Some of the young stars of Nickelodeon have turned their early success into long-term
careers, but others have had trouble transitioning into more grown-up entertainment.
With that in mind, these particular Nickelodeon stars aren't as rich as you'd think.
Lori Beth Denberg was a fan favorite cast member during her time on All That.
With sketches like "Vital Information" and "The Loud Librarian," there's no denying her
iconic status.
These days, she still tries to keep up with acting, with her net worth coming in at a
reported $750,000.
Outside of showbiz it turns out that she's also an ordained minister.
In 2012, she told ABC News,
"It's my favorite thing to do.
I got ordained as a minister to marry my oldest friend in the world to his now-wife.
I wrote a whole specialized ceremony for them and people just loved it.
They said, 'This is so great.
You should do this.
You should offer this service.'
So, I took their advice!"
Considering that Denberg built her reputation on dishing out vital information, you might
think she's constantly offering advice to fans, but that's not exactly the case.
As she told Huffington Post in 2018,
"People always ask me to do it and I never do…We also just started giving, like, actual
adult vital information.
At Comic-Con in New York, we were like, 'If you're going to rent an apartment, get renter's
insurance.
It's in your best interest.'"
But Denberg did make her old fans happy in 2019 when she made a special appearance on
the All That reboot.
"Hey, Reece?"
"Hmm?"
"How would you like to be the new host of Vital Information?"
"Can I keep the toast?"
"Sure."
Floppy-haired Danny Tamberelli was a nineties Nickelodeon staple, starring in childhood
faves like All That, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, and Figure It Out.
He reportedly has a net worth of an estimated $1.1 million, and although his face was once
so easily recognizable, he hasn't really maintained a mainstream acting career.
Instead, he founded a YouTube sketch comedy channel while also taking his troupe on tour
for live shows.
For those of you yearning for the days of slimy yesteryear, you'll be happy to know
that Tamberelli has reunited with his former Pete & Pete co-star, Mike Maronna, for a podcast
called The Adventures of Danny & Mike.
In 2015, Maronna quipped to The Washington Times,
"The podcast got started at the end of one month when Danny couldn't make rent.
On the 31st he said, 'We should do this podcast.'
Five days later we got Danny some rent money."
Besides his professional endeavors, Tamberelli has been busy starting a family with his wife
Katelyn.
In June 2019, they welcomed a son named Alfred Noel into the world.
Ross Hull has proven he isn't afraid of the dark, or Canadian weather, for that matter.
The Montreal-bred actor, whose reported net worth is an estimated $1 million, switched
gears after his time on Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of the Dark? to become a meteorologist
for Global News back in his home country.
He spoke to The Globe and Mail in 2015 about how Nickelodeon led to his future success:
"Dark? paved the way for me to continue not only in acting but my transition into journalism
and meteorology.
A couple of years ago I was in New York City for the book launch of Slimed…I was shocked
at the number of fans who travelled from all over the U.S. to be [there].
I was inspired by how the show had affected their lives in a positive way, despite it
scaring the crap out of them."
Are You Afraid of the Dark? was rebooted in 2019, and Hull is a bit disappointed he wasn't
asked to return.
He told TMZ,
"I don't take it personally by any means.
But it would be nice to be a part of it, you know, a cameo...I think people are longing
for that feeling they had with these shows and perhaps some of them want to see where
some of the cast members are now."
Matthew Underwood was every tween girl's crush when he played Logan Reese on Zoey 101.
He quietly left Hollywood after the series ended in 2008, but that doesn't mean he hasn't
been in the news.
With a reported net worth of $1 million, he had a few unfortunate run-ins with the law,
such as getting arrested for drug charges with a minor in 2012.
If that wasn't bad enough, he was arrested yet again that same year for allegedly violating
his 12-month probation.
Thankfully, not all of Underwood's drug-related moments made negative headlines.
In 2017, he was dubbed a hero after he rescued an infant from a car crash in Florida after
the parents had overdosed on heroin.
"And then I heard a baby cry, and that's when I immediately ran around the other side of
the car and looked for the baby."
When he's not rescuing children from cars, Underwood has been working as a director,
making small-project videos and even helming a music video for his former co-star Jamie
Lynn Spears.
Kel Mitchell wants you to know he's alive and well.
The Kenan & Kel star, who's worth a reported $2 million, was the victim of a bizarre internet
hoax in 2006 that spread around MySpace claiming that he was dead.
As he explained to Huffington Post in 2014,
"I had family members calling me and calling my parents saying, 'Is Kel okay?'…It was
pretty crazy, but I didn’t get upset by the whole thing…Afterward, it was kind of
cool with people going, I mean not the action of it was cool, but it was like when people
discovered that I was alive, it was just like, 'Oh, okay.
Well, what else is he doing?'"
Besides not being dead, Mitchell's 21st century highlights include auditioning to join the
cast of Saturday Night Live, a number of voice work roles, and appearing in numerous Nickelodeon
shows alongside a new generation of Nick actors.
For those of you yearning for some nineties nostalgia, Mitchell decided to surprise his
fans and reunite with Kenan Thompson in 2015 for a throwback Good Burger sketch on The
Tonight Show, and he's also appeared on the 2019 All That revival.
"I told you he was the best."
"Thanks, Kel.
Let's go!"
"Real hammer!"
Drake & Josh star Drake Bell has had some peculiar luck since the show's end in 2007.
He hasn't stopped working, but he nonetheless found himself filing for bankruptcy in 2014.
According to the filing, which was obtained by E! News, the actor-musician owned $1.575
million in real estate and $10,500 in personal property, but he had debts totaling about
$2.166 million.
With his monthly expenses reportedly totaling over $18,000, he claimed to have an average
income of just $2,820.
Bell has had some more bad luck in addition to his financial woes.
In 2016, for example, he was sentenced to 96 hours in jail for a second DUI conviction.
So where was his former on-screen stepbrother, Josh Peck, to help him out?
Totally MIA, it turns out.
When Peck got married in 2017, he invited most of his former Nickelodeon co-stars, except
Bell, who was clearly disgruntled, posting cryptic messages on Twitter that he subsequently
deleted.
He told People Magazine,
"I was caught off guard…He's been my best friend for 18 years.
In all honesty, we talk all the time, we’ve been talking.
I was just expecting."
Thankfully, the duo eventually hugged it out later in the year, prompting their fans to
rejoice in relief.
Josh Server was the only cast member to stick around for all six original seasons of All
That.
After his time with the series came to a close, he continued on with a few Nickelodeon projects,
before quietly disappearing from the spotlight with a reported net worth of $250,000.
As he explained to Bustle in 2014,
"I've been finding my way back to [acting] in smaller doses.
But recently, I've really made a commitment to go all out and really start doing it a
high level and things are really starting to happen."
The effort must be paying off, as Server has been landing steady work since 2017, starring
in indie flicks and also reuniting with his old castmates Lori Beth Denberg and Kel Mitchell
for the All That reboot in 2019.
He also admitted to Bustle,
"It's always a little nerve-wracking to see how you'll be perceived after all these years
of somebody knowing you in a certain way."
"Josh Server?!"
"You're an All That legend!"
Considering how much fans adored Server during his original time on All That, there's hopefully
enough goodwill left over for him to continue lighting up screens for years to come.
Amanda Bynes was once Nickelodeon's It girl, rising to fame on All That and then getting
her name in the title on The Amanda Show.
But perhaps her sudden rise to the A-list contributed to her subsequent hard downfall,
as she joined the ranks of young stars gone wrong.
In 2010, she announced via Twitter that she was retiring from acting, even though she
was only 24 at the time.
And remarkably, as of 2019, she still hasn't appeared in any new films since the release
of Easy A in 2010.
As for Bynes' personal life, things have only gone from bad to worse.
By 2013, she was left out of control of her finances when her mother was granted temporary
conservatorship.
A year later, she was hospitalized under psychiatric hold.
But sometime after that, her future looked promising.
In a 2018 interview with Paper Magazine, she revealed that she was looking forward to returning
to acting.
But then she found herself relapsing in 2019, although it looks like she's trying to take
care of herself, as she reportedly went on to stay in a sober living group home.
Nate Richert was a total nineties heartthrob during his time as Harvey Kinkle on Sabrina,
the Teenage Witch.
Winning the hearts of teens everywhere, you'd think he would go on to have a successful
career, yet his acting credits after the show ended in 2003 are minuscule, and he's worth
only a reported $150,000.
So what exactly happened?
Not a whole lot, apparently.
When a fan tweeted in 2018 asking where he's been after his stint on Sabrina, the actor
revealed,
"Anxiety and subsequent depression were my major game stoppers.
Took a decade to learn how to cope and overcome.
Back then, all I knew was something was wrong with me, that I was broken and unworthy; all
that fantastic BS anxiety likes to ruin your life with."
Richert went on to explain that he does whatever it takes to get by, noting that he's worked
as a maintenance man, a janitor, and a carpenter, and done whatever random jobs he can to pay
the bills.
He also does improv and writes songs to keep his sanity.
His preferred genre is folk music, and as of 2019, he's released three albums.
Larisa Oleynik was set for superstardom in the nineties, thanks to her time as the title
character on The Secret World of Alex Mack and in numerous iconic teen flicks.
At the time, USA Today dubbed her the "proverbial girl next door."
Considering how popular she was, you'd think that she'd be swimming in the spoils of her
fame, yet her net worth comes in at $4 million, a lot less than you might expect for the once-in-demand
star.
It isn't as if Oleynik hasn't been acting in the years since.
Indeed, she's found regular work throughout the years, with recurring roles on such shows
as Mad Men and Hawaii Five-O, just to name a couple.
But she's not necessarily looking for a quick buck.
As she explained to BuzzFeed in 2017 while appearing in the off-Broadway musical Baghdaddy,
"I always find things that are challenging…Whatever life this show has or doesn't have, it is
a reminder of the way that you want to feel in your work and the kinds of stuff you want
to be seeking out.
It's always more fun when you're challenging every part of yourself."
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