott's last major TV appearance was on the Adult Swim sitcom "Black Jesus," in the role of Clancy. He'll next be seen in Kevin Grevioux's action movie "War Dogs," alongside the likes of Kadeem Hardison, Raven-Symone, and Walter Jones.

Brian Tochi isn't just known for the "Revenge of the Nerds" franchise but several others. In fact, he's one of a select few actors to have appeared on the original "Star Trek" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation," as a child actor on the original series episode, "And the Children Shall Lead" and ensign Kenny Lin on the 1991 "TNG" episode "Night Terrors." Following "Revenge of the Nerds," he joined the 'Police Academy" series for the third and fourth movies as Nogata, and he was the voice of Leonardo in the original three live-action "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movies, the first of which, at least, holds up pretty well.

Throughout the '90s, Tochi provided uncredited background vocals for many major animated features, including "Mulan," "The Lion King," and 'The Iron Giant." Since 2000, he's had many credited voice roles on TV and in video games, including "Johnny Bravo," "Static Shock," "Family Guy," "Saints Row 2," and of course the direct-to-video "Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie!" written by Wyatt Cenac and starring Jaleel White.

After her big-screen debut roles as Marcia in "The Outsiders" and Suzi in "Valley Girl," Michelle Meyrink played two of the most memorable nerd dreamgirls of the '80s. First, she was Gilbert's tech-savvy love interest Judy in "Revenge of the Nerds," and she followed that as the hyperactive chatterbox Jordan in "Real Genius," holding her own in a movie primarily remembered for one of Val Kilmer's greatest comedic performances. Following 1988's Keanu Reeves-starring suicide drama "Permanent Record," however, she retired from acting to study Zen Buddhism, which led to her husband John.

In 2013, she decided to teach acting instead and founded a method-based school in Vancouver called Actorium. It teaches both in-person and online classes. Meyrink writes the Actorium's online blog, in which she urges actors to find fulfillment in art regardless of whether they are working or not working.

Who would have guessed at the time that Lewis' equally nerdy dad would become one of the most ubiquitous actors of the next few decades? Cromwell may be best known as Farmer Hoggett in "Babe" and warp drive inventor Zefram Cochrane in "Star Trek: First Contact," but he's been in a great many more projects, including TV shows from "The Rockford Files" in 1974 to "Murder in a Small Town" in 2024. Other major movie roles have included Charles Keating in "The People vs. Larry Flynt," Benjamin Lockwood in "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," George H. W. Bush in Oliver Stone's "W," Captain Stacy in "Spider-Man 3," Dudley Smith in "L.A. Confidential," Warden Moores in "The Green Mile," President Fowler in "The Sum of All Fears," and many more.

In addition to his acting, Cromwell is also an activist, notably for animal rights, and he's been arrested multiple times for his protest activity. Most recently, he glued his hand to a Starbucks counter to protest their charging extra for vegan milk alternatives. He was not arrested this time and ultimately scraped the glue off his hand with a knife.

He'll next be seen in "Get Lost," a modern take on "Alice in Wonderland" set in Budapest, in which he plays the dual role of Frederick and the Red King.

A former NFL wide receiver and a familiar character actor from movies like "Boxcar Bertha" and "The Man Who Fell to Earth," Bernie Casey may nonetheless remain best known in pop culture — aside from the head of Lambda Lambda Lambda in the "Nerds" movies — as Mr. Ryan, the teacher who yells at Bill and Ted that they have to get an A on their history project, or else. Along with George Carlin, Keanu Reeves, and Alex Winter, he continued the role on the animated spinoff series.

Other movie roles since 'Revenge of the Nerds" have included Col Rhombus in "Spies Like Us," John Slade in "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka," Commander Harris in "Under Siege," and Mr. Walter in "Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored." 

Casey held a Master's in Fine Arts from the University of Bowling Green, and before his acting career took off, primarily considered himself a painter. In 1969, he published a book of his poems and paintings.

He died of a stroke in 2017.