Here’s what the the cast of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” looks like now, 18 years later
Way, way back in 1998, a little film called I’ll Be Home for Christmas entered our lives to teach us the importance of, well, coming home for Christmas. And while it wasn’t exactly a critical hit, watching Jonathan Taylor Thomas scramble to find a way back to New York for the holidays so he could A) get a Porsche from his dad and B) win Jessica Biel’s heart was a pretty not bad way to spend 90 minutes during the Halcyon Days that were the ’90s.
With that in mind, here’s what the cast of this Christmas “classic” is up to today:
Jonathan Taylor Thomas — Jake Wilkinson
Back then, JTT was the Home Improvement heartthrob whose face adorned teenage bedroom walls worldwide. However, he famously took a step back from acting in ’98 to focus on academics, and never fully returned. He appeared on his old TV dad Tim Allen’s show Last Man Standing a few times, but otherwise, the dude formerly known as Randy Taylor keeps to himself.
Jessica Biel — Allie Henderson
In ’98, Biel was only beginning to enjoy the perks of fame from her role on 7th Heaven. Now, she’s a mom, a kid-friendly restaurant owner, and yep, still an actress. In 2016 she appeared in A Kind of Murder alongside Patrick Wilson, and in Spark, an animated film, in which she which she voiced a fox. In January 2017, she’s set to star in The Book of Love alongside Maisie Williams.
She’s also, y’know, Mrs. Justin Timberlake.
Gary Cole — Mr. Wilkinson
Cole, who played JTT’s estranged dad in the film, has been all over screens big and small since the late-’80s. Back in ’98 he was probably most famous for the Brady Bunch movies — Office Space came out a year later — but today he keeps busy via his Emmy-nominated role on HBO’s hilarious series Veep.
Adam LaVorgna — Eddie Taffet
JTT’s rival for Biel’s affections also played her bad-boy love interest on 7th Heaven. He’s acted sporadically since then, appearing on CSI: Miami in 2007 and in multiple independent films since then. He updates his Facebook page with his current projects … and still looks pretty darn good if we say so ourselves. (We do.)
Eve Gordon — Carolyn Wilkinson
Like LaVorgna, JTT’s new stepmom from the flick has enjoyed a long career — you just probably haven’t heard of her. In recent years, she played Kristen Ritter’s mom on 10 episodes of Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, as well as Dr. Hall on four episodes of “American Horror Story: Murder House.”
Lauren Maltby — Tracey Wilkinson
JTT’s little sis abandoned acting altogether after the mid-2000s, after appearing as Margie Hammond in Disney’s Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century movies. She studied Clinical Psychology at Biola University, and according to her Facebook page, now works as an assistant clinical professor at UCLA.
Andrew Lauer — Nolan
The truck driving thief with a heart of gold has landed teeny, tiny, seriously minuscule roles since his late ’90s heydey, when he had a leading role on Caroline in the City. He has also dabbled in directing, and runs a non-profit called ReedAid that purportedly makes cheap or free videos for other non-profits. (Its website is very outdated and it’s extremely difficult to find anything else on this company.)
Sean O’Bryan — Officer Max
O’Bryan has recently been in a lot of short films that you’ve never heard of. He also had a recurring role on the Fox sitcom The Middle, guest starred on Agent Carter and Workaholics, and got murdered by Dexter on Dexter.
Lesley Boone — Marjorie
Boone, who played Nolan’s estranged wife, recently played Rose in nine episodes of Agent Carter. Previously, she starred as Molly Hudson on Ed throughout its run and booked guest spots on Medium and Desperate Housewives, among others.
