Jennifer Stone From Wizards Of Waverly Place Is Unrecognizable Now
"Wizards of Waverly Place" was one of the more popular Disney Channel sitcoms during the late 2000s, airing among the likes of "Hannah Montana" and "Good Luck Charlie." The show starred Selena Gomez as Alex Russo, a teenage wizard learning the ins and outs of magic, alongside her brothers Justin (David Henrie) and Max (Jake T. Austen).
The show was full of increasingly wild and zany storylines and characters, one of those characters being Alex's best friend Harper Finkle, played by Jennifer Stone, who she met in kindergarten. Harper quickly grew to become a fan favorite for her unique fashion sense and personality, and she often accompanied Alex on her many adventures — usually playing the good cop to Alex's bad cop. Harper's strange take on fashion also became a running gag on the show, with her making her own outfits. These included very specifically themed ones such as the iconic marker dress, which was a blue dress almost entirely covered in real scented markers with matching marker cap earrings. There was also the rubber duck dress –- a blue vinyl gown and matching fascinator covered in rubber ducks.
Bizarre fashion aside, Stone appears to be a very different person from the one she played on TV, and in the years since "Wizards of Waverly Place" first aired in 2007, she has come a long way, with an unexpected career trajectory.
Stone is now a registered nurse
Following her role as Harper, Jennifer Stone decided to pursue her education before getting back into acting. Stone told International Business Times, "I'd been acting since I was six, so I took a break to go to school to just make sure that this is what I wanted to do and to just explore other options."
That isn't to say that she stopped acting altogether, though, following her time on "Wizards of Waverly Place." Firstly, she starred in 2019's "Santa Girl" where she played Cassie Claus, the fictional daughter of Santa Claus. There viewers got to see Stone in a different light, not only as a lead role, but in a much more subdued look compared to the fashions of Harper. Furthermore, Stone has become a registered nurse, who has been assisting on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 (per Deadline). "Our hospital has definitely been impacted as I think every healthcare facility probably has," she said, later adding, "I think, as a nurse you're just hit with it a lot more upfront and to be honest, I look at it this way: During a 12-hour shift, it's not about me. It's about putting myself aside to help somebody else."
Stone still performs her day job as a nurse while pursuing acting/ In fact she is slated to star a pre-production project titled "The Perfect Night" according to IMDb. While "Wizards of Waverly Place" fans will always have Harper in their hearts, the actor -– and the nurse -– that Stone has transformed into is truly remarkable.