What the Cast of 2004’s Mean Girls Did Next

We all know what happened after 2004’s Mean Girls – Regina became a lacrosse champ, Karen used her psychic boobs to present the morning weather announcements, Gretchen co-opted the Cool Asians, and Cady floated in a newly repaired girl world… while keeping a beady eye on any emerging Young Plastics set to reinstate the old hierarchy. Now there’s a film of the musical of the film.

But to the actors who played them in the original? Oscar nominations, pop careers, Hallmark Christmas movies, prestige streaming dramas, LGBT+ firsts, and much more. 

Lindsay Lohan: Ex-Popstar Now in a Cosy Netflix Movie Niche

If ever a household-name actor were due a late-in-life career renaissance, it’s Lindsay Lohan. The crazy thing is that, due to an extremely early start in the entertainment world aged three, it’s not even that late in her life – there’s still plenty of time for a role to reestablish Lohan’s early-2000s supremacy, when she went from The Parent Trap to Freaky Friday to Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen to playing lead Cady Heron in Mean Girls in the space of five years. 

Lohan headed back to remake land for Herbie Fully Loaded, played opposite Chris Pine (and McFly!) in weirdly watchable Just My Luck, before taking on a couple of serious roles in Bobby and Chapter 27. Georgia Rule and I Know Who Killed Me were low points, followed by a tongue in cheek role in Machete. Several appearances as herself followed, as well as taking the lead role in Paul Schrader’s The Canyons, a much derided erotic thriller, though her performance drew praise. 

Whether she’ll find that renaissance in the cosy Netflix movie niche she’s currently occupying after 2022’s Falling For Christmas and this year’s Irish Wish, or whether there’s a gritty, unpolished HBO role out there with her name on it, watch this space.

Rachel McAdams: The Queen Bee Who Became an Oscar Nominee

The original Queen Bee, McAdams really wasn’t that well known when she took on the role of Regina George. But since Mean Girls she’s gone stellar. She immediately nailed romance in The Notebook opposite Ryan Gosling, took on horror with Wes Craven’s Red Eye, then back to comedy again with Wedding Crashers. Since then McAdams has been everywhere, from Irene Adler in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies, to plentiful romances from About Time to The Vow. 

McAdams’ most interesting roles have arguably been in the last decade, after she starred in the second season of HBO’s True Detective alongside Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn. She was Oscar-nominated for 2015 journalism drama Spotlight, was excellent in 2017 Jewish Orthodox drama Disobedience, was great in Game Night, and memorably sang Jaja Ding Dong with Will Ferrell in the beautifully silly Eurovision Song Contest comedy The Story of Fire Saga.  

Lacey Chabert: Former Child Actor Now Queen of a Hallmark Christmas Empire

After failing to make fetch happen as North Shore High School ‘Plastic’ Gretchen Wieners in Mean Girls, former child actor Lacey Chabert continued her already-successful and established voice acting career on screen before cornering the market in the world of Hallmark Christmas movies. 

Now an actor and producer, Chabert has appeared in over 30 good-hearted festive flicks about broken hearts mended by Christmas cookies and smalltown love. She’s also provided voices for Bratz, The Wild Thornberrys, Transformers: Rescue Bots, Young Justice and too many more to count, including being the original voice of Meg Griffin in Family Guy before she quit the role and was replaced by Mila Kunis. 

Amanda Seyfried: Big Screen ABBA Success to Prestige Streaming 

Actor-singer-producer Amanda Seyfried has not stopped since playing ditzy Karen (she’d originally auditioned for the part of Regina) in Mean Girls, her very first movie role after soap parts in All My Children and As the World Turns. 

You might think, after playing Meryl Streep’s daughter Sophie in musicals Mamma Mia! and its huge-grossing sequel, that she’d be able to sit back, relax and fan herself with all that ABBA money, but no – she’s been busy. Busy in Jennifer’s Body in 2009, in Channing Tatum weepie Dear John in 2010, in starry musical Les Miserables in 2012, playing Linda Lovelace in biopic Lovelace, getting Oscar and Golden Globe noms for her supporting role in David Fincher’s Mank and absolutely nailing fraudulent Theranos director Elizabeth Holmes in dramatization The Dropout. Since appearing in HBO Mormon polygamy drama Big Love and the 2017 Twin Peaks return, she’s also starred opposite Tom Holland in Apple TV+’s The Crowded Room and next up, has the comedy My Ex-Friend’s Wedding.

Lizzy Caplan: From Freak and Geek to Master of Sex

Making her debut in four episodes of Paul Feig and Judd Apatow’s Freak and Geeks, Mean Girls was one of Lizzy Caplan’s first big screen roles. Her first big movie after that was found-footage horror Cloverfield, then Hot Tub Time Machine in 2010. Other big titles include The Interview, Now You See Me 2, and most recently horror movie Cobweb. 

Caplan is a big name in TV too, with her biggest hit being one of the two leads opposite Michael Sheen in Masters of Sex, which got her a Best Actress Emmy nomination. She also played Misery character Annie Wilkes in Stephen King anthology series Castle Rock and more recently she starred in Fleishman Is in Trouble for FX, and took the Glenn Close role in a Fatal Attraction miniseries for Paramount+. She’s currently filming Zero Day with Robert De Niro, Angela Bassett and Jesse Plemons.

Daniel Franzese: From Bully to Activist

Pre-Mean Girls Franzese had played a mean(ish) boy in Larry Clark’s Bully, a tough tale based on a true story. Post Mean Girls Franzese is best known as a standup and AIDS activist though he’s maintained a steady screen presence, popping up in Steven Spielberg’s War of The Worlds, the remake of I Spit On Your Grave, GLOW, comedy drama series Looking and the subsequent TV movie of the show. He also hosts comedy/faith podcast Yass, Jesus!

Jonathan Bennett: The Romantic Lead who’s Dancing With the Stars

Given he played Mean Girls’ hot boy, Jonathan Bennett is surprisingly NOT a household name in the way one might have expected. Next up he starred in romcom Love Wrecked opposite Amanda Bynes, followed by Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and the title role in a direct to video Van Wilder movie. He’s appeared in numerous TV movies, including a Sharknado sequel and a Dukes of Hazzard prequel. On TV he’s made appearances in Veronica Mars, Smallville, Supergirl, Awkward., Station 19 and more. He also hosted shows for the food network and appeared on Dancing With the Stars.

Tina Fey: From Saturday Night Live Stardom to a Comedy Empire

Nobody needs telling what Mean Girls screenwriter and Ms. Norbury actor Tina Fey did next. The Saturday Night Live star created a TV comedy that’s still in contention for greatest of all time in 30 Rock, followed that up with The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and is generally a massive star. 

Fey often appears with her real life good pal Amy Poelher (who played Regina’s mom in the 2004 Mean Girls) in movies including Baby Mama and Sisters as well as co-hosting the Golden Globes. She’s appeared in A Haunting in Venice, Date Night and The Muppets Most Wanted, exec produced TV series Great News, Mr Mayor and Girls5Eva, and has an enormous slate of projects in production. 

Tim Meadows: It’s Full Circle for Principal Duvall

Like Tina Fey, Meadows was a long term Saturday Night Live-er with a solid comedy career before Mean Girls. Outside of that he’s probably best known for his recurring role on The Goldbergs as guidance counselor Mr. Glascott, and as Jake Peralta’s cannibal cell mate in Brooklyn 99. He’s also had roles in Coneheads, The Benchwarmers, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Grown Ups, Trainwreck and most recently, Hubie Halloween and Dream Scenario among others. And of course he’s back for the 2024 Mean Girls adaptation of the stage musical reprising his role as Principal Duvall.

Ana Gasteyer: Funny Woman Who’s in all the Comedies

Another SNL alum, Ana Gasteyer, who plays Cady’s mum, was a TV comedy regular before Mean Girls, appearing in shows including Seinfeld, Frazier, Third Rock from the Sun and Party of Five (with Lacey Chabert!). She’d also appeared in movies including What Women Want, Dick and Meet The Deedles. Recently you might recognise her for Wine Country, directed by and co-starring Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. She’s also a regular in The Goldbergs and Suburgatory and played Larry David’s girlfriend in a season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. 

Neil Flynn: He’s the Janitor From Scrubs.

He’s the janitor from Scrubs. Look, Neil Flynn, who plays Cady’s dad has had a varied and interesting career, but the mysterious janitor who becomes JD’s nemesis is such a great character that it’s hard to see him as anything else. It doesn’t help that Flynn also voices a janitor in Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s animated sci-fi Clone High. In the movie world he’s also been in The Fugitive (there’s a joke about that in Scrubs…), Magnolia, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Home Alone 3 among others. On TV he also starred in ABC sitcom The Middle which ran for nine seasons between 2009 and 2018, and Abby’s in 2019 opposite Natalie Morales.  

And as for Glen Coco…

Actor David Reale is doing nicely, thank you very much. He’s been busy in a host of supporting roles ever since his uncredited Mean Girls appearance, including voice roles in Beyblade, a couple of episode of the US Queer as Folk remake, and a few more episodes of the US Skins remake, bit parts in Schitt’s Creek, Molly’s Game, American Gods and many more, including recently playing Evan in The Boys. You go, Glen Coco!

Mean Girls is out in US cinemas now and on January 19 in the UK.