Whatever Happened To These Famous Commercial Actors?

TV commercials have a way of sticking around, long after they've gone off the air. Slogans like "Can you hear me now?" and "I'm lovin' it," often spoken by recurring characters who drum themselves into the collective consciousness, can stay with a person for many years. This makes them pure marketing gold. When a company finds an advertising gimmick that resonates with a wide audience, they'll use it for as long as it increases business and product awareness.

But who's behind these catchphrases and the characters who so charmingly say them? They're all real actors, whose lives are often changed by their successful spots. Some are up-and-coming performers, while others are hardworking character actors making a living. Occasionally, they can be victims of their own success, forever tied to an ad campaign that leads to typecasting. Others, in contrast, go on to work in all channels of the entertainment industry — or leave it altogether. We're taking a look at those famous commercial actors who can't go anywhere without hearing some version of "Hey, weren't you the guy in ... "

Remember those completely surreal and frenetic Slim Jim commercials that aired in the '90s, often on MTV and during extreme sporting events? In these bizarre segments, a single bite of the spicy meat stick sends a wiry monster banging around stomach walls. Demetri Goritsas played that skinny, frightening, Slim Jim-activated monster. Since those heady days, Goritsas has built a respectable career of character acting, as well as voiceover work: He's narrated more than 100 documentaries about things like earthquakes and volcanoes, and been part of commercials for everything from orange juice to beer. 

Outside of his Slim Jim costume, Goritsas is pretty much unrecognizable as the stomach-borne agent of chaos. Viewers may have spotted him in such popular works as the 2015 movie "Everest" and the social media-skewering "Black Mirror" episode "Nosedive." He also appears as Parker in "Saving Private Ryan" and Levene in "X-Men: First Class." Goritsas has even hit the stage, starring in productions of celebrated plays like "Boy Gets Girl" and "Ear for Eye."

John Moschitta Jr. became a well-known (if minor) celebrity in the '80s because he possesses a singular, impressive talent: He can talk really, really fast. We're talking Guinness World Records-certified fast. Once upon a time, he could get through 586 words a minute. This record has since been beaten, but it remains mind-blowing. Moschitta made the rounds of talk and variety shows at the time to demonstrate his talents; he wowed audiences on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," "The Merv Griffin Show," "The $10,000 Pyramid," and in lots and lots of ads. 

Most famously, Moschitta appeared as a harried executive who needs his documents to arrive about as fast as Moschitta can speak in a FedEx commercial, and as a motormouthed pitchman in a spot for Micro Machines, a line of tiny toy cars. He's pulled back from public life a bit, but in 2010, he voiced a character named Keyper on "Adventure Time." In 2014, "Tonight Show" host and nostalgia merchant Jimmy Fallon had Moschitta on his show (via Uproxx) to speedily summarize that year's Academy Award nominees for Best Picture. In 2016, he appeared as an announcer on "American Dad!" and as a fast-talking justice of the peace on "General Hospital."

Ben Curtis had good news for TV viewers of the early 2000s: They were getting a Dell, dude! In an endless string of commercials for the then-dominant PC manufacturer, young Curtis played a fratty guy sporting spiky blond hair, an ear-to-ear smile, and hemp necklaces who is always extremely happy to extol Dell's virtues to those in the market for a computer. With his half-closed eyes and laid-back mood, he honestly seems a little stoned. Indeed, when it was discovered that Curtis actually did smoke marijuana at a time when the drug was illegal pretty much everywhere in the U.S., it spelled the end of his Dell pitchman days. 

According to CNN, Curtis was arrested on a drug possession charge after a police officer in New York spotted him buying a small amount of marijuana in 2003. He was immediately terminated and couldn't find any acting work for a while. In need of a new job, Curtis bartended and staged an autobiographical theatrical piece about his experiences as the Dell dude. He also co-founded a yoga-centric gym called Soul Fit NY and works as a life coach. His pithy slogan: "Dude, you're getting well."

Hallie Eisenberg parlayed a career as a child actor in commercials into a career in big movies and major TV programs. She first hit screens as the button-cute, curly-haired star of a series of late '90s Pepsi ads with the voices of Aretha Franklin and Joe Pesci amusingly dubbed in. She then moved on to roles as Minnie Driver's daughter in "Beautiful," Little Miss in "Bicentennial Man" opposite Robin Williams, Helen Keller in a TV version of "The Miracle Worker," and the owner of a talking parrot voiced by Jay Mohr in the family movie "Paulie." 

After a few more movies and theatrical performances — including a part in a revival of "The Women" on Broadway – Eisenberg (whose older brother is Academy Award-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg) quit acting altogether in 2010. According to Seventeen, she did this to focus on college. Her last credited role was an appearance at the 2013 Tony Awards.

"Whassup?" was as inescapable in the early 2000s as "Where's the beef?" was in the 1980s. This Budweiser campaign was simple, silly, and endearing: A bunch of guys call each other on the phone just to say "What's up?" The question gets louder and more incoherent with each utterance. According to The New York Times, these ads were based on "True," a short film directed by Charles Stone III. In the film and ads, he also played one of the "Whassup?" guys: He's the first to appear on-screen, surrounded by a bunch of his real-life friends. "True" hit the film festival circuit and was discovered by ad agency DDB, which contracted Stone to remake the film as a beer commercial. It debuted during "Monday Night Football" in December 1999. 

Stone had already directed a lot of classic hip-hop videos, like A Tribe Called Quest's "Bonita Applebum," Public Enemy's "911 is a Joke," and The Roots' "What They Do." But the commercial helped push him into feature filmmaking. Among his directorial credits are the 2002 hit musical "Drumline," the 2004 Bernie Mac sports movie "Mr. 3000," and the 2018 basketball comedy "Uncle Drew" — which was, in an appropriate twist, based on a commercial for Pepsi.

Wendy Kaufman stumbled into her star-making gig as Snapple's spokesperson completely by accident. In 1990, she was working in the company's billing department. According to The New York Times, she took it upon herself to answer letters from customers because nobody else in the office would. An ad executive heard about it, and created a campaign built around Kaufman answering Snapple consumers' questions. Kaufman accurately represents the folksy drink company in these memorable spots, which helped turn Snapple into a major national beverage brand. 

After 17 years with the iced tea and lemonade giant, Kaufman left Snapple in 2008 in the wake of a corporate takeover by Quaker Oats and a failure to negotiate a mutually agreeable contract. In 2005, she appeared on VH1's weight-loss reality show "Celebrity Fit Club," the same year she made a few more ads for Snapple. In 2015, played a small part in the indie comedy "College Debts."

John Hodgman had just landed a gig as a contributor on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" when Apple's "Get a Mac" campaign kicked off. He played PC, the bumbling, ancient-technology foil to Justin Long's Mac, the youthful and cool alternative. This campaign spawned 66 ads (not including its many parodies and ripoffs) and made Hodgman a recognizable face and media personality. He's since gone on to do stand-up, hosted the mock-trial podcast "Judge John Hodgman," and published several books, including the fake trivia volumes "The Areas of My Expertise" and " More Information Than You Require," as well as the memoirs "Vacationland" and "Medallion Status."

Hodgman also works as an actor, and is generally cast as — you guessed it — a stodgy nerd. He's popped up on "The Tick," "Parks and Recreation," "Mozart in the Jungle," and lent his voice to "The Venture Brothers," "Ducktales," and "Dicktown," an FXX detective series he also co-created. Ironically, in real like, Hodgman is a Mac guy, as he revealed to Engadget.

In a series of early 2000s Orbit gum commercials, the chew-worthy product is touted as being able to make one's mouth feel clean under any circumstances. The spots prove this by having an upstanding, white-clad, British woman expose hapless individuals to a series of dirty ordeals. Muddy dogs, road dust, and tennis court dirt cover them from head to toe, but Orbit gum keeps their teeth a pristine white. "Fabulous!" the smiling woman declares.

Vanessa Branch played this cheeky pitch-person from 2002 to 2005, returning to the gum brand in 2010 for some print advertising work. She's a very busy working actor beyond commercials as well. You might remember her as Giselle, a flaxen-haired beauty from the pirate island of Tortuga in the first three blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. Branch has also popped up on episodes of "Entourage," "Lost," "Gilmore Girls," "CSI Miami," and "Bones." In 2013, Branch served as a judge on the VH1 marketing-and-modeling reality show "Model Employee." Her most recent credit is from a 2017 short film called "Silent Kingdom."

To demonstrate that it offers round-the-clock customer service assistance, State Farm ran an ad in the 2010s featuring a suburban man speaking quietly and apparently provocatively to an unseen caller. The man's wife discovers him and assumes he's engaged in a tawdry phone call. She confronts whom she guesses is a mistress on the other end of the line, asking what she's wearing. It's then revealed that her husband has been speaking to a State Farm insurance agent named Jake Stone, who answers, "Uh, khakis?"

These State Farm commercials feature a real State Farm employee by the actual name of Jake Stone, according to Muse by Clio. The clip of the khakis-wearing customer service rep responding to the angry wife was so successful, State Farm decided to base a whole campaign around the character. But they also made one major change: They swapped out the real Jake Stone for one played by an actor named Kevin Miles. Meanwhile, the real Jake Stone retired from acting. According to The Pantagraph, he left his insurance gig and took a job as a seasonal employee for the city of Normal, Illinois while also holding down a bartending position.

In 2013, a German travel pricing aggregator called Trivago launched an English-language ad campaign in which a middle-aged guy walks around a blank set promising low prices on hotels while graphics appear around him. According to Rolling Stone, the Trivago Guy, as he became known, turned into an odd viral phenomenon. Pundits pointed out how unique his wrinkled clothes and pronounced stubble are among pitchmen, and internet commentators debated whether the results were off-putting or attractive.

The man behind this brief phenomenon is Tim Williams. According to ABC13, he's a Houston native. His acting career began in the '90s, but his breakthrough role was definitely that of the Trivago Guy, whom he played in multiple TV spots. Prior to these commercials, he landed guest parts on "My So-Called Life," "The Sopranos," and "Law & Order" before finding work in German productions. His last role to date is Commander Jones in the post-World War II miniseries "Unsere wunderbaren Jahre."

In April 2019, police in Houston charged Williams with drunk driving when he was discovered asleep at the wheel in the middle of traffic. The charges were later dropped, per the New York Daily News.

According to PCMag, T-Mobile debuted a series of ads in 2010 that attempt to put a human face and personality on the invisible product of cell phone service. This campaign centers around the "T-Mobile Girl," a 20-something woman invariably wearing dresses in T-Mobile's signature magenta. Played by Carly Foulkes, she politely extols the benefits of T-Mobile's calling and data plans. The company went on to reboot the campaign, reimagining their pitch-person as a leather-clad, motorcycle-riding action hero.

The ads ended production in 2013, leaving Foulkes free to do other things. Having worked as a model before she became the T-Mobile Girl, she moved into acting after the campaign wrapped, appearing in a series of short films and a music video by the band Collapsing Scenery. After 2018, Foulkes largely moved from working in front of the camera to behind it. According to her Instagram, she now operates as a photographer and director, and still dabbles in modeling.

Dos Equis' "The Most Interesting Man in the World" campaign invites consumers to be more like its fabled subject. A deep-voiced narrator admiringly intones this guy's accomplishments, which sound like classier takes on the "Chuck Norris Facts" meme. Some of the qualities of this fascinating individual: His shirts don't wrinkle, he bowls overhand, he tips 100%, and he's won a lifetime achievement award twice. Each ad cuts to a bearded man who's surrounded by women as he hoists a bottle of Dos Equis. "Stay thirsty, my friends," the Most Interesting Man in the World advises.

Jonathan Goldsmith portrayed the Most Interesting Man in the World, capping a career as a character actor that began in the early 1960s. Goldsmith guest-starred on almost every major TV drama of the 1980s, including "Knight Rider," "MacGyver," "The Fall Guy," "Dynasty," "The A-Team," "and "Dallas." He appeared on 19 episodes of the latter series as Bruce Harvey and Joe Smith. Following his work as the Most Interesting Man in the World, Goldsmith popped up at the end of 2018's "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" as Brother Cienfuegos, who is looking for some late-in-life romance. Goldsmith also published his memoir, "Stay Interesting," in 2017.