Released in 1989, “Troop Beverly Hills” is a family comedy featuring Shelley Long of “Cheers” fame. She portrays a wealthy housewife who steps into the role of a Wilderness Girls troop leader for her daughter and other privileged children of Beverly Hills. Despite their lack of outdoor skills, their enthusiasm and determination make them a formidable team.

Thanks to its dazzling costumes and spirited performances, “Troop Beverly Hills” has undergone a critical transformation and now enjoys the status of a cult classic. With a cast full of promising young actors, you might wonder where these key players have ended up. Here’s an overview of their journeys, from Hollywood stardom to social activism and beyond.

Leading the determined Beverly Hills troop is Phyllis Nefler, a wealthy housewife coping with her recent separation from her husband, Freddy. Although she is out of her element, Phyllis is devoted to her daughter, Hannah, and strives to be an excellent troop leader. Through this journey, she unearths her courage and independence.

Freddy Nefler is a well-known figure in Beverly Hills’ affluent circles. As a self-made businessman, Freddy is discontented in his marriage, leading him to a romance with a charming young realtor. Despite the impending divorce at the movie’s start, there’s a chance the spark between him and Phyllis might reignite.

Phyllis is played by Shelley Long, who is best known for her performance as Diane Chambers on the long-running sitcom “Cheers,” for which she earned six Emmy nominations (five for the original series, and one for her brief return to the character on “Frasier,” one of its many spinoffs) and one win. After leaving “Cheers,”  — a decision that generated controversy and may have negatively impacted her career — she played Carol Brady in the quirky “The Brady Bunch Movie” and “A Very Brady Sequel” and made several guest appearances on “Modern Family” as DeDe Pritchett, the ex-wife of Jay (Ed O’Neill) and the mother of Claire (Julie Bowen) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson). Her most recent role was in 2021, when she played Sharon Enderly in “The Cleaner.”

Freddy Nefler is not an unfamiliar figure in the rich circles of Beverly Hills. A self-made man with his own business, Freddy is unfulfilled in his marriage and inevitably falls into the arms of a perky young realtor. Although he and Phyllis are in the process of breaking up when “Troop Beverly Hills” begins, there might just be enough of a spark for their marriage to survive.

Craig T. Nelson is also not an unfamiliar figure for fans of film and television. In addition to roles in movies like “Private Benjamin,” “Silkwood,” “The Killing Fields,” “Turner & Hooch,” “The Proposal,” and “Poltergeist” (a franchise fraught with real life peril) Nelson also voiced Mr. Incredible in “The Incredibles” and “The Incredibles 2” for Disney. 

On the TV front, he’s perhaps best known for playing Coach Hayden Fox on “Coach” from 1989 to 1997, a role that earned him three Emmy nominations and one win. He was also featured in the main cast of “Parenthood” as the family patriarch Zeek Braverman from 2010 to 2015, and he played Dale on both “Young Sheldon” and “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.”

While Phyllis Nefler is larger than life, her daughter Hannah is much more grounded and often comes across as the adult of the family. She’s played by Jenny Lewis, who had a thriving acting career as a child during the 1980s and 1990s. Lewis’s largest role — aside from “Troop Beverly Hills,” of course — was her 18 episodes as Katie Monahan on “Brooklyn Bridge.” She was also featured on episodes of “The Twilight Zone,” “Webster,” “The Golden Girls,” “Mr. Belvedere,” “Growing Pains,” “Roseanne,” and had a role in “Pleasantville” with Reese Witherspoon and Tobey Maguire.

But these days, Jenny Lewis is far better known for her career as a musician. She was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of Rilo Kiley with her then-boyfriend and fellow child star Blake Sennett, an indie band that released four albums before breaking up in 2014. She has since released five solo albums, not mention being part of the groups The Postal Service, Jenny & Johnny, and Nice as F*ck.

Ami Foster played Claire in “Troop Beverly Hills,” the daughter of a famous romance novelist who runs all of her ideas past her. Aside from her work in this film, she was best known for playing the snooty Margaux on “Punky Brewster” for 55 episodes from 1984 to 1988. In 1988, she was the voice of Lucy Van Pelt in “This is America, Charlie Brown.” She was also the voice of Holly on the animated series “Pound Puppies” and had appearances in “Full House,” “Charles in Charge,” “Quantum Leap,” “The Wonder Years,” “Empty Nest,” “The Outsiders,” and “Step by Step.” 

Her last on-screen performance as a child actor was the role of Marla on “CBS Schoolbreak Special” in 1994. But she did return to play Margaux Kramer once more in the “Punky Brewster” reboot, where she was featured in one episode. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her firefighter husband, and they have two children together. 

Chica Barnfell is proof that just because a kid grows up surrounded by money and privilege doesn’t mean that she can’t also be neglected by her parents. Perpetually abandoned by her jet-setting mother and father, Chica has one of the most interesting arcs in “Troop Beverly Hills,” as she learns to let her guard down around Phyllis and her fellow Wilderness Girls.

Chica is played by Carla Gugino, who has gone on to have a thriving career in Hollywood, thanks in large part to her work with Mike Flanagan — she’s been in pretty much every one of his horror miniseries, from “The Haunting of Hill House” to “The Fall of the House of Usher.” But she’s been working as an actress since 1988, when she made an appearance in “Webster.” 

Since then, she acted in “Chicago Hope,” “Spin City,” “Wayward Pines,” and “Falcon Crest” on television. On the big screen, you can find Gugino in “This Boy’s Life” alongside a young Leonardo DiCaprio, “Spy Kids,” “Sin City,” the 2009 version of “Watchmen,” “Gerald’s Game,” and “Lisa Frankenstein.” Gugino is also slated to appear in “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” a rare follow-up from Quentin Tarantino starring Brad Pitt’s character from “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”

Tessa was the resident therapist in “Troop Beverly Hills” — she spent enough time with her psychologist to be able to psychoanalyze her fellow Wilderness Girls (and her troop leader, for that matter) with the best of them. She was played by Heather Hopper, a young actress who had the majority of her credits between the late 1980s and early 1990s. Hopper was best known for playing Nikki Coleman on “Good Morning, Miss Bliss,” a precursor to “Saved by the Bell.” 

She also appeared in episodes of “Punky Brewster,” “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” “Married… with Children,” and “Beverly Hills, 90210.” In 1991, she was featured in an episode of “The New Lassie,” which was her last role for 10 years. 

Between 2001 and 2004, she appeared in “Elvira’s Haunted Hills,” “The Shield,” “Miss Match,” and “Passions.” After that, she has seemingly led a quiet life in California raising her daughter, although she has attended reunions celebrating benchmark anniversaries for “Troop Beverly Hills” over the years.

Emily Coleman was one of the sadder but wiser of the Wilderness Girls in “Troop Beverly Hills” — her father was an actor hitting a rough patch in the industry, and their money struggles provided a stark contrast to the wealth and opulence of the rest of the troop.

She was played by Kellie Martin, who went on to have a long and interesting career as an actress. Martin is perhaps best known for her work in the fifth and sixth seasons of “E.R.,” where she played  Lucy Knight, a bright young medical student whose burgeoning career came to a tragic end during one of the most memorable Valentine’s Day episodes in television history. She also had the lead role in the made-for-TV drama “The Face on the Milk Carton” and appeared on episodes of shows like “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Mad Men,” “Ghost Whisperer,” and “Army Wives.” Over the last several years, she’s headlined a series of TV films for Hallmark called the “Hailey Dean Mysteries.”

Of all the Troop Beverly Hills girls, Tiffany was the kid who fit the one-percenter bill the most. Her father had to pay her off to attend their troop meetings at the beginning, and she’s the one who nails the jewelry appraisal patch. Tiffany was played by Emily Schulman, a face who was likely very familiar to 1980s audiences. Not only did she have hundreds of commercials under her belt by her teen years, but she also played the role of Harriet for nearly 100 episodes of “Small Wonder.” She also starred opposite her “Troop Beverly Hills” co-star Kellie Martin in “Christy.” 

By the time she reached adulthood, she left acting behind but not the industry. She worked as the head of Acme Talent and Literary’s Commercial Division, and in 2008, her team moved to Talentworks. More recently, Schulman (now Emily Webster) has left the agency world and moved her family to Connecticut, where she teaches acting.

All of the Wilderness Girls in “Troop Beverly Hills” have charisma, but Jasmine is without a doubt one of the most memorable, largely because of her scene-stealing lead performance during the film’s “Cookie Time” musical number. Jasmine is the extremely self-confident daughter of a wealthy boxer, and she was played by Tasha Scott.

Scott began her career in “Webster” back in 1987, and made brief appearances in “Full House” and “Quantum Leap” before taking on larger roles in 13 episodes of “Snoops” and 10 episodes of “South Central.” Her last on-screen performance came in 1997, when she starred in 10 episodes of “The Parent’Hood” as Theresa.” She took a long break from acting after that, but returned to Hollywood in the 2010s, playing Judge in the 2015 short film “Troop Hood” and Porsche in 2018’s “Bluest Moon.” She also has an upcoming role in the Christian romance “Recipe for Disaster.”

Lily is the daughter of, as Phyllis calls them, Mr. and Mrs. Dictator, loosely based on Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos of the Philippines. She was played by Aquilina Soriano, a young actress who had just four credits to her name, aside from “Troop Beverly Hills.” She appeared in “Falcon Crest,” “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper,” “Blossom,” and “Unhappily Ever After” before retiring from acting to pursue other interests. But that’s not the end of her story.

Soriano is a founder and the current executive director of the Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California, where she does advocacy work on behalf of the domestic worker movement in California. In 2018, she was named one of the Frederick Douglass 200, an award established by the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives & the Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University to honor those who “best embody the work and spirit of Douglass across those areas where he had such an impact — abolitionist, politician, writer, feminist, educator, entrepreneur and diplomat.”

Velda Plendor is the militant leader of a Wilderness Girls troop who stands in withering contempt of everything Phyllis Nefler represents. From beginning to end, she attempts to bring down our stalwart heroines in “Troop Beverly Hills.” Velda was brought to life by Betty Thomas, who was best known for playing Lucille Bates on nearly 150 episodes of “Hill Street Blues” during the 1980s. 

Although she was a decorated actress, winning an Emmy in 1985 for her work on “Hill Street Blues,” “Troop Beverly Hills” was destined to be her last on-screen performance (not counting a one-off cameo on a 2018 episode of “Kidding”). Instead, she shifted her focus behind the camera, and become one of the most successful female directors of the 1990s and 2000s. She helmed “The Brady Bunch Movie,” “Doctor Doolittle,” “I Spy,” “John Tucker Must Die,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” and several episodes of “Grace and Frankie.” In 1993, she received her second Emmy win, this time for directing an episode of “Dream On.”

Sweet little Annie is used and abused in “Troop Beverly Hills,” as the domineering Velda forces her to go undercover as Phyllis’s assistant troop leader to spy on Wilderness Girls of Beverly Hills. Luckily, she gets her revenge and a lovely ’80s makeover to boot, so all’s well that ends well.

Annie Herman was played by Mary Gross, a comedic actor who was well established in the industry by the time she was cast in “Troop Beverly Hills.” From 1981 to 1985, she was a cast member on “Saturday Night Live,” and she added to her small screen credits with appearances in “Californication,” “Boston Legal,” “Malcolm in the Middle,” “Six Feet Under,” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.” She was also well represented on film, acting in “Baby Boom,” “The Santa Clause,” “40 Days and 40 Nights,” and “A Mighty Wind.” Her last performance was in a 2012 episode of “Raising Hope,” where she played Denise Jenkins, a woman who briefly adopted Jimmy as a young child.

Poor Cleo. She’s set up to be the villainous counterpart to the young members of Troop Beverly Hills, but really she just longs for the approval of her mom, militant troop leader Velda Plendor (who has no issue with telling her to “nix on the ‘mom’ business” whenever she starts showing signs of sentimentality). 

Cleo Plendor was played by Dinah Lacey, a young actress who got her start on television in the 1980s. She appeared on episodes of “The Jeffersons,” “The Facts of Life,” “Highway to Heaven,” and “Life Goes On.” “His & Hers,” released in 1990, was her final on-screen performance until 2022, when she turned up as a zombie in the horror film “Bury Me Twice.” Like many of her “Troop Beverly Hills” costars, she has participated in reunions for the cult classic film over the years.

One of the pre-eminent ’90s nepo-babies, Tori Spelling made her big screen debut as Jamie in “Troop Beverly Hills, the second in command of the Red Feather Wilderness Girls troop. As the daughter of big-time Hollywood producer Aaron Spelling, a career in acting was pretty much a foregone conclusion. She got her breakout role as Donna Martin on “Beverly Hills, 90210,” a hit television show that she appeared in for 292 episodes (and allegedly got one of her co-workers fired during). She reprised the role of Donna in the spinoff “Melrose Place,” as well as the “90210” reboot. 

In addition to some other acting performances, including playing Holly Hamilton in “Mystery Girls” and Linda Lake in “Smallville,” Spelling has become a reality TV star in her own right. She and her then-husband starred in “Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood” for several years, and she was featured on Season 33 of “Dancing With the Stars.”