What The Kids From Christmas Movies Look Like Today

Will Ferrell's 2003 film Elf is one of those instant modern classics, equal parts heartwarming and hilarious. In case you haven't seen it, Elf tells the story of Buddy, a human boy raised by Santa in the North Pole, who goes to Manhattan to find his real dad, a Scrooge-like corporate executive played by James Caan. But even with all the big names in Elf, like Zooey Deschanel and Peter Dinklage, you can't forget Michael, Buddy's half-brother who helps Buddy navigate the perils of New York City.

Michael was played by Daniel Tay, who was 12 at the time Elf came out. And for whatever reason, Elf was Tay's last big role. Maybe the film's massive success was too much, or maybe the life of a movie star just wasn't for him. Whatever the cause, Tay's career — seemingly poised for the stratosphere after Elf — dwindled over the following years, ending (for now) in a small voice role in 2009's Grand Theft Auto IV: Tales from Liberty City. After that, Tay effectively disappeared, but we'll always remember the little kid in Elf who learns first-hand the magic of Christmas.

A Christmas Story might be one of the most memorable, chaotic Christmas movies ever made, and at the swirling center of this maelstrom is Ralphie, the bespectacled curmudgeon who only wants a fudging Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle for Christmas, dadgummit. Released in 1983, A Christmas Story is still a holiday staple more than 30 years later, still exuding that "soft glow of electric sex" into living rooms across the country. It's as American as Christmas will ever get.

Although Ralphie is 9 in the story, Peter Billingsley was 12 when he was cast in the film, and he's gone on to have a successful career in Hollywood. He has 17 film credits spanning the '80s, and in 1994 Billingsley first tried his hand at producing. He's since gone on to executive produce films as diverse as 2006's The Breakup and 2008's Iron Man. He also directed 2016's Term Life, starring Vince Vaughn. So while you aren't likely to see him in a pink bunny costume anytime soon, he's definitely around, doing his thing. And as far as we know, he still hasn't shot his eye out.

Yup, you know this face. But years before The Phantom Menace made him quit acting forever, Jake Lloyd starred as little Jamie Langston in the 1996 Schwarzenegger-fueled guilty pleasure Jingle All the Way. In fact, 1996 was a huge year for Lloyd. Along with Jingle All the Way, the 7-year-old appeared in the drama Unhook the Stars and two TV movies — Apollo 11 and Host. He also made cameos in the shows ER and The Pretender.

Then 1999 hit, and Jake Lloyd became forever known as Anakin Skywalker — a role that led to so much bullying in his school that he swore off acting from then on. And he kept his word. He showed up for a few conventions and interviews and then disappeared from the spotlight. At least, for a while. In 2016, Lloyd resurfaced when, according to TMZ, he was arrested after leading police in South Carolina on a high-speed chase that culminated in him running into a tree. Guess that's one pod race he couldn't win.

Juliette Lewis, on the other hand, may have started her career playing grumpy Audrey Griswold, but she soon launched straight into stardom with her role in Martin Scorsese's psychological thriller Cape Fear. After a stint in rehab and a short fling with superstar Brad Pitt, she followed up on that initial fame with roles in Natural Born Killers, Strange Days, and From Dusk 'Til Dawn, films which transformed Lewis from a mere starlet into a bona fide pop culture icon.

After the fame came to a head, however, Juliette Lewis opted to give up acting for a while and began touring with her band, Juliette and the Licks. They never attained any real fame, although Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters played drums for one of their albums. In the interim, Lewis has made cameo roles in a few films, like the 2004 remake of Starsky & Hutch and the Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis-helmed Due Date, but she's mostly kept to the stage and sprinkled in a few TV roles, including the lead for ABC's Secrets and Lies.

All I Want For Christmas tells the story of a brother and sister in the Big Apple who go to impossible lengths to get their divorced parents back together for Christmas. Released in 1991, the film stars a young Thora Birch as Hallie, one of the two siblings. Birch's performance is definitely the highlight of this family-friendly Christmas romp (although Leslie Nielsen's cameo as Santa is a close second). Thora Birch later gained widespread acclaim for playing Kevin Spacey's daughter in 1999's critical hit American Beauty. She's spent the years since acting steadily, starring mostly in a string of fairly low-budget horror thrillers like Dark Corners and Deadline.

Although it doesn't get the airtime of, say, A Christmas Story, 1998's Jack Frost is always a holiday favorite. The story of a dead father who gets a once-in-a-lifetime chance to possess a snowman and reconnect with his son, it's not your typical Christmas movie, but really, you can't go wrong with Michael Keaton. It also happens to hold the record for the best feature film featuring the music of Hanson. In the film, Michael Keaton's son Charlie is played with fantastic energy by Joseph Cross, who also starred in the M. Night Shyamalan movie Wide Awake the same year.

The next few years saw Cross appearing in small roles in TV shows like Smallville and Law & Order, but he got his big break in 2006 with a starring role in Running with Scissors and a part in Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers. Two years later, Cross co-starred in the Oscar-winning film Milk alongside Sean Penn. He continues to act today, most recently in HBO's Big Little Lies.