“My Wife and Kids” is a light-hearted, witty sitcom that might not have received the recognition it deserves. It aired for five successful seasons on ABC, capturing the ups and downs of the Kyle family. At the helm is Michael Kyle Sr. (played by Damon Wayans), who runs a trucking company. His wife, Jay Kyle, portrayed by Tisha Campbell-Martin, is savvy in the stock market as a day trader. The couple’s children bring their own chaos into the mix: Michael Jr., or “Junior” (George O. Gore II), is often called a “dummy” by his father and has a passion for rap music. Claire (originally played by Jazz Raycole and later by Jennifer Nicole Freeman), the middle child, is a self-involved cheerleader with a princess persona. Meanwhile, Kady (Parker McKenna Posey), the youngest, is quick-witted and straightforward, which endears her to Michael. Her friend Franklin Aloysius Mumford III (Noah Gray-Cabey) is exceptionally intelligent, and together they make quite a team.

The Kyles navigate life’s challenges as they grow and experience life’s milestones together. The show wrapped up with a cliffhanger that left audiences stunned: Jay discovers she’s pregnant just as she and Michael are debating sterilization in anticipation of becoming empty nesters. Since “My Wife and Kids” concluded over two decades ago, much has changed for the cast members. What are their lives like now, and how have they evolved? Here’s an update on the beloved cast’s journeys since the show’s end.

Damon Wayans is no stranger to comedy, having made his mark as part of the illustrious Wayans family. He began his career in stand-up comedy and gained national attention on “Saturday Night Live” during the 1985-1986 season before getting dismissed from the show. His career advanced with roles in well-known dramas and cult films such as “Earth Girls Are Easy” and “Colors.” A significant breakthrough came with his role in “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka!,” directed by his brother Keenan Ivory Wayans. This part was a stepping stone to becoming a sketch comedy icon on Fox’s “In Living Color.” Wayans balanced his television work with film, starring in movies like “The Last Boy Scout,” “Bulletproof,” and “Major Payne.” Before starting “My Wife and Kids,” he was in the one-season show “Damon” on Fox.

Wayans admitted that “My Wife and Kids” helped him through a difficult divorce, telling The Associated Press that appearing in the series was a form of therapy as he’d been going through a divorce at the time. “I was going through a divorce in 2000, and instead of dwelling on the negative I chose to look at all the beautiful moments of in life as a parent and as a husband, and it helped me get through a pretty rough time.” Wayans has also stated he wants to bring the show back for a special to properly wrap the series up after its abrupt cancelation, and that attempts at rebooting the sitcom have not come to fruition.

Post-“My Wife and Kids,” Wayans has continued to work in both film and television; he guest-starred on “Happy Together” and “Happy Endings,” popping up as Francis Williams, father of Brad Williams (Damon Wayans Jr.) in the latter. He also played Roger Murtaugh in Fox’s small-screen reboot of “Lethal Weapon,” which lasted for three seasons. More recently, he played patriarch once more to his own son Damon Wayans Jr. in the short-lived CBS sitcom “Poppa’s House.” Wayans also had a supporting part in the Tubi original film “Cinnamon” and appeared in 10 episodes of “The Underground.”

It’s hard to decide which sitcom role Tisha Campbell-Martin is best known for, between her long-lived bows in both “My Wife and Kids” and “Martin.” Call her Jay or call her Gina, she’s kept her nose to the grindstone both before and after those parts made her an iconic figure in the television world. And while she might have seemed like a natural to play Jay, she actually crashed auditions for the show in an attempt at being cast. 

She told Jennifer Hudson while appearing on her talk show that the show’s casting director had already been through a lot of actresses. They didn’t know if she was a good fit for the role. She called Tichina Arnold, her good friend and “Martin” co-star, for the sides and then practiced for the part. Her agent accused her of ruining her career by crashing the audition. “I totally snuck in, but do not follow my lead! Do not sneak in, y’all!” she said.

Before appearing in “My Wife and Kids,” Campbell-Martin showed up in the one-season wonder cult ’80’s sitcom “Rags to Riches,” played Chiffon in “Little Shop of Horrors,”  was Jane in “School Daze,” and appeared as Sidney in the “House Party” series of films. After the sitcom ended, she recurred on “All of Us” as Carmen James. She supported Nicole Sullivan as Patty in the Lifetime sitcom “Rita Rocks,” and played Miss Reznick in the seminal Disney Channel film “Lemonade Mouth.” In “Dr. Ken,” she played Damona. For five episodes, she recurred as Brooke on “Empire” and appeared in six episodes of “Last Man Standing” as Carol. She voiced Gigi in “Inside Job” and was Keisha in “Act Your Age.” More recently, she reprised her role as Peaches for Comedy Central’s animated reboot of “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Everybody Still Hates Chris.” She also voices Tawny Young for HBO’s “Harley Quinn” and “Kite Man: Hell Yeah!”

George O. Gore II may be best known for his role as Junior on “My Wife and Kids,” but he’s continued to work behind the scenes in Hollywood as a writer since the show concluded, having forsaken his acting career a while back. Before “My Wife and Kids,” he was Brian in the gangster epic “Juice,” Gregory “G” Williams in “New York Undercover” and Billy in the family film “The Bumblebee Files Away.” After the sitcom wrapped, Gore voiced D-Rock in the “Thugaboo” series of TV films, “Thugaboo: Sneaker Madness” and “Thugaboo: A Miracle on D-Rock’s Street.” He played Ray in the dance movie parody film “Dance Flick” and appeared as a fictionalized version of himself in “Second Generation Wayans,” on which he also worked as a co-executive producer.

From there, he has continued to move behind the camera and take up life as a screenwriter — thus far, he has co-conceived and co-wrote “Sneakerella,” a 2022 Disney Channel film that moves “Cinderella” to New York City and gives it a fresh, modern spin. He also knows his way around a lens: He directed two episodes of “My Wife and Kids” during the show’s run. His social media has been quiet for some time, so perhaps he’s enjoying a much more quiet personal life.

The first actress to take on the mantle of playing Claire, Jazz Raycole ended up being replaced after a single season as the Kyles’ moody eldest daughter after picking up a smattering of credits in sitcoms like “Malcom and Eddie” and “Ellen.” The reason for her dismissal was simply a matter of the show’s producers wanting to take the character in a more mature direction. “I was 12 years old when I got that job. The producers wanted a different thing, they wanted someone a little bit older,” she later explained to The Christian Post.

Raycole returned to dancing in New York City, but would soon be back in Hollywood, where she attained a steady stream of credits. She played Allison Hawkins in “Jericho,” Zoe in “Vanity,” and Lyric in “The Soul Man.” She graduated to playing adults, starring as Sydney in “The Quad” and Winnie in “I Ship It.” 

Currently, she’s on “The Lincoln Lawyer” as Izzy Letts, which was renewed for a fourth season in 2025. Raycole admitted to relating to Izzy, a former dancer who battles drug addiction to become a driver for defense attorney Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), the titular Lincoln Lawyer. “I love that she is an addict. Because I don’t think that’s shown on screen a lot unless it’s really particularly about addiction. So, I love the fact that she kind of has her own little redemption story. She’s a cool chick, and she dances, and I’m a dancer. So, I mean … what’s not to like?” the actress told MovieWeb.

Jennifer Nicole Freeman took on the unenviable task of making Claire Kyle her own midstream as producers attempted to age up the character by casting her. While playing Claire, Freeman also popped up in two big-screen hits: She played Jill in “Johnson Family Vacation” and Liyah in “You Got Served.” After the show wrapped, she guested in “The O.C.” and “One On One.” She snagged the co-lead in the direct-to-DVD action-disaster film “Falling Away” with Tony Todd and appeared in many BET-exclusive and direct-to-streaming Christmas movies like “Throwback Holiday,” “Kiss Me For Christmas,” “The Business of Christmas,” “My Christmas Fiancé,” and “Beaus of Holly.” In most of these romances, she plays the leading lady, looking for love and affinity over the Christmas season.

More recently, she was a regular on the Urbanflix series “Pump,” played Cassandra in “Be Somebody,” and appeared in “The Black Hamptons” as Kimberly. Freeman has continued her Christmas season supremacy by appearing in flicks like “Blended Christmas” and “A Royal Christmas Surprise.” She appeared in both “Paradies” sequels and was Maya in “Angie’s Curse.” It looks like her career continues to truck successfully along.

Parker McKenna Posey was very tiny when she took on the duty of playing the ever-sassy Kady Kyle in “My Wife and Kids,” but she’s stuck with the entertainment industry and has added designer, philanthropist, and mom to her resume.  

Immediately after “My Wife and Kids” wrapped, Posey began to play adolescents, including in “Alice Upside Down,” “Summer Camp,” and “Lucky Girl.” She appeared as Laila James in “Games People Play,” BET’s original series about female athletes. She moved on to the long-lived “A House Divided,” an ALLBLK exclusive program, where she portrayed Summer. “A House Divided” was a multigenerational nighttime soap opera which followed the descendants of Letty Sanders, who rises from a life of slavery to become the richest black woman in Los Angeles in the 1800s. The series follows the wild, bed-hopping, power-brokering antics of Letty’s descendants in the modern era. 

Posey has since appeared in a set of thrillers: The “Rock the Boat” series of films, which have been Tubi exclusives, “The Assistant 2,” “Incision” and “Wake.” It looks like she’s managed to carve out quite the career for herself without losing any of the biting wit that made her so famous as Kady.

Like Jazz Raycole before her, Megan Good only played Vanessa Scott, Junior’s girlfriend and future wife, for a brief period of time, but she went on to a lively career that quite surpassed her “My Wife and Kids” fame. Good got her start as a child actress, playing older sister Cisely Batiste in “Eve’s Bayou.” She went on to appear in a number of movies, such as “Deliver us from Eva,” and also recurred on “Cousin Skeeter,” “The Jersey,” and “Raising Dad.” 

After her brief time on “My Wife and Kids,” Good’s career exploded. She appeared as Max in “D.E.B.S.,” Beautifull in “You Got Served,” Naomi in “Roll Bounce,” and April in “Stomp the Yard.” She slowly moved into playing adult roles in films such as “Saw V,” “One Missed Call” and the “Think Like a Man” series. She played Kali in “Californication,” was Linda Jackson in “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” and brought to life Joanna in “Deception.” She played Lara in the television version of “Minority Report” for 10 episodes, and was the adult superheroine version of Darla in both “Shazam!” movies. She also guested on Fox’s “Star.” 

Most recently, she appeared in Prime Video’s “Harlem” as Camille, which was recently renewed for a third season, slated to be the comedy series’ last. The show follows three college friends as they live and love together in the titular neighborhood, entering their 30s with aplomb.

The daughter of hitmaking disco queen Donna Summer, Brooklyn Sudano’s first acting role was playing the second version of Vanessa in “My Wife and Kids,” but it was by no means her final part. When the sitcom ended, she portrayed Rain Arnold in the live-action adaptation of V.C. Andrews’ “Rain,” then moved on to appearing in a wide variety of procedurals, such as “CSI: NY,” “Without a Trace,” and “The Unit.” She was Asha in the TV show “Taken,” and showed up in the romantic film “With this Ring.” 

More recently, Sudano played Angela in the first season of “Cruel Summer,” Deena in “Grand Crew,” and Dana Marks in the telefilm “Every Breath She Takes.” On top of that, she occasionally appears in documentaries and movies related to her mother. She recently co-directed a documentary about her mom as well as producing it — “Love to Love You: Donna Summer” — which made its bow on HBO and aired on Max. It looks like she’s got quite a career on her hands, and it’s all thanks to her time on one simple sitcom.

Noah Gray-Cabey was once known at the adorable, highly intelligent little fellow (and best friend of Kady) Franklin Aloysius Mumford III. He played the character throughout “My Wife and Kids,” and afterwards moved on to a bunch of teenage roles. He was Joe Dury in “Lady in the Water” and, more famously, Micha Sanders in “Heroes.” He appeared in “Heroes Reborn” and “Code Black” as a regular, reprising his part as Micha in the latter. 

He was a regular on “Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists” as Mason, and recurred as Fausto from Season 3 to Season 5 of “All American.” As of press time, he hasn’t acted since 2023’s “Fog City,” although, as of his most recent social media post back in 2020, he’s been working on a script. Perhaps he’s concentrating on music — all of that piano playing Franklin does on the show were done by Gray-Gabey, who is a certified musical prodigy.  At the age of 5, he became the youngest person ever to solo at the Sydney Opera House with a full orchestra. That’s a mind that ought to be appreciated, just like Franklin’s.

Andrew Macfarlane mainly played Tony Jeffers on the show — Claire’s boyfriend who was more interested in being friends with Junior and hanging out instead of romancing her. Macfarlane had played another Anthony — Anthony Marcus — on “The West Wing” before he joined the show. He also appeared in “Lizzie Maguire” and “The Bernie Mac Show.”

Macfarlane’s post-“My Wife And Kids” life has turned out to be quite interesting. His acting career was fairly sparse after the show wrapped; he showed up in “The Jake Effect,” “Just Peck,” and was another veteran of the sitcom to appear in “Dance Flick.” He was, most prominently, Jason in “The Secret Life of The American Teenager” for 14 episodes. While he hasn’t acted since 2011, he’s got a very active Instagram presence where he details his musical career and his entrepreneurship. As of this writing, he owns or consults for multiple restaurants and business. These include Pizza Cult, a restaurant in Bali; Soma House, a hotel in California; and the start-up business called Start a Juice Bar, which helps customers … well, start a juice bar.