'Mean Girls’ turns 20: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams then and now
The cast of "Mean Girls" are still so fetch.
When the movie came out in 2004, it became an instant cult classic. Decades later, the movie continues to find new audiences and is a touchstone for what life was like in the early 2000s.
The film was so popular, it inspired a Broadway musical, which has now been adapted into a movie. The new interpretation of the classic movie, which came out on Friday, features 13 songs, a whole new cast, including Renee Rapp, Angourie Rice and Jon Hamm, and the return of cast members Tina Fey and Tim Meadows.
In honor of the musical adaptation hitting theaters this week, here is what the original movie's cast has been up to in the past two decades.
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Lindsay Lohan was already a bonafide star, having starred in "The Parent Trap," "Life-Size" and "Freaky Friday," before she portrayed Cady Heron, the out-of-place new girl at school, in "Mean Girls."
She continued to act steadily in the next few years, appearing in "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen," "Herbie: Fully Loaded," "Just My Luck," "Georgia Rule" and "Bobby," which earned her a SAG Award nomination. It was around this time that she earned a reputation for being difficult to work with on set.
In May 2007, she was arrested for the first time for a DUI, possession of cocaine and for a hit-and-run, getting arrested for a second time two months later for the same charges. She was then sentenced to 36 months of probation, an 18 month-long alcohol education program, 10 days of community service, court-ordered rehab and one day in jail.
Over the next few years, she was in and out of court after continuously failing to comply with the conditions of her probation, and for additional felony grand theft charges. Her legal troubles came to an end in 2015, when probation stemming from her 2007 car accident concluded after she completed community service.
Amid her legal struggles, Lohan launched her own fashion line, 6126, released a reality show, titled "Lindsay," and made her stage debut in a West End revival of David Mamet’s "Speed-the-Plow." She also acted on screen sporadically, appearing in "Ugly Betty," "Labor Pains" and "Glee."
She made her big return to acting in "Liz & Dick" and "The Canyons," but neither were big hits. In 2019, she participated in a reality show called "Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club," which followed her running her own club in Greece, but it was canceled after one season. Most recently, she starred in the Hallmark movie, "Falling for Christmas."
Lohan married Bader Shammas in April 2022. They welcomed their first child, a son, in July 2023, in Dubai, where she has lived since 2014.
Rachel McAdams was a relatively new actress when she landed the role of resident mean girl, Regina George, in "Mean Girls." Her portrayal of Regina, and her next role in "The Notebook," cemented her status in Hollywood.
She continued to dominate Hollywood over the next few years, starring in "Wedding Crashers," "Red Eye" and "The Family Stone," before taking a short break. After a four-year break, she came back with "State of Play," "The Time Traveler's Wife," "Sherlock Holmes" and its sequel, "Midnight In Paris" and "The Vow."
"I didn't make a conscious decision to leave necessarily, but I did kind of make a decision to pause," she told "CBS Sunday Morning" in May 2023. "I didn't think I was dealing so well with my life changing so quickly, and being so much in the public eye. I was struggling with that a little bit, with the exposure. It did allow me to find myself, center myself, and know I could live without it if I had to."
The actress went on to star in "About Time," "Aloha," "Spotlight," which earned her an Academy Award nomination and SAG Award win, "True Detective," "Doctor Strange," and its sequel, "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga" and most recently, "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret."
McAdams has a son and daughter with her partner Jamie Linden, who she has been dating since 2016.
Before landing her breakout role as Karen Smith in "Mean Girls," Amanda Seyfried got her start on soap operas "As the World Turns" and "All My Children." After her breakthrough, Seyfried had a recurring role in "Veronica Mars" and a starring role in "Big Love," from 2006 to 2011.
In that time, she cemented her status in Hollywood through the movies "Mamma Mia," "Jennifer's Body," "Dear John," "Letters to Juliet" and "Red Riding Hood." She then showed off her singing voice in the 2012 Oscar nominated film adaptation of "Les Miserables," later starring in "A Million Ways to Die in the West," "Ted 2," "Pan" and "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again."
Next, she starred in "The Art of Racing in the Rain" and "Mank," which earned her an Academy Award nomination, later starring in "A Mouthful of Air" and "The Dropout," which earned her an Emmy Award and Golden Globe win. Most recently, she starred in "The Crowded Room" and "Seven Veils."
Seyfried married Thomas Sadoski in 2017, and they have two children, Nina and Thomas.
Lacey Chabert had been acting since she was a child and was known for her role in "Party of Five," before starring as Gretchen Wieners in "Mean Girls."
In addition to acting on screen, Chabert is also a prolific voice actor, voicing characters in "The Wild Thornberrys," "Bratz," "The Spectacular Spider-Man," "Robot Chicken," "Kulipari," "Transformers: Rescue Bots," "Shimmer and Shine," "Young Justice," "Harriet the Spy" and in many video games.
In 2010, Chabert starred in her first Hallmark movie, "Elevator Girl," going on to star in over 30 movies for the network. Her projects with them include, "Matchmaker Santa," "A Royal Christmas," "A Christmas Melody," "Moonlight in Vermont," "My Secret Valentine," "The Wedding Veil" series, the "Crossword Mysteries" series and most recently, "Haul Out the Holly: Lit Up."
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Chabert married David Nehdar in 2013, and their daughter, Julia, was born in 2016.
Tina Fey became a household name when she joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" from 1997 to 2006, becoming the show's first female head writer in 1999. While still writing on "Saturday Night Live," Fey wrote the screenplay for "Mean Girls," and starred in the movie as Ms. Norbury.
Following her departure from the sketch show, Fey created, wrote and starred in the show "30 Rock," a fictionalized retelling of her time as the head writer for "SNL." The show ran for 138 episodes from 2006 to 2013 and earned Fey six Emmys, three Golden Globes and five SAG Awards.
In that time, she also starred in the movies, "Baby Mama," "Ponyo" and "The Invention of Lying." When "30 Rock" ended, she starred in "Muppets Most Wanted," "Sisters," "This Is Where I Leave You," "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," "Wine Country," "Soul," "Only Murders in the Building," "A Haunting in Venice" and "Mean Girls."
In that time, she hosted the Golden Globes three times with Amy Poehler and wrote the shows "The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," in which she made a few appearances, and "Great News." She also wrote the Broadway play based on "Mean Girls," which was released on January 12, and the new movie based on the play.
Fey married Jeff Richmond in 2001, and they share two daughters, Alice and Penelope.
Prior to playing Mrs. George in "Mean Girls," Poehler was on the sketch comedy show "Upright Citizens Brigade," named after the group she co-founded, as well as "Saturday Night Live" for eight seasons, and she starred in "Wet Hot American Summer."
Throughout her career, she has earned 26 Emmy nominations, with one win, three Golden Globe nominations, with one win, and three SAG Award nominations.
While on "SNL," she also starred in "Blades of Glory" and "Baby Mama." She left "SNL" halfway through her eighth season in order to star as Leslie Knope in "Parks and Recreation," which she was also a producer on. While on the show, she voiced characters in "Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil" and "The Might B" while also acting as executive producer for the show "Broad City."
She later voiced a character in "Inside Out" and starred in the miniseries, "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp" and its follow up, "Ten Years Later." She then starred in "Making It," "Sisters," "Wine Country," "Moxie," "Duncanville" and "First Time Female Director."
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Poehler was married to Will Arnett from 2003 to 2015. They have two sons, Archie and Abel.
Lizzy Caplan played Janice Ian in "Mean Girls," before going on to star in "Related," "The Class" and "Cloverfield." She then appeared in "True Blood," "Crossing Over," "The Last Rites of Ransom Pride," "Hot Tub Time Machine" and "127 Hours."
She continued to act steadily in the following years, appearing in "New Girl," "The League" and "Now You See Me 2." From 2013 to 2016, Caplan starred in the Showtime series, "Masters of Sex," which earned her an Emmy nomination.
Caplan has since starred in "The Disaster Artist," "Castle Rock," "The People We Hate at Weddings," "Fleishman Is in Trouble," which earned him an Emmy nomination, "Party Down," "Fatal Attraction" and "Cobweb."
Caplan married Tom Riley in 2017, and they have a son, Alfie.
Jonathan Bennett played everyone's crush, Aaron Samuels in "Mean Girls," going on to appear in "Lovewrecked" and "Cheaper by the Dozen 2." He reunited with his "Mean Girls" co-star Chabert in the Hallmark movie, "Elevator Girl."
He continued to act throughout the rest of the decade, appearing in the TV movies "Holiday High School Reunion" and "The Wrong Woman," "Romantically Speaking," as well as the films, "The Secret Village," "Misogynist" and "Paid in Full."
The actor has starred in eight Hallmark movies, such as "Love at First Glance," "Christmas Made to Order," "The Christmas House," and its sequel, "Wedding of a Lifetime," "The Holiday Sitter" and "Christmas on Cherry Lane." He was also the host of Food Network's "Cake Wars," from 2015 to 2017.
Bennett married Jaymes Vaughan in 2022.
Tim Meadows was already known as one of "Saturday Night Live's" longest running cast members, having been on the show for 10 seasons, from 1991 to 2000, before playing Principal Duvall in "Mean Girls."
After the movie, Meadows made appearances in a number of popular sitcoms, before starring in "Benchwarmers," "Aliens in the Attic," "The Bill Engvall Show," "Grown Ups," "Glory Daze" and "Mean Girls 2." He later starred in "Jack and Jill," "Grown Ups 2," "Marry Me" and "Trainwreck."
He continued making appearances in many shows, before starring as Principal John Glascott in "Schooled" for two seasons, from 2019 to 2020. Meadows played the same character for 46 episodes from 2013 to 2023 in "The Goldbergs." Later, he starred in "Hubie Halloween," 20 episodes of "Bob's Burgers," "No Activity" and most recently, the 2024 musical adaptation of "Mean Girls."
Meadows was married to Michelle Taylor from 1997 to 2005. They have two sons together, Isaiah and Julian.
Daniel Franzese is most well-known for playing Damien in "Mean Girls." He went on to make appearances in "War of the Worlds," "The Comeback," "The Iron Man" and "The Missing Person."
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Later, he provided his voice for 20 episodes of "Electric City," as well as episodes of "Looking," "Recovery Road," "Conviction" and "Glow."
He wrote and performed a one-man off-Broadway show, "I've Never Really Made the Kind of Money to Become a Mess," in 2013 and went on a stand-up tour called "Danny Franzese and The House Of Glen Coco."
Ahead of the release of the musical adaptation, Franzese and other cast members reunited for a Walmart commercial. In the ad, Damian has returned to Northshore High School, as a drama teacher.
"I definitely think that Damien is doing something performance wise," Franzese told E! News at the premeire of the musical. ""I used to always say that—because Tina's best friend, Damien, is the only actual real person that was portrayed in the movie…He works for TV Guide and is a reporter, and I was like, ‘That sounds so right.'"
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Ana Gasteyer was a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" from 1996 to 2002, before playing Cady Heron's mom in "Mean Girls." She then starred in "The Women," "Fully Loaded" and "That's My Boy."
From 2011 to 2014, Gasteyer starred in "Suburgatory," later making appearances in "The Good Wife," "The Mindy Project," "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2," "Younger" and "Dawn of the Croods." She later starred in "People of Earth," "Lady Dynamite" and "A Christmas Story Live!"
She continued making appearances on episodes of TV, before starring in "Wine Country," "Happiest Season," "The Goldbergs" and "A Clüsterfünke Christmas." Most recently she starred in "American Auto" and appeared in "Alice's Wonderland Bakery." She starred in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," "Funny Girl," "The Threepenny Opera," "Wicked" and "The Royal Family," on Broadway.
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Gasteyer married Charlie McKittrick in 1996. They have two children, Frances and Ulysses.