The misfit Mighty Ducks crew triple-deked their way into pop culture history, but you
can't play pee-wee forever.
Coach Bombay's ducklings are now all grown up, and not all of them stuck around in Hollywood.
Here's what became of the Mighty Ducks cast.
The role of championship-winning penalty scorer Charlie Conway was originally supposed to
be played by future A-lister Jake Gyllenhaal.
But he had to turn it down because his parents didn't want him missing out on months of school.
So instead, Joshua Jackson stepped in for what was his first major role, and for some
viewers, it's still the one he's best-known for today.
"It's still surreal to me that there is an NHL franchise named after a movie that I was
in when I was a little kid."
Vancouver native Jackson has gone on to appear in a variety of films and TV shows since hanging
up his Ducks jersey.
He played the lead in 2008's Shutter, an American remake of a Thai horror film that scored an
embarrassing 7 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Luckily for him, critics have been kinder to his TV work.
In the late 90s and early 2000s, he was unforgettable as Pacey on the iconic teen drama Dawson's
Creek.
Beginning in 2008, he played Peter on the mind-bending sci-fi series Fringe.
His more recent appearances continue to earn him notice as a serious actor, including his
time as Cole on the innovative Showtime series The Affair, which he's followed up with Hulu's
literary adaptation Little Fires Everywhere.
If you're a Netflix subscriber, then you'll probably recognize Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson
in the streaming giant's now-canceled Marvel shows.
But did you know that Matt Murdock's lovable sidekick is also the same guy who played hulking
enforcer Fulton Reed in The Mighty Ducks?
Fulton shows up when his teammates are cornered by their rivals on the Hawks, dispatching
the bullies with ease.
Henson was a key member of the team over the course of the three movies.
But when the Ducks disbanded, he struggled to make an impact in the industry, resorting
to supporting parts in such barely-seen films as Evil Alien Conquerors.
Henson's fortunes finally took a turn for the better in 2014 when he was cast as Pollux
in the two-part Hunger Games finale.
It wasn't the biggest of roles, though.
For one thing, Pollux is a mute, so Henson had zero lines.
But it was the start of bigger and better things for him, especially when he won the
part of Foggy Nelson, which he played in Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and The Defenders.
Sean Weiss worked on a number of TV shows before making his feature film debut in The
Mighty Ducks.
By 1992, he'd grown into a big-boned 14-year-old and was considered a perfect fit for the role
of goalie Greg Goldberg, though acting on the ice proved a challenge for the teen.
In 2010, he told Oy!
Chicago,
"We had three months of hockey camp.
Skating didn't come easy for me, I spent the first month on my ass."
Luckily, his position involved a minimal amount of actual skating, and Weiss learned enough
to stay off his backside.
He went on to portray the flatulent goalie again in the sequels, taking time off between
the two to star alongside Ben Stiller in the 1995 comedy Heavyweights.
In 2014, he was asked about the possibility of a Mighty Ducks 4 while guesting on a radio
show.
"I heard one of the versions for the movie, in one of the versions, they were gonna recast
Goldberg with Jim Belushi.
So we'll see what happens."
Alas, things have been going downhill for Weiss since the turn of the millennium, both
professionally and personally.
He was accused of assaulting his girlfriend in 2013, and five years later, he was arrested
for public intoxication.
He was back in custody again in 2020 after breaking into a stranger's car.
According to a police report, he appeared to be under the influence of methamphetamine,
and he looked completely unrecognizable in his mugshot.
Jussie Smollett played Terry Hall in The Mighty Ducks, but he didn't reprise the role in either
sequel, instead opting to appear in the 1994 Rob Reiner comedy North.
Those are Smollett's only two major film credits from the 90s, as his next feature didn't arrive
until the 2012 indie dramedy The Skinny.
That film was criticized for reinforcing gay stereotypes, but Smollett, who is gay himself,
earned widespread praise for his portrayal of a gay character in the hit Fox series Empire.
His turn as Jamal Lyon led to movie roles in the sci-fi sequel Alien: Covenant and the
legal drama Marshall, but his personal reputation would take a serious blow in 2019 after a
series of bizarre events.
In January of that year, Smollett claimed that he had been subjected to a racist and
homophobic attack by two white men.
There was an outpouring of support for the actor, but many fans then turned against him
when Chicago police accused him of making the whole thing up.
At a press conference, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson claimed that Smollett had staged
the attack because he was, quote, "dissatisfied with his salary."
The actor maintained his innocence, but he ended up being written out of Empire, and
he hasn't worked since.
Aaron Schwartz has come a long way since the first Mighty Ducks movie.
He played chubby prankster Dave Karp, and now he's sporting a broad and bearded look.
He hooked up with fellow Duck Danny Tamberelli for an eight-episode stint on The Adventures
of Pete and Pete in 1993, and then he joined another former castmate, Shaun Weiss, in 1995's
Heavyweights.
He then disappeared from the industry for more than a decade, and when he returned in
2009 on The CW's Gossip Girl, he had blossomed into a primetime-worthy hunk.
His three-year stint on that show is the longest period of time he's spent playing one character.
Schwartz joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2017, but it wasn't exactly a huge role.
His face was used as the facial reference for young Ego, who was otherwise played by
Kurt Russell, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Schwartz has managed to stay busy since then, but there's one particular project that he
really hopes he'll eventually be a part of.
When TMZ asked him about the upcoming Mighty Ducks TV reboot, he revealed,
"They did initially reach out to a lot of the cast members...Honestly, if I have a one
day role or I have a huge role in it, I really don't care.
I love that they're bringing it back.
That was a classic for me."
Garette Henson got off to a flying start with his movie career, appearing in ten feature
films over a six-year period.
He made his big-screen debut in Arachnophobia in 1990, and that same year he also appeared
in the widely mocked adaptation of Captain America.
But of course he's best remembered as Guy Germaine from The Mighty Ducks movies, although
plenty of nineties kids also surely fondly remember him for his role as Vic in 1995's
Casper.
He spoke with Grantland in 2014 about how he used to dislike it when people recognized
him on the street, but that's changed over the years.
As he put it,
"For me now it's switched from this thing that I felt embarrassed about to this thing
of pride.
I'm thrilled to have been in these movies that were so huge."
Henson later appeared in a few nineties TV shows, but he largely fell off the radar after
D3 came out in 1996.
He made a brief return to acting in 2007 when he played a prisoner in The Mannsfield 12,
but despite a few positive reviews, the movie didn't get the attention Henson would've needed
to launch a comeback.
While he may not be working on many new high-profile projects, he still pops up occasionally to
discuss the making of The Mighty Ducks.
When he sat down with The Philadelphia Connection in 2019, he revealed that Emilio Estevez was
like a big brother to him during the shoot.
"He was a real prankster.
He really brought a sort of like, fun, carefree feeling to the set, you know."
Marguerite Moreau grew up rather quickly after the Mighty Ducks trilogy ended in 1996.
The California native played camp counselor Katie in the 2001 spoof comedy Wet Hot American
Summer.
That film flopped upon its initial release, but it went on to achieve cult status.
Moreau continued to make regular movie appearances throughout the 2000s, but the parts she was
offered became increasingly unfulfilling, and she turned her attention to TV instead.
Her many small screen credits include the likes of Grey's Anatomy and Mad Men.
Moreau reprised the role of Katie for the 2015 prequel series Wet Hot American Summer:
First Day of Camp and then again in 2017 for the sequel series Ten Years Later.
In 2019, she popped up in the Netflix movie Paddleton.
She's come a long way since The Mighty Ducks, but it still means a lot to her, which was
clear when she was one of several cast members who took part in a ceremonial puck drop before
an Anaheim Ducks game in 2019.
Matt Doherty made his debut in 1990's Home Alone, though spotting him in that family
classic is like a game of Where's Waldo.
He plays the son of Uncle Rob, whose New York home Kevin turns into a house of horrors in
the sequel.
He's credited as Steffan, though he only appears for a matter of seconds in the family's French
hotel room.
He went on to play bespectacled goofball Lester Averman in the Mighty Ducks movies, but he's
got another 90s classic to his name with the Mike Myers-starring So I Married an Axe Murderer.
As Doherty approached adulthood, the parts started to dry up, and he walked the tightrope
between supporting actor and extra.
Some of the roles on his filmography include such character names as "Computer Guy", "Masterpiece
Video Employee", "Drunk," and "Twitchy Guy."
He didn't even get a credit for his appearance as a butler in 2012's Best Picture-winning
Argo.
In recent years, he's turned to TV movies, including the 2015 sci-fi flick Supernova
45, in which he plays Jetset, the tech-savvy sidekick of a pilot.
Danny Tamberelli played defenseman Tommy Duncan in The Mighty Ducks, but he didn't return
for either sequel.
Instead, he opted to take on the part of Little Pete Wrigley in Nickelodeon's The Adventures
of Pete and Pete, which is surely still the role that he's best remembered for.
He had plenty of more success on 90s Nickelodeon, as he made several appearances on the slimy
game show Figure It Out and joined the cast of All That.
For those of you in a nostalgic mood, you'll be pleased to learn that Tamberelli has reunited
with his former Pete & Pete co-star, Mike Maronna, for a podcast called The Adventures
of Danny & Mike.
Other recent endeavors include founding a YouTube sketch comedy channel called "ManBoobs"
and fronting the Brooklyn-based rock band Jounce.
It's worth noting that getting into music has been a career goal of his ever since an
amp-exploding encounter with rock star Iggy Pop on the set of Pete and Pete.
J.D. Daniels was a prolific child actor in the 90s, with more than 30 film and TV credits
to his name by the time the decade drew to a close.
While he wasn't invited back to reprise the role of Peter Mark in either of the Mighty
Ducks sequels, he went on to land a number of new roles across a variety of genres.
He's arguably best remembered for his part in the N.W.A spoof CB4, and he also dipped
his toes into horror with 1993's Man's Best Friend.
Like some of his Ducks colleagues, Daniels has racked up plenty of voiceover credits.
He had the part of the football-headed protagonist in the pilot episode of Hey Arnold! before
being summoned back to the Mouse House to work on animated series versions of Disney
properties like The Little Mermaid.
Although he hasn't notched up any acting credits in almost a decade, Daniels remains active
in the industry, currently working for the Actors' Equity Association.
"Ducks!
Ducks!
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