After a breakout turn as the enigmatic Princess Lili in the 1985 cult fantasy film Legend,
Mia Sara became an icon to a whole generation as Ferris Bueller's beautiful and coolly sophisticated
girlfriend, Sloane Peterson, in the 1986 classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
But where did she go after that?
From a career in poetry to true love, Muppet-style, here's a look at what really happened to Mia
Sara.
Making of a Legend
Though she seems like a natural in front of the camera, Sara has always been something
of a reluctant star, revealing in an interview that her first love has always been writing:
"I always wanted to be a writer.
I think I have a, sort of, exaggerated respect for the written word, I think, probably."
And her feelings about the movie industry probably weren't helped by a traumatic experience
on the set of Legend, when she was nearly caught in a massive inferno that almost completely
destroyed the set.
"All of a sudden the sky was black, and, you know, you don’t, you can’t believe it’s
gone.
The entire studio was there, everyone was crying.
It just melted.”
Ferris was no fun
The fire on the set of Legend wasn't the only bummer Sara experienced early in her career.
Even though Ferris Bueller's Day Off is considered one of the best feel-good message movies of
any era, Sara told GamesRadar that making it wasn't nearly as much fun as watching it.
"Of the main cast, I was the only actual adolescent, so unfortunately for me it was like having
your most awkward adolescent year forever memorialized.
The cast were all lovely but mostly my experience was feeling very out of my depth and, you
know, flailing.
That's just the honest truth.
I wish I could say it was a lot of fun but it wasn't for me."
Queenie
In 1987, right after playing Sloane Peterson, Mia Sara made waves by starring in Queenie,
an ABC miniseries based loosely on the life of actress Merle Oberon.
Unfortunately, critics weren’t too kind to either the project as a whole or Sara in
particular, with the New York Times saying,
"Clearly, an enormous effort was expended.
That's what makes the result all the more distressing, if not deplorable.…Ms. Sara…gives
the role of Queenie a good try but is clearly out of her element."
But despite both the critics and the fact that she fell ill with sunstroke during filming,
Sara actually told the Chicago Sun that she treasured the experience of working alongside
stars like Kirk Douglas.
"Not only is Queenie beautiful and has many special moments, but I'll probably never get
a chance to play a role like this again anytime soon.
Roles for women my age rarely cover as much ground as this did."
Relative obscurity
Though Sara was a rising star in the '80s, you know what they say: what goes up must
come down.
Sara continued making movies throughout the '90s, but her most prominent post-Ferris role
was probably as Jean-Claude Van Damme's love interest in the 1994 low budget cult classic
Timecop.
And beginning in 2002, she also gained further geek cred among the comic-con crowd by playing
Harley Quinn in the short-lived CW series Birds of Prey.
Over the past two decades, though, the Legend star's infrequent acting roles have mostly
been back in the realm of fantasy, with appearances in 2001's Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real
Story, 2002's Lost in Oz, and as Princess Langwidere in the 2011 mini-series The Witches
of Oz.
It goes to show that starting out as a princess just might mean royalty fringe benefits for
the duration of one's career.
Muppet love
A career in fantasy isn't the only unexpected benefit Sara has reaped from her role in Legend.
In a roundabout way, it also helped her find her one true love.
That's because, fresh out of filming Legend, Sara landed an audition for the female lead
in another fantasy-themed film: the 1986 Jim Henson Company cult classic Labyrinth.
Though she ended up losing the part to Jennifer Connelly, the audition brought Sara in contact
with Jim Henson's son Brian Henson.
In 2010, a quarter of a century later, Sara and Brian Henson were married, and they have
a daughter together, Amelia Jane.
Talk about your fairy tale ending!
Not Your High School Girlfriend
Three decades after becoming a household name as a high school student in Ferris Bueller,
Sara has settled into a life of semi-obscurity, telling Glamour in 2009 that even people who
recognize her often can't figure out why.
"Most of the time, people think they went to high school with me."
And that seems to suit her just fine, as Sara told The Volga that she never felt acting
was her true calling.
"It was something I felt I could do, and I needed to work, and I got lucky at the get
go, however I was never going to be the kind of actress I admire, because I just didn't
have the drive for the process."
So what is she up to now?
Well, as Sara puts it on her website, she's finally "recovered her senses" and returned
to her first love, writing poems and essays with titles like "Not Your High School Girlfriend."
Sorry, Ferris.
Looks like Sara has decided to take more than just the day off this time.