Media: What Ever Happened To . . . ?

After watching the VH1 show, Where Are They Now?,I got to wondering: where are the actors and actresses who played myfavorite book characters in the adapted movies? So I headed over to oneof my favorite websites (IMDB) — next in line to THESTACKS, of course — and I started looking up some of myfavorite movies from growing up. Not only was it interesting to findout what these child actors are now up to, but I was also fascinated by which of these actors are currently making it big Hollywood.

In 1991, the film White Fang (based on the JackLondon classic written in 1906) featured the young and upcoming actor, Ethan Hawke. Though Hawke had made his debut in Dead Poet's Society a few years earlier (1989), it was his role as Jack Conroy in White Fang that really kicked off his career — and allowed him to go on to be nominated for an Oscar in 2002 (for Training Day).

The Secret Garden (another well-known classic, by FrancesHodgson Burnett) hit the big screens in 1993. Kate Maberly played MaryLennox, a spoiled yet curious girl who finds the key to a secretgarden. So what happened to this talented British actress? The mostrecent movie she's been in that I've heard of is Finding Neverland (2004). According to IMDB, Kate Maberly is now involved in music and recording her own songs in England.

The 1994 film adaptation of the book Little Women (originallywritten by Louisa May Alcott in the mid-19th century) introduced thesoon to be well-known Claire Danes. Her stand-out performance as BethMarch earned her starring roles in Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Stardust (2007).

"Like, whatever!" "As if!" This probably isn't how Jane Austen thought the heroine from her 1815 novel Emma would ever speak. However, Amy Heckerling transformed Emma Woodhouse in the 1995 film Clueless andgave her exactly those lines to say. As the perfect actress toplay Cher Herowitz, it may have been thought that Alicia Silverstonewouldn't be able to redeem herself from that Beverly Hills lingo.Despite what the critics said, Silverstone went on to star as Batgirlin 1997's Batman & Robin, as the voice of Sharon Spitz in Braceface, and on many other TV shows to follow. She is also an avid PETA advocate.

What do you get when you mix magic and mayhem together? You get the 1988 fun-loving children's book Matildaby Roald Dahl. A little less than 10 years later, the book was madeinto a movie, starring Mara Wilson as the cute and enjoyable MatildaWormwood. After the film, Mara Wilson appeared off and on in TV shows,but according to IMDB, she took the academic route by heading tocollege at NYU in 2005.

Is there an actor or actress you've wondered about? Leave me acomment, and I'll try to include him/her in my next "What Ever HappenTo . . . ?" entry.

— Carly M., STACKS Staffer