Boy Meets World was one of the most popular shows of the TGIF era and a staple of many
nineties kids' TV diets.
It has remained beloved since its finale aired in 2000, so let's check in with the Matthews
family and their friends and see what they've been up to.
From 1993 to 2000, millions of viewers met the world through the surrogate eyes of Cory
Matthews, as played by Ben Savage.
After the show that made him famous wrapped up, Savage was ready to meet the world himself.
He told Rolling Stone in 2014,
"I was 19 at the time and had been on the show for seven years.
I was really focused on going to college."
And focused on his studies he was, as he majored in political science at Stanford University,
and he interned for Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter.
Savage's most notable post-Boy Meets World role was a familiar one, as he played Cory
Matthews once again on the sequel series Girl Meets World from 2014 to 2017.
The show followed the exploits of Riley Matthews, Cory and Topanga's tween daughter.
Savage has also occasionally played roles other than Cory, like a real estate agent
on the ABC sitcom Speechless and a younger version of Mandy Patinkin on Criminal Minds.
After she finished playing self-assured hippie Topanga Lawrence on Boy Meets World, Danielle
Fishel stayed in the public eye as a TV host on a variety of shows, including the Style
Network's The Dish.
She still occasionally acts, including, of course, a return to the role that made her
famous on Girl Meets World.
"Oh, do I have any lists on you?
Let me think about it.
No!"
"Why not?"
"Because I'm a healthy person."
"Well, I hate that, too!"
In 2012, Fishel graduated from California State University, Fullerton, where she majored
in psychology.
On the home life front, Fishel married her first husband, Tim Belusko, in 2013, but she
then filed for divorce from him two years later.
In 2018, she got hitched again, this time to writer and producer Jensen Karp.
In the summer of 2019, the couple welcomed a baby boy named Adler.
The little guy was born a month premature, and he had to spend three weeks in a neonatal
intensive care unit before his parents could bring him home.
Everybody wants a best friend like Shawn Hunter, but only Cory Matthews got to enjoy that particular
bromance for the ages.
"The Cory and Shawn Show is always there.
It's just kind of always part of our show."
"The bromance is real."
Rider Strong charmingly played Shawn for seven seasons, and since Boy Meets World ended its
run, he's kept a relatively low profile.
He's starred in several movies, perhaps most notably in Eli Roth's 2002 horror flick Cabin
Fever.
He's also put in small screen appearances, including a 2007 episode of Bones.
But Strong is about more than just acting.
He's a well-rounded and very well educated guy, having graduated with honors from Columbia
University and earned a Master of Fine Arts in Literature from Bennington College.
Strong had a starring role in the WB dramedy Pepper Dennis, which only lasted for one season
in 2006.
Though it didn't stay on the air very long, it did introduce Strong to his co-star Alexandra
Barreto, whom he went on to date, and in 2013, they got married.
Just over a year later, they welcomed a baby boy.
Strong has reprised the role of Shawn for several episodes of Girl Meets World, and
he was also involved with that show behind the scenes, as he directed 18 episodes.
Will Friedle charmed a legion of viewers as Cory's dim but happy-go-lucky older brother,
Eric Matthews.
He followed that up with a number of guest appearances on various shows, and in 2003,
he starred in the randy National Lampoon comedy Gold Diggers.
But he's since largely disappeared from the world of live-action film and TV.
Instead, he's carved out a healthy and prolific career in the realm of voice acting, particularly
as the man behind the character of Terry McGinnis in various Batman projects.
One of the reasons that Friedle gravitated to voice work was due to a potentially devastating
health issue.
As he revealed at a Boy Meets World panel at the 2018 New York Comic Con,
"What brought me to voice-over was anxiety.
I was planning to do more on-camera work, but then I got hit with these anxiety attacks
that prevented me from doing that.
I was so thankful I had voice-over because I could still perform and act."
More good news came for Friedle in 2016, as he tied the knot with his girlfriend Susan
Martens.
Where hasn't William Russ appeared?
After his seven years playing supportive and mullet-rocking dad Alan Matthews, he hit the
ground running, appearing on more than 50 TV shows and the occasional indie movie.
While he hasn't landed another long-running runaway hit in the vein of Boy Meets World,
he was a regular cast member on the short-lived NBC political drama Mister Sterling, and he
appeared in a handful of episodes of the kooky ABC legal show Boston Legal.
Other than those semi-steady gigs, Russ has aged into playing distinguished older man
roles on the likes of such shows as NCIS and Bosch.
And like many of his Boy Meets World co-stars, he too got back in the swing of the Matthews
clan by appearing in a few episodes of Girl Meets World.
"He gets into movies for like a quarter."
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Nicki Swift videos about your favorite stars are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.