Take A Look What The Cast Of Family Ties Are Up To Now

That’s right! Several years before Thelma and Louise, Geena Davis enjoyed a brief stint in Family Ties as Karen, the Keaton family’s ditzy housekeeper. Of course, this wasn’t the last time the actress would share the screen with Michael J. Fox. Well, kinda. In 1999 she played the mom in Stuart Little, the kids caper in which Fox voiced the titular animated rodent.

Davis is undoubtedly one of the most successful actors to have graced Family Ties. In 1989 she bagged an unexpected Academy Award for her supporting turn in The Accidental Tourist. Davis has also since appeared in box office hits Beetlejuice and A League of Their Own and landed star roles in The Exorcist and Commander in Chief.

Who would ever have expected that Elyse’s younger sibling in Family Ties would go on to become one of the most beloved actors of his generation? Yes, you may not know that none other than Tom Hanks played Ned Donnelly for three episodes of the hit comedy. The future A-lister was no stranger to the TV sitcom, though, having previously starred in Bosom Buddies.

After first achieving box office success with Splash, Hanks scored hit after hit. His imperial phase came in the mid-‘90s when he won consecutive Best Actor Oscars for his performances in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump and starred in Sleepless in Seattle, Apollo 13 and Toy Story. Hanks is still very much at the top of his game having picked up another Academy Award nod in 2020 for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

Philip Baker Hall is one of those Hollywood stars whose names you might not know but whose face you definitely will. The character actor has racked up nearly 200 acting credits since making his screen debut in 1970’s Zabriskie Point. And one of those is his three-episode stint as Dr. Harrison in Family Ties.

Since then Hall has had the chance to work with some of the most acclaimed directors out there. He stole the show in Paul Thomas Anderson’s first film Hard Eight and then again in 1999’s Magnolia. Hall has also worked with Lars von Trier in Dogville and David Fincher on Zodiac. More recently he’s played Zelman Katz in Netflix thriller Messiah.

Melinda Culea appeared in three episodes of Family Ties in 1984 as Alex’s new manager Rebecca Ryan. A year earlier the actress had enjoyed a much lengthier spell on The A-Team as Amy Amanda Allen. And she also went on to gain more screentime in the likes of St. Elsewhere, Knots Landing and Brotherly Love.

Culea made the occasional leap to the film world, too. She had a minor role in Terry Gillam’s The Fisher King and shared the screen with John Candy in Wagons East. Married to Peter Markle, a film and TV director, since 1995, Culea has gone quiet since the turn of the century. Her last credit is 2001 drama Dying on the Edge.

Before Nick Moore came along, Mallory appeared to change her boyfriends more than she changed her socks. One of the few to last more than a week was John Dukakis’ Jeff. The Princeton student appeared in three episodes of the hit sitcom before getting the boot from the most superficial member of the Keaton family.

Dukakis had previously appeared in everything from Jaws 2 to Little House on the Prairie before his brief stint on Family Ties. But his only two credits since have been guest spots on soap opera Guiding Light and anthology American Playhouse. Instead, Dukakis pivoted into politics, helping to run his father Michael’s unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1987. He then moved into the music industry where he oversaw the careers of New Kids on the Block and Boyz II Men.

Dan Hedaya played Joe Moore, the father of Mallory’s boyfriend Nick, for four episodes as Family Ties began to wrap up. By this point, the actor had already graced Cheers and its spinoff The Tortellis several times as Carla’s sleazeball ex Nick. Hedaya later added to his sitcom credits with guest spots on The Mindy Project, Odd Mom Out and Who’s the Boss?

Hedaya has also graced the big screen several times, including in box office hits The Addams Family, Clueless and Nixon. And the actor is still going strong now that he’s an octogenarian. In 2020 Hedaya appeared in indie movie Funny Face, while a year later he showed up in Slapface and The God Committee.

Norman Parker played one of the Keaton family’s lesser-known members, Uncle Rob. The actor popped up five times in the hit sitcom as the brother of patriarch Steven having previously enjoyed recurring roles in the likes of As the World Turns and The Edge of Night. Parker returned to the soap opera world in 1989 with a seven-episode spell in Falcon Crest.

Parker later went on to guest on Touched by An Angel, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Party of Five. He also got the chance to grace the big screen in the much-maligned adaptation of The Bonfire of the Vanities and Michelle Pfeiffer/Robert Redford romance Up, Close and Personal. Parker’s last credit came on 2001 movie The Medicine Show.

Prolific character actor Alan Blumenfeld added Family Ties to his resume in 1984 playing a man named Lou Stone. And he made a further six appearances in various other roles throughout the show’s run. Since then, Blumenfeld appears to have made it his mission to pop up in every other TV show on air.

Roseanne, Murphy Brown, Arrested Development and Fresh Off the Boat are just a handful of the comedy shows Blumenfeld has made one-off appearances in. The workaholic has also enjoyed recurring roles in the likes of Heroes, Gilmore Girls and Murder One: Diary of a Serial Killer. And alongside his wife Katherine James, Blumenfeld has even found the time to form a new stage company, Free Association Theater.

Terry Wills certainly got the opportunity to showcase his range on Family Ties. Across seven episodes of the hit sitcom the actor played no fewer than five different characters. Wills first showed up as a man named Don Bradford before going on to portray a doctor, desk clerk and taxi driver.

Following his versatile stint on the comedy, Wills guested on the likes of Harry and the Hendersons, Evening Shade and That ‘70s Show. He also enjoyed minor big screen roles in Child’s Play 3 and Sister Act. But most memorable of all was his 11-episode stint as Steve Miller in long-running daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives.

John Hancock enjoyed a seven-episode spell on Family Ties as a neighbor of the Keaton family, Gus Thompson. The actor also graced several other hit ‘80s shows including Hill Street Blues, Cheers and Cagney and Lacey. And in the early ‘90s Hancock landed recurring roles on the likes of Love and War and Pacific Station.

Hancock also continued to play his most memorable character, no-nonsense Judge Richard Armand in the long-running L.A. Law. But just as his career was thriving like never before, tragedy struck. In 1992 the star passed away from a reported heart attack aged just 51 at his home in Hollywood Hills.

Tracy Pollan met her future husband Michael J. Fox while playing his girlfriend Ellen Reed on Family Ties. But they didn’t instantly connect in real life. In fact, it wasn’t until the stars reunited on 1988’s Bright Lights, Big City that they began dating. That very same year Pollan and Fox walked down the aisle. And more than three decades on, the pair remain very much in love. Aww.

Pollan also has four kids with Fox, Sam, Aquinnah, Esmé and Schuyler. Although her career didn’t take off in the way her husband’s did, the actress still occasionally returns to the showbiz world. Pollan has guested on several Law and Order spinoffs, Medium and Nightcap. She’s also appeared alongside Fox again on both Spin City and his short-lived eponymous sitcom.

It’s easy to forget that long before Monica Gellar, Courteney Cox appeared in another of the nation’s best-loved sitcoms. Following in the footsteps of Pollan, the actress was cast as Fox’s love interest in Family Ties’ sixth season. She subsequently enjoyed a 20-episode stint as Lauren Miller before landing roles in The Trouble with Larry, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and, of course, a little-known show called Friends.

Just like her predecessor, Cox also later married one of her co-stars. In 1999 she tied the knot with David Arquette who she’d shared the screen with in game-changing horror Scream. Sadly, the pair divorced 14 years later, albeit on good terms. Shortly after, Cox began dating Johnny McDaid of indie outfit Snow Patrol.

With his big bouffant, multiple earrings and leather jacket, Scott Valentine looked like he’d escaped from a hair metal band when he first appeared on the Family Ties set in its fourth season. The actor played Mallory Keaton’s love interest Nick Moore in the sitcom. And his character proved to be so popular that he even got a spinoff!

Sadly for Valentine, The Art of Being Nick never actually made it to air. Still, he continued to rack up dozens of credits including recurring roles in Black Scorpion and Phantom 2040. Valentine was already a married man when he showed up in Family Ties. But he divorced Kym Denyse, also the mother of his four kids, in 2012.

Marc Price often stole the show as Irwin “Skippy” Handelman, the Keaton family’s geeky neighbor. The actor went on to appear in the likes of Killer Tomatoes Eat France! and Little Devils: The Birth once Family Ties wrapped up. He also served as the host of the Disney Channel’s Teen Win, Lose or Draw.

But Price has largely chosen to showcase his other talents over the past three decades. He’s worked behind the scenes as a producer and writer on the likes of Star Dates, Funny Money and Green Collard Comedy Show. And in 2006 Price displayed his stand-up skills on the hit show Last Comic Standing.

Brian Bonsall brought the cute factor when he joined the season five cast as youngest son Andy. The actor went on to take center stage in several films including horror Mikey and teen comedy Blank Check. He also graced Star Trek: The Next Generation as Alexander Rozhenko. Sadly, Bonsall didn’t manage to escape the curse of the child star.

In 2007 Bonsall got himself into trouble when he was arrested on a charge of assault. He continued to find himself on the wrong side of the law over the following three years. But thankfully, Bonsall has since managed to get his life back on track. In 2017 he wed Courtney Tuck, who gave birth to their son Oliver two years later. Bonsall now performs in the punk outfit Sunset Silhouette.

Best-known for playing youngest daughter Jennifer Keaton in Family Ties, Tina Yothers struggled to maintain her acting career once the sitcom ended. A guest spot on Married... with Children and a few TV movies are her only notable credits since. But Yothers did enjoy more success as a reality TV star.

Celebrity Wife Swap, Celebrity Fit Club and What Not to Wear are just a few of the reality shows Yothers has graced over the years. The star also briefly pursued a music career with a group she formed with sibling Cory named Jaded. In 2002 Yothers got hitched to Robert Kaiser, who she now has two children with, Lillian Grace and Robert Jake.

Michael Gross will forever be known as Steven, the one-time hippie, television station boss and man of the Keaton house. But Family Ties is far from the only hit show the actor has displayed his talents on. Gross has enjoyed recurring roles on ER, The Drew Carey Show and The Young and the Restless, too. He also reunited with his on-screen son Michael J. Fox in Spin City.

Gross has become a regular of the Tremors franchise as well, appearing in the 1990 original, its multiple sequels and its small-screen spin-off as Burt Gummer. Grace and Frankie, A.P. Bio and The Affair are just a few of the other shows the prolific actor has recently popped up in. Gross remains married to the woman he walked down the aisle with in 1984, Elza Bergeron.

Meredith Baxter portrayed one of the best-loved sitcom moms of the 1980s, Elyse Keaton. The actress became a TV movie regular following Family Ties’ cancelation before returning to comedy in 1996’s short-lived The Faculty. She’s since lent her voice to Family Guy, appeared in procedural Cold Case and enjoyed a recurring role on soap opera The Young and the Restless.

But Baxter has become just as renowned for her private life as her talent. In 2009 the actress with three former husbands to her name announced she was gay. Just two years later she divulged much more about her life story in autobiography Untied: A Memoir of Family, Fame and Floundering. And then in 2013 Baxter walked down the aisle again, this time to Nancy Locke.

Justine Bateman picked up two Emmy nods for her turn as the Keaton’s fashion-conscious eldest daughter Mallory. The sister of Ozark star Jason Bateman went on to make the leap to the big screen in the likes of The Closer and Deadbolt. And she later enjoyed guest spots on hit shows Californication, Psych and Desperate Housewives.

Bateman appears to have been much quieter as of late. But there’s a perfectly valid reason for that. The actress has been busy studying Digital Media Management and Computer Science at UCLA. As for her private life, Bateman walked down the aisle in 2001 with Mark Fluent, the father of her two kids.

Michael J. Fox very nearly lost out on his star-making role to Matthew Broderick. But he never looked back after eventually being cast as the Keatons’ Ronald Reagan-loving eldest son Alex. During his seven-year run on the show, Fox also became a star of the big screen thanks to his iconic turn as Marty McFly in the Back to the Future franchise.

Fox also scored box office success with Teen Wolf, The Secret of My Success and The Frighteners. And in 1996 he fronted his very own long-running sitcom, Spin City. Sadly, just two years into its run, Fox revealed he had Parkinson’s Disease. Since then, the actor has launched an eponymous foundation to help fund research efforts on the condition. But he’s still managed to maintain an acting career, most recently popping up in Designated Survivor and The Good Fight.