This week marks two decades since Nancy, Bonnie, Sarah and Rochelle called the corners and slunk into our lives, strutting off The Craft’s movie poster and making witchcraft cool and sexy for teens everywhere. Chances are that if you were a teen, a tween, or an adult with even a passing interest in witchcraft you saw this movie in the theater, took out every book on Wicca in the public library, and then became disillusioned with the fact that you — unlike Nancy and Sarah — couldn’t control the weather with just an angry flicker of your eyes. But where are the stars of the film now and what are they doing with their post “I played a teen in this movie even though I was like 30” lives? We dug deep into our book of shadows (read: Google) to find the answers.
Fairuza Balk
Chewing every bit of scenery within a three-mile radius, Balk played Nancy Downs, the archetypical “bad witch” who ran her high-school coven with an iron fist and a collection of Delia’s “tattoo chokers.” Ending the movie in relative insanity — the film closed with her strapped down in a hospital room — Balk continued her reign as the queen of goth with roles in The Island of Dr. Moreau, American History X, and The Waterboy before moving onto a more dramatic role in Personal Velocity (the book was, unfortunately, better). Between 1995 and 2001, Balk owned Panpipes, an occult store in Hollywood. After 2002, Balk (who also famously played Dorothy in the horrifying Return to Oz) retreated from the limelight, playing small roles in indie films and doing voice-over work for video games, including the voice of Mercedez Cortez in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
In 2010, Balk released a single entitled “Stormwinds” under the name Armed Love Militia. In 2013, rumors spread that Balk had died, prompting her to reach out to fans on Facebook to let them know that she was still very much alive. The same appears to have happened earlier this month, as false rumors of her death circulated on May 2. The actress, however, is still alive. Most recently, Balk narrated Beyond Clueless, a 2014 film about “modern coming-of-age classics.”
You can find Balk on Twitter, where her bio bills her as “actor, artist, dancer, musician, Fairuza.” Fans can also purchase candles and assorted Balk memorabilia on the actress’s website.
Robin Tunney
As Sarah Bailey, the group’s only “natural” witch, Robin Tunney tried to save her high school from her new friends and eventual enemies. After binding Nancy from doing harm and scaring Bonnie and Rochelle into leaving her alone by breaking a tree on top of them as a show of real ultimate power, Tunney — who’d also played a depressed Sinead O’Connor type in 1995’s Empire Records — sort of vanished until 2002, when she reemerged as the lead character in Cherish, a fairly well-received comedy thriller (starring Jason Priestley and Liz Phair) about a young woman who’s stalked while on house arrest. In 2004, she appeared in the pilot episode of House before moving on to the role of Veronica Donovan in Prison Break in 2005. In 2008, she began her run as Teresa Lisbon on The Mentalist, a starring role she played for 151 episodes until the series ended in 2015.
Between February and May of 2016, Tunney appeared in the family dramedy, Smokefall: A Look Inside at the MCC theater in New York, alongside Zachary Quinto.
Neve Campbell
By far the biggest star at the time of filming, Neve Campbell had already made her mark on television audiences as Julia Salinger in Party of Five, a role she played from 1994 to 2000. The role of Bonnie was a departure for Campbell, who went from playing a “highly intelligent and sensitive character” to a troubled teen with badly scarred skin and a reputation for promiscuity.
After The Craft, in which she was dwarfed by both Balk and Tunney, Campbell went on to play Sidney Prescott in the Scream series, appearing in all four films between 1996 and 2011. During that time Campbell also starred in the romantic comedy Three To Tango and appeared in When Will I Be Loved, a critically panned improvised film which famously featured a five-minute segment where the actress got a bit familiar with a shower nozzle. This wasn’t Campbell’s first foray into playing a more “adult” role, though. In 1998, Campbell appeared in Wild Things with Matt Dillon, Kevin Bacon and Denise Richards. It will always be remembered as one of those films that our parents never let us watch.
Most recently, Campbell returned to television with appearances on The Simpsons, Mad Men, Manhattan, and a recurring role on House of Cards, on which she played LeeAnn Harvey (Claire Underwood’s campaign manager) in season four of the show. In January, Campbell was honored by ACTRA, who awarded her with the National Award of Excellence for her “career achievements and contribution to her fellow performers and Canada’s entertainment industry.”
Campbell gave birth to a son, Caspian Feild, in 2012.
Rachel True
The fourth and final witch in the coven, Rachel True played Rochelle, a young woman dealing not only with the pressures of being a teen and a witch, but one of the few (possibly only) black women at St. Benedict’s, the preppy high school the characters attended. While her role was fairly tiny — Rochelle felt more like a plot device than a full-fledged character — True’s stoic performance was nuanced and memorable in a film that lacked subtlety or a script strong enough to deal with issues of racism on high-school campuses.
After The Craft, True went on to appear in Half-Baked and starred in Half & Half from 2002-2006 (a good show that’s been all but forgotten these days). In 2014, True appeared in Sharknado 2. These days, she’s still acting but she’s focusing more on social activism and healthy living (never forget that she once had an amazing blog). True sells both autographed copies of her shooting script for The Craft, and offers personalized tarot readings by email and Skype.
She also wrote one of the truest tweet of 2015:
You cannot convince me that a possum isn't just a racoon with a heavy meth habit.
— Rachel True (@RachelTrue) February 22, 2015
Fair.
Skeet Ulrich
Ulrich was supposed to become a big star (if only because so many people found him creepily handsome) but after being murdered by Nancy in The Craft and by Sidney in Scream (in which he co-starred with Neve Campbell), nothing seemed to go right for the guy. In 1997, he starred as a miracle worker named Juvenal in Touch with Christopher Walken and Bridget Fonda before appearing as a bank robber in The Newton Boys alongside Matthew McConaughey and Ethan Hawke in 1998. From 2006 to 2008, Ulrich starred in the cult-favorite post-apocalyptic drama, Jericho, and was set for his actor retirement plan in 2010 with a role in Law and Order: LA, a show seemingly destined for a dozen-year run and infinite syndication re-airings. Unfortunately, Ulrich was written off the show in an effort to give Terrence Howard and Alfred Molina more screen time. The show shuttered shortly thereafter, though. The lesson? Don’t screw Skeet. Since 2011 Ulrich has bounced around between a few different projects, most notably guest-starring in two episodes of Unforgettable in 2015 and 2016. He’s also really proud of his son, who can do some pretty cool stuff on a skateboard.
Christine Taylor
How many of us screamed “MELODY!!!” when we first saw Christine Taylor show up as Laura Lizzie, the archetypical mean girl at St. Benedict’s? We didn’t have IMDb back then, but it really was her. The star of Hey Dude and The Brady Bunch Movie really was on screen saying some of the meanest things we could have ever heard to Rochelle, just because she was black.
Taylor’s cameo in the film was strange (and out of character for someone who usually played characters that are kind and vivacious), but it didn’t trip up her career. While she’s not a huge name in Hollywood, Taylor is one of those people we’re always delighted to see show up unexpectedly on our screens. In 1996 (just after The Craft) Taylor landed the lead role in a TV version of Party Girl (yes, based on the movie), which was canceled after only four episodes. She appeared on three episodes of Friends, had a key role in The Wedding Singer, and met future husband Ben Stiller (with whom she shares two kids) on the set of Heat Vision and Jack, which Stiller directed. The 1999 short (click a link to see the whole thing) was originally meant as pilot, but didn’t get picked up for a series. Taylor and Stiller, though, have been together ever since.
Taylor went on to co-star in both Zoolander films, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, and appeared as Sally Sitwell on Arrested Development. She’s also been featured on Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Most recently, Taylor was seen at the 2016 MET Gala and is likely the only cast member of The Craft to have received an invitation (although Neve Campbell was at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, for some reason). According to a recent interview, she still can’t do Blue Steel.
Oh, and she’s a vegan. Just thought you might like to know.
Connie Francis
Appearing only on the jukebox that Nancy’s mom buys with the insurance money she inherits after Nancy kills her stepfather with her magical powers — “Since I was a little girl,” Mrs. Downs says,”all I’ve wanted in life is a jukebox that played nothing but Connie Francis records,” — Francis is still singing. An autobiography entitled Among My Souvenirs is expected soon.
