You'll Barely Recognize Little Peter Shepherd From Jumanji Now
One of the best things about getting older is revisiting the actors from your favorite childhood movies and remarking upon how old they've gotten, and by extension, how old that must make you. Oh, wait — that's actually one of the worst things about getting older. Seeing the kid from the original Jumanji all grown up is really going to — pardon the pun — rock your world, so buckle up, buttercup. (By the way, if you didn't know that there was a Jumanji movie that existed before the Rock's reboot Welcome to the Jungle, this article is not for you. Your mom is calling you — get out of here.)
In the original, 1995 version of Jumanji, the one based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg, audiences everywhere were endeared to little Peter Shepherd. The sweet, curly-haired boy was the younger brother of Judy (played by Kirsten Dunst), and his loyalty to her was eclipsed only by his desire to finish the game of Jumanji and call out its name. Who couldn't relate, for example, when he cheated in the game and tried to force the dice to land on 12 so that he could beat Jumanji and end the madness? We couldn't necessarily relate to the boy-monkey hybrid that resulted from such tactics, but we loved him anyway.
Actor Bradley Pierce played Peter in Jumanji all those years ago, and if you saw him out and about today, you definitely wouldn't recognize him.
What Bradley Pierce is up to today
What you may not have realized is that Pierce — the boy who got his tail in a twist, before Robin Williams helped him pop it through the back of his jeans — also featured in another film that may have been a childhood favorite: Beauty and the Beast. Four years before Jumanji, Pierce was the voice of "Chip," that adorable, anthropomorphic teacup who loved his mama, and whose "s" sounds whistled through a little chip in the rim of his cup head. So, what does that mug's mug look like now?
The good news is that Pierce doesn't sport a handle or a tail in his day-to-day life. More than two decades have gone by since the release of Jumanji and three full decades have past since the 1991 release of Beauty and the Beast, making Pierce 38 years old as of January 2021. Anyone who's nearly 40 is obviously going to look quite different than they did when they were a pre-teen, and Pierce is no exception.
According to his website, the actor still enjoys filmmaking, does voice-over work, and (perhaps in a nod to his humble beginnings as a cup) even co-founded a cocktail company, Pierce & Luna, alongside his business partner Bella Luna. It looks like Bradley Pierce has reinvented himself a time or two since playing Peter Shepherd, in order to suit the rapidly changing world around him — a little trick he picked up in Jumanji, perhaps?