Starring 'Brat Pack' actors Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson and more, the iconic film redefined teen cinema following its 1985 release

NEED TO KNOW

• The Breakfast Club was theatrically released on Feb. 15, 1985
• The ensemble cast of the cult classic is led by Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson
• Directed by the late John Hughes, The Breakfast Club was one of four of the filmmaker’s coming-of-age movies that defined the ’80s “Brat Pack” era

It's been 41 years since The Breakfast Club introduced audiences to five students whose perceptions are changed after they're forced to spend a Saturday in detention.

Released on Feb. 15, 1985, the second film directed by the late John Hughes revolutionized the coming-of-age genre with its accurate portrayal of teenage angst and high school stereotypes. Though the Shermer High students are initially divided by different social cliques and labels, they eventually bond over their shared interests and struggles as the day unfolds.

Rounding out the ensemble cast are Emilio Estevez as the jock, Molly Ringwald as the beauty, Anthony Michael Hall as the nerd, Ally Sheedy as the recluse and Judd Nelson as the rebel. The actors would later become known as part of the "Brat Pack," a nickname for the young stars who frequently appeared in teen-centered films together throughout the 1980s.

According to The Numbers, The Breakfast Club cost just $1 million to make but grossed more than $50 million worldwide. It has remained one of the most classic movies of all time, often referenced and satirized by other flicks and TV shows. Additionally, Simple Minds' track "Don't You (Forget About Me)" featured in the final scene has its own lasting legacy. (The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.)

All five of the film's leading actors reunited for the first time in 40 years at a C2E2 Panel in Chicago in April 2025, with Ringwald sharing that she felt "very emotional and moved to have us all together."

Ahead, catch up with the cast of The Breakfast Club and find out where they are now.

01 of 07

Emilio Estevez as Andrew Clark

Estevez played the "athlete" Andrew Clark, who landed in Saturday detention for taping a student's butt cheeks together, hoping to win over both his teammates and his domineering father. Ultimately, he and Sheedy's Allison spark a romantic connection on-screen.

Estevez, the son of Martin Sheen and brother of Charlie Sheen, also starred in St. Elmo's Fire in 1985. The phrase "Brat Pack" was first used in a New York magazine profile story intended for the actor.

He went on to star in the The Mighty Ducks movie franchise and in the 2021 Disney+ series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. He also stepped behind the camera as director, helming Wisdom (1986), Men at Work (1990), Bobby (2006) and The Public (2018). He also appeared in the 2024 Brat Pack documentary Brats. Per AP News, Estevez is set to reprise his role as Billy the Kid and direct Young Guns 3. (He first played the part in 1988's Young Guns.)

As for his work on the small screen, Estevez played a younger version of his dad on The West Wing and directed episodes of Cold Case, CSI: NY and Numb3rs. He also appeared on his brother's CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men.

Estevez shares two children, Taylor Levi Estevez and Paloma Estevez, with former girlfriend Carey Salley. He was previously married to Paula Abdul from 1992 to 1994.

02 of 07

Anthony Michael Hall as Brian Johnson

Hall played Brian Johnson, the quintessential "brain" of the group. Brian ended up in detention when, under pressure after he failed shop class, he brought a flare gun to school.

"John [Hughes] just called up and said, 'I want you to come in.' He didn't have a script. He didn't give me a script," Hall said at C2E2 2025.

The actor added that Hughes was asking him questions, such as, "What do you think about this? What do you think about that?"

A former child star, Hall was just 17 when the film was released. He told PEOPLE that even though he was typecast as a nerd (in both The Breakfast Club and 1984's Sixteen Candles), he didn't really excel in school.

In 1992, Hall opened up to PEOPLE about his problems with alcohol, explaining that he first started drinking at age 13. He appeared on one season of Saturday Night Live in 1985 and turned down roles in Hughes' 1986 films Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Pretty in Pink because he didn't want to be typecast.

Hall went on to star in Edward Scissorhands (1990), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), The Dark Knight (2008), Foxcatcher (2014), War Machine (2017), Halloween Kills (2021) and Air Force One Down (2024), and he has appeared on shows like Riverdale, Reacher and Wednesday.

In 2024, Hall told PEOPLE that he reunited with his castmates Ringwald, Nelson and Sheedy at Comic-Con and went out for dinner for his birthday afterwards, saying, "It turned out to be really fun."

The actor continued, "It was actually really great, but it was cool to see Molly, and we're sharing pictures of our kids," before adding, "Judd is still John Bender. He's an original. He really is. I love that."

"He's [Nelson] got so many varied interests," Hall said. "He's really a brilliant guy. I mean, he's actually really super, super smart."

The foursome reunited again in February 2025 to celebrate the film's 40th anniversary at MegaCon in Florida and later with Estevez for the first time in 40 years in Chicago in April 2025.

Though the actors shut down the possibility of a sequel at MegaCon, Hall said, "It was something that was conjured and thought about."

In 2023, Hall welcomed his first child, son Michael Anthony, with wife Lucia Oskerova, whom he married in 2020.

03 of 07

Molly Ringwald as Claire Standish

Ringwald played "the princess" Claire, who got caught skipping school.

"[She's] the girl you grew up hating," Ringwald told PEOPLE in 1984. "A prima donna. She's like the total prom queen."

In April 2025, Ringwald revealed that The Breakfast Club was supposed to be filmed before Hughes' Sixteen Candles, starring Ringwald.

However, the studio wanted to do Sixteen Candles first.

"So they put The Breakfast Club on hold and then, from my understanding, John Cusack was gonna play Bender and Joan Cusack was going to play Allison. I don't know who was gonna play the other parts," Ringwald said. "And then after Sixteen Candles, [director Hughes] gave me the script."

Following The Breakfast Club, the actress continued to lead the casts of teen films, including Pretty in Pink, before filming the 1988 movies For Keeps? and Fresh Horses.

"People have so many positive associations with those films, so usually when they see me, they're pretty happy," she told PEOPLE in 2020. "I love all my projects, but they'll always have a place in my heart."

However, Ringwald insisted she didn't want to dwell on the past.

"I mean, I'm always going to have that history and those films, but I also very much live in the present. I like to keep moving forward," she said, adding that she often turned down projects that dealt with the '80s.

As a result of her iconic teen stardom, Ringwald originally struggled to transition into more adult roles. In the 1990s, she spent time in France, appearing in French films before transitioning to TV. She had a recurring role in the 1994 four-part miniseries The Stand and on the 1996 ABC sitcom Townies.

In 2008, Ringwald starred on The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Beginning in 2017, she played Betty's mom on Riverdale.

She also appeared on series such as Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Single Drunk Female (also starring Sheedy) and Feud: Capote vs. The Swans. She reprised her role as Sara Flynn in The Kissing Booth film trilogy and appeared in 2026's 'Run Amok.'

Ringwald wed Panio Gianopoulos in 2007. They share three children: daughter Mathilda, born in 2003, and twins Adele and Roman, born in 2009.

04 of 07

Judd Nelson as John Bender

Nelson portrayed John Bender, the "criminal" burnout kid who ended up in detention after he set off the fire alarm. He and Ringwald's Claire connect at the end of the film.

After The Breakfast Club, Nelson appeared in St. Elmo's Fire with former castmates Estevez and Sheedy and was a regular across three seasons of  Suddenly Susan in the late '90s. He also lent his voice to the character Rodimus Prime in 1986's The Transformers: The Movie and several animated Transformers series throughout the years.

The actor's other film credits include From the Hip (1987), New Jack City (1991), Conflict of Interest (1993), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Billionaire Boys Club (2018), Girl in the Basement (2021) and The Most Dangerous Game (2022). He also starred in 2024's South of Hope Street and 2025's The Final Run.

Nelson was previously engaged to the late Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed actress Shannen Doherty in 1994, but they never married.

05 of 07

Ally Sheedy as Allison Reynolds

Sheedy starred as Allison Reynolds, the "basket case." She wasn't actually sentenced to detention but ended up connecting with Andrew (and undergoing a somewhat controversial makeover) during the film.

She also appeared in the Brat Pack movies Oxford Blues (1984), St. Elmo's Fire and Blue City (1986).

In Andrew McCarthy's 2024 Hulu documentary Brats, Sheedy said she thought the "Brat Pack" label hurt her career.

"I felt a weird vibe in the room if I went in to audition [after the article], like the circle had turned around, and we all had to pay the price … There was a glee, a schadenfreude, to writing us off," she said.

Still, she told PEOPLE in 2022, "I'm always happy to talk about The Breakfast Club. I still really love it!"

Post-Brat Pack era, Sheedy appeared in 1993's Man's Best Friend and 1998's High Art.

"That movie [High Art] has really changed my whole life," she told PEOPLE in 1999.

Before the movie, she said, "There was a preconception about what I could or couldn't do. I feel like I'm just beginning to come into my own as an actress."

Her later films included A Good Night to Die (2003), Perestroika (2009) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). She appeared on episodes of Kyle XY, Full Circle and Psych before her guest-starring role on the Freeform comedy series Single Drunk Female from 2022 to 2023.

In 2021, Sheedy became a professor in the theater department at the City College of New York.

Sheedy went to rehab in the late '80s after she became addicted to sleeping pills. In 1992, she married David Lansbury, the nephew of the late actress Angela Lansbury. They divorced in 2008 and share one child, son Beckett.

06 of 07

Paul Gleason as Richard Vernon

Paul Gleason played vice principal Richard Vernon, who oversees Saturday detention.

Before the movie, Gleason appeared mostly on TV on Adam-12, All My Children, One Life to Live and Hill Street Blues. Following The Breakfast Club, his other notable small-screen credits include Dallas, The A-Team, Miami Vice and Falcon Crest, amongst many others.

In 1988, he appeared in Die Hard.

"You don't turn down work, man. You work cheap, you work a lot. That's my motto," Gleason said in an interview on the set of The Breakfast Club. He praised his cast members, calling them all "very talented" and "better than adults." He said that acting is "a very childlike thing," and that working with them awakened his own "dormant impulses." Gleason also praised director Hughes for letting them "collaborate."

The actor continued to make frequent TV appearances into the 1990s and 2000s on Friends, Seinfeld, Boy Meets World and Malcolm in the Middle.

He was married to actress Candy Moore from 1971 to 1978, and they had one child together, daughter Shannon. In 1995, he married Susan Kehl, with whom he shared daughter Kaitlin.

Gleason died from mesothelioma in 2006. He was 67.

07 of 07

John Kapelos as Carl Reed

John Kapelos played Carl Reed, the high school's friendly janitor. Kapelos also had a minor role in Hughes' 1985 films Sixteen Candles and Weird Science.

Kapelos started his acting career in comedy at Chicago's Second City, and he had just decided he wanted to get into films when Hughes came to the Windy City to film Sixteen Candles.

"As luck would have it, John Hughes wanted to meet a lot of local actors," Kapelos told Rediscover the '80s in June 2019.

He also said that in The Breakfast Club, Hughes let him improvise a lot, but ultimately cut many of those lines.

Kapelos' other films include Roxanne (1987), The Craft (1996), The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), Legally Blonde (2001), The Shape of Water (2017) and The Unicorn (2018). He appeared on Seinfeld, ER, The X-Files, Frasier, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, Suits and The Umbrella Academy.

The Canadian actor was a series regular on Days of Our Lives throughout 2023 and 2024. Kapelos also had a one-episode appearance on season 3 of Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer in 2024.

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