Who's The Boss? Cast: Where The Actors Are Now

Families come in all shapes and sizes. The "traditional" configuration of a family includes a mother, a father, a few kids, and maybe a pet. But when it comes to modern families, they can deviate from the formula a great deal. To find them, we don't need to look much further than our favorite sitcoms to show the various ways a family can come together. One household could see a widower bring in his best friend and his brother-in-law to help him raise his three daughters. Or a streetwise teen might move across the country to live with his well-to-do aunt, uncle, and cousins to stay out of trouble. Of course, there are countless instances where a diverse friend group coming together to form a found family. But in the case of the classic sitcom "Who's the Boss?", the family just so happens to include a single mother, her son, and her own mother,  who welcome in a housekeeper and his daughter and all become as close as any traditional family.

Created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter for ABC, "Who's the Boss?" became one of the most popular sitcoms of the 1980s. The show followed Tony Danza as Tony Micelli, a retired baseball player from New York who takes a housekeeping job in suburban Connecticut in order to give his daughter Sam a better life. Despite her initial hesitations about a strange man cooking and cleaning for her, divorced advertising executive Angela Bower ignored the social norms and brought Tony and Sam into the fold.

Now running in syndication on television and searchable on streaming services, a whole new generation can enjoy the misadventures of the Bower house. But what have the show's stars been up to since it came to an end in 1992? We're here to find out.

During the seventh season of "Who's the Boss?", the creative team wanted to inject the series with more younger energy after the kids of the cast Jonathan Bower and Samantha Micelli had grown up over the course of the show. This led to the casting of Jonathan Halyalkar as five-year-old Billy Napoli, an orphaned kid from Tony and Sam's old neighborhood in Brooklyn. Originally, Billy lived with his elderly grandmother as his caretaker. But after she suffers an accident, he's left in Tony's care and becomes the newest member of the Bower household. After that, veteran parents Tony and Angela have their hands full in familiar yet entirely new scenarios as they try their best to help Billy through milestones such as starting school, swimming lessons, and being a little brother to the older kids.

However, after all was said and done, Billy didn't do much in terms of moving the ratings needle. The character was written out of the show after appearing in 21 episodes of the seventh season. During the season eight premiere, it was explained in passing that Billy moved back in with his grandmother after she made a full recovery from her accident.

Following his stint on "Who's the Boss?", Halyalkar continued to act sporadically throughout the late 1990s and 2000s. He landed smaller roles on popular TV shows such as "Veronica Mars," "Third Watch," and "The Sarah Silverman Program." He also starred in the 2009 film "American Bully" (seen above), which explored prejudice in America towards foreign cultures following the events of September 11, 2001. From there, he switched to life behind the camera as the executive producer of sci-fi series "The Well." But since then, there hasn't been much information available about the former actor's current whereabouts or projects.

Before Topanga Lawrence captured the heart of Cory Matthews on "Boy Meets World" (as well as the hearts of teenagers around the world) in the 1990s, there was Sam Micelli's best friend Bonnie Munson in the 1980s. When she was first introduced in season two of "Who's the Boss?", the character played by Shana Lane-Block would pop up here and there as a brainy student in Sam's elementary school classes. But as the girls grew older, they became much closer when they started attending Fairfield High School. 

Bonnie would become a recurring character after that, even staying friends with Sam when she skipped her senior year of high school in order to start classes at Fairfield University early. It was during this time that the writing leaned into Bonnie marching to the beat of her own drummer. In fact, she would often say unexpected things and catch everyone off guard with her off-the-wall comments. Ultimately, Lane-Block would play Bonnie in 22 episodes, with her last appearance being in the season seven episode titled "You Can Go Home Again."

During her time on "Who's the Boss?" (pictured above), the actor also appeared on four episodes of the popular soap opera "Days of Our Lives." She was the fifth performer to play the role of Sarah Horton, the daughter of Neil Curtis and Maggie Horton. Starting in 2018, Linsey Godfrey became the latest person to take up the role and earned a 2019 Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

As for Lane-Block, she appears to have closed the acting portion of her career and moved behind the camera. Her most recent credits include travel coordinator for the reality show "Outback Jack" and the production coordinator for the scientific documentary series "Nova."

Before Tony and Sam moved to Fairfield, Connecticut to start their new lives with the Bowers, they lived in a very old-school Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. But despite leaving the NYC borough, they still stayed connected to their roots thanks to their relationship with motherly neighbor Carmela Rossini. The recurring character remained present for all the major events in the Micellis' lives. Over the course of eight seasons, she appeared in 21 episodes, including the pilot and the series finale.

The familial love continued behind the scenes of the beloved sitcom, because Mrs. Rossini was played by Rhoda Gemignani, the sister of "Who's the Boss?" co-creator Martin Cohan. However, this was hardly a case of nepotism. The tenured actor hailing from Philadelphia, PA has been working steadily since 1963. Starting out with small roles on well-known shows like "General Hospital," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," and "The Jeffersons," Gemignani would go on to guest star in many of the most popular shows on television during the 1980s and 1990s. Her resume boasts guest starring roles on "The Facts of Life," "Diff'rent Strokes," "Full House," "Baywatch," "Seinfeld," "Friends," and more. Then, once the new millennium had arrived, she landed another major recurring role when she was cast as Rhoda DiMauro on the popular NBC sitcom "Just Shoot Me!".

Now with over six decades of experience in Hollywood, Gemignani appears to be slowing down. Following her stint as Rhoda, it was another two years until her next role on the TV series "Related." Then, her last and most recent credit to date saw her reunite with "Friends" star Matt LeBlanc by playing his mother on two episodes of the underrated and extremely meta series "Episodes" (pictured above) between 2015 and 2017.

Tony Danza may have been at the top of the "Who's the Boss?" call sheet, but the elder statesman of the cast was definitely Katherine Helmond. On the show, she played Angela's feisty cougar of a mother, Mona Robinson. But her TV career started back in 1962 with an uncredited role on "Car 54, Where Are You?". While she continued to thrive on the small screen with various guest spots, her first major role would come in 1977 when she was cast as Jessica Tate in "Soap." When the comedic satire about daytime soap operas ended in 1981, Helmond's fans were able to see her again shortly afterwards thanks to her part in Terry Gilliam's "Time Bandits." She would continue to appear in films throughout the 1980s and 1990s including "Brazil," "Overboard," and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," but television would really turn out to be her domain.

After "Who's the Boss?" ended in 1992, Helmond went on to appear in the last three seasons of "Coach" as the wealthy and eccentric Orlando Breakers owner Doris Sherman. Shortly after that, in addition to landing several more roles in film and TV, she was also cast as Ray Barone's mother-in-law Lois Whelan on "Everybody Loves Raymond." To round out her career, she lent her voice to Lizzie, the lively, old Radiator Springs co-founder and the town souvenir shop owner from the Disney and Pixar franchise "Cars." 

Any performer would have been happy to land one iconic role, but Helmond embodied so many over the course of her lengthy career, including her final TV role in "Harry's Law" (as seen above). Unfortunately, before she could rack up another legendary part, she passed away on February 23, 2019 from Alzheimer's disease at the age of 89. 

Before Billy made his way onto the show in the seventh season, Danny Pintauro's Jonathan Bower was the resident cute kid on "Who's the Boss?". The country watched as Angela's son (as well as the actor behind the character) grew up in front of our eyes and learned from Tony, Sam, grandmother Mona, and his parents over the course of 196 episodes. However, just like many child actors, he had trouble landing substantial roles after the majority of his work from early in his career, which also included the iconic soap opera "As the World Turns" and the terrifying Stephen King horror film "Cujo." Still, the 2000s brought about a couple of roles in the film "The Still Life" and the ABC Family series "The Secret Life of the American Teenager."

Undeterred, Pintauro studied English and theater at Stanford University. While he did get to perform on stage during these years, he was sporadically cast onscreen for quite some time. This period saw him take on various jobs, including selling Tupperware, managing a Las Vegas restaurant, and aiding the pets of Austin, Texas as a veterinary technician. However, Pintauro would eventually return to acting with web series "The Comeback Kids" and "The Quarantine Bunch," which both focus on a topic that he's very familiar with: child actors. Then in 2022, he and his husband moved back to Los Angeles, California and the star landed the role of Eugene (pictured above) in the Lifetime holiday feature "A Country Christmas Harmony." 

While the three top-billed adults on the show were already stars in their own right, Alyssa Milano was the breakout talent of "Who's the Boss?". The Brooklyn native who played Samantha Micelli was only 10 years old when she auditioned for the pilot, but audiences saw her grow from a tomboyish little girl to a teen idol over the course of eight seasons.

Milano has collected several incredible credits since her time on the beloved sitcom. Some of her most memorable projects from early in her career include "Commando" alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, "Melrose Place" as Jennifer Mancini from seasons five to seven, and Phoebe Halliwell in the witchy WB drama "Charmed." When the 2010s rolled around, she remained active with films such as "Hall Pass" and "New Year's Eve," as well as popular series like "Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later," "Mistresses," and "Insatiable." On top of all that, she joined the Broadway cast of "Chicago" as Roxie Hart in 2024.

Outside of her career as an actor, Milano has dabbled in a number of other creative endeavors. An avid fan of the LA Dodgers, she contributed a blog to Major League Baseball's website during the 2007 season. She then created the acclaimed 2013 comic book series "Hacktivist" with writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly and artist Marcus To. And in 2019, she started hosting her own podcast "Alyssa Milano: Sorry Not Sorry," which explores social and political commentary.

In 2025, Milano guest-starred on "Elsbeth" (seen above) and appeared as Dr. Goodman in Bobby Farrelly's "Driver's Ed." Beyond that, she will be a part of the upcoming horror film "The Night Driver" with David Arquette and Josh Lucas.

Before starring in "Who's the Boss?" as Angela Bower, Judith Light had already established herself as an award-winning actor. In her breakout role as Karen Wolek on the popular ABC soap opera "One Live to Live," she won two consecutive Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1980 and 1981. Though "Who's the Boss?" only won a Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe, Light herself would continue to earn several other awards, including two Tony Awards and another Emmy for her 2023 appearance on "Poker Face."

Awards or not, Light has been consistently churning out excellent work since leaving the Bower house. The year after "Who's the Boss?" ended, she starred in the tennis sitcom "Phenom" on ABC. In 1998, she would star in CBS' "The Simple Life," which was a spinoff of "The Nanny" about a Martha Stewart-like TV personality who moves from Manhattan to upstate New York. Unfortunately, the series only lasted for seven episodes before it was cancelled. She would next land at "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" as Elizabeth Donnelly for 25 episodes between 2002 and 2010. In between those years, she also played Claire Meade on the hit ABC dramedy "Ugly Betty."

The 2010s continued to stay busy for Light. From 2013 to 2014, she played the nefarious Judith Brown-Ryland on the TNT revival of classic soap opera "Dallas." Then she joined the Prime Video dark comedy "Transparent" as Shelly Pfefferman, the ex-wife of Jeffrey Tambor's Maura. Finally, she would guest star in FX's "The Assassination of Gianni Versace" as Home Shopping Network mainstay Marilyn Miglin.

Most recently, fans have heard her voice "Kite Man: Hell Yeah!" and "Star Wars: Visions," as well as seen her in the memorable 2022 thriller "The Menu" (pictured above).

While he was no stranger to sitcoms, thanks to his role in "Taxi," Tony Danza truly broke out into the zeitgeist after "Who's the Boss?" became a hit. After the show ended, the actor continued to be a fixture in comedy throughout the 1990s. He starred in various sitcoms such as "Hudson Street" alongside "Full House" star Lori Loughlin, "Baby Talk" with Scott Baio, and the short-lived "The Tony Danza Show" (which also shared a name with his daytime talk show that ran from 2004 to 2006). He would also appear in a number of comedic films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including "Cannonball Run II," "Angels in the Outfield," and "The Garbage Picking Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon."

Around and after the year 2000, Danza would expand into more dramatic work. He appeared on legal dramas "The Practice" and "Family Law," the experimental Josh Evans film "Glam," and the award-winning film "Crash" in between his usual comedic fare. But in 2010, he took a complete left turn and signed onto a reality show called "Teach: Tony Danza," which saw the former boxer turned actor take over a 10th grade English class for a year. However, this slight career detour didn't keep him away from the limelight for too long, as he went on to appear in more films like "Don Jon" and "Rumble," plus TV series "Broad City," "And Just Like That..." and "Tacoma FD" (seen above).

These days, in between various film, TV, and theater projects, Danza is touring the country with a live show that features musical performances and stories from throughout his career. There has also been talk about a "Who's the Boss?" revival with himself and Alyssa Milano returning as Tony and Sam Micelli, but nothing has materialized as of this writing.