According to legend, Jennifer Beals was so broke before she landed the starring role in "Flashdance" that she spent the night before her audition sleeping in Central Park. Since then, she's done pretty well for herself, as have some of the others associated with the landmark dance drama (released 30 years ago this week, on April 15, 1983). Some, however, lost that "Flashdance" feeling and seemed to drop out of sight. Here's what became of the makers of "Flashdance" after the leg warmers and collarless sweatshirts were put away.Gallery | 'Flashdance' Where Are They Now?
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Jennifer Beals ("Alex Owens")
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Jennifer Beals ("Alex Owens")
The squatting-in-Central-Park story aside, Beals had grown up middle class in Chicago and was a freshman at Yale when she tried out for the role of Alex Owens. The "Flashdance" lead made the 19-year-old an overnight star, though, her Cinderella glow tarnished when she acknowledged that a dance double named Marine Jahan had performed Alex's celebrated moves.. Despite lead roles in such films as "The Bride" and "In the Soup" (directed by her then-husband, Alexandre Rockwell), she soon settled for character-actress status. She found the most vivid role of her career on cable TV, as Bette Porter, leader of a clique of glamorous Los Angeles lesbians, on Showtime's "The L Word" (2004-09). Now 49, she enjoyed her last major role as the lead on Fox's 2011 police drama series "The Chicago Code." -
Michael Nouri ("Nick Hurley")
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Michael Nouri ("Nick Hurley")
Born to an Iraqi father and an American mother, Nouri was a reliable, dashing character actor for years before landing one of his few lead roles in "Flashdance." He was 37 when he played Nick, boss/benefactor/lover of Alex, the steelworker/dancer played by 19-year-old Jennifer Beals. It remains his best-remembered role, though he's done memorable work in recent years on Broadway (as the male lead opposite Julie Andrews in "Victor/Victoria"), TV (in recurring roles on "The O.C.," "NCIS," "All My Children," and "Damages") and in movies ("Last Holiday," "The Proposal"). The 67-year-old was most recently seen in a guest spot on the ABC drama "Body of Proof." -
Lee Ving ("Johnny C.")
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Lee Ving ("Johnny C.")
Born Lee James Jude Capallero, Ving has spent decades as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of notorious Los Angeles punk band Fear. He was 32 when he landed his first major acting role as Johnny C., the sleazy strip-clup impresario in "Flashdance." Over the years he's appeared in many movies, both as a musician (in Penelope Spheeris's punk documentary "The Decline of Western Civilization") and as an actor. He played murder victim Mr. Boddy in "Clue" and lead role Missoula in Spheeris's "Dudes." Now 63, he was seen most recently as himself, performing among the ensemble in Dave Grohl's 2013 music documentary "Sound City." -
Sunny Johnson ("Jeanie Szabo")
Johnson, who was 29 when she played Alex's figure-skating pal in "Flashdance," had a tragically short life and career. Her role opposite Tim Matheson in "Animal House" ended up on the cutting-room floor, but she soon landed roles in such films as "Where the Buffalo Roam" and "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia." After "Flashdance," she became a series regular on "Bay City Blues." Just 14 months after the release of "Flashdance," she suffered a stroke at her Los Angeles home and died. She was only 30. -
Cynthia Rhodes ("Tina Tech")
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Cynthia Rhodes ("Tina Tech")
Born in Nashville, Rhodes had danced at Opryland before moving into movie musicals with a minor role in 1980's "Xanadu." At 26, she landed the role of dancer Tina Tech in "Flashdance." That led to even her first lead role, a Broadway dancer and love interest to John Travolta in the "Saturday Night Fever" sequel "Staying Alive." Her most memorable role was resort hotel dance instructor Penny Johnson in 1987's "Dirty Dancing," the character whose botched illegal abortion sets the plot in motion. Rhodes married pop star Richard Marx in 1989 and retired from show business to raise their three children. Today, the 56-year-old lives with Marx in the Chicago suburbs. "I thought, 'This won't last, she's definitely going to want to come back to work and do films,'" Marx told the Chicago Sun-Times in 2012, regarding Rhodes's retirement. "But she found a fulfillment in being a mom that completely dominated any feelings she ever had making a movie." -
Lilia Skala ("Hanna Long")
Vienna-born Skala had been a celebrated stage actress in Austria, but when she fled to America to escape the Holocaust, it took decades for the German-speaking actress to re-establish her career. She finally did so, peaking in 1963 with her Oscar-nominated role as the nun who hires handyman Sidney Poitier in "Lilies of the Field." After that, she remained in demand as a character actress for the rest of her long life; she was 87 when she played Hanna, Alex's ballet-world mentor, in "Flashdance." Afterwards, she appeared in such acclaimed movies as "Testament" and "House of Games." She died in 1994, at age 98. -
Joe Eszterhas (Co-Screenwriter)
Before "Flashdance," reporter-turned-screenwriter Eszterhas was known for his one produced screenplay, for the 1978 blue-collar drama "F.I.S.T" that starred Sylvester Stallone. With his polish of Tom Hedley's "Flashdance" script, the 38-year-old started writing pulpy stories about strong and sexy women in tough situations, including such movies as "Jagged Edge," "Betrayed," and "Music Box." Eventually, his scripts went beyond pulp into full-scale exploitation, making him Hollywood's highest-paid screenwriter. He wrote Sharon Stone's steamy thrillers "Basic Instinct" and "Sliver." He went too far, in the minds of most critics and Hollywood executives, with 1995's extravagant, campy flop "Showgirls" – essentially, "Flashdance" with nudity. His career has never bounced back, though he recently tried to write a screenplay about Hanukkah heroes the Maccabees for Mel Gibson to direct. That partnership didn't work out (duh!), though it did yield a book titled "Heaven and Mel." In his own Hollywood rollercoaster career, the 68-year-old screenwriter may have found his wildest tale to date. -
Adrian Lyne (Director)
Like Joe Eszterhas, Adrian Lyne specializes in films centering on feisty women facing adversity, seemingly feminist stories that often turn exploitative.. After the success of the 42-year-old's second movie, "Flashdance," the Britsh-born director followed up with "9 ½ Weeks," the tale of a sadomasochistic romance between Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke, in which Lyne applied to its sex scenes the MTV-style montage techniques he'd perfected in the musical numbers in "Flashdance." He continued to push buttons with sex-and-ethical-dilmmas movies like "Fatal Attraction" and "Indecent Proposal." Lyne's career foundered when he made a faithful adaptation of "Lolita" – no distributor or theater chain wanted to touch a movie about a sympathetic pedophile – but he rebounded with "Unfaithful," featuring an Oscar-nominated performance by Diane Lane as a cheating wife. That was Lyne's last film to date, though the 72-year-old has had his name attached to a couple of thrillers currently in development: a John Grisham legal thriller called "The Associate" and a crime drama called "Back Roads" that may star Kristen Stewart. -
Jerry Bruckheimer (Producer)
"Flashdance" made Bruckheimer, then 37, and his partner, Don Simpson, successful producers with a recognizable house style. Their movies were mostly action films (the "Beverly Hills Cop" series, "Top Gun," "Days of Thunder") defined by slick surfaces, expensive hardware, MTV-style editing, and cardboard-thin characters and plots. Simpson died in 1996, but Bruckheimer continued along the same path, often in collaboration with director Michael Bay ("Armageddon," "Pearl Harbor"). Since 2000, Bruckheimer has branched out into more imaginative works on TV (the "CSI" franchise, "The Amazing Race" ) and in movies (the "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "National Treasure" franchises). This summer sees the 67-year-old's version of "The Lone Ranger," starring Armie Hammer as the masked hero and "Pirates" star Johnny Depp as Tonto.