'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' Cast: Where Are They Now?

Fast Times': Where Are They Now?

Hey bud ... let's party! It's 1982, and Sean Penn is a stoner, Judge Reinhold is a dork in a pirate's outfit, and Phoebe Cates launches a thousand teenage fantasies just by climbing out of a pool. (Well, not JUST that.)

Celebrate the 25th anniversary of 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' with a look at what those crazy kids have been up to since high school.



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Sean Penn

Then: Penn totally nailed the surfer-dude patois to play Jeff Spicoli, stoner extraordinaire. Want pizza in American history class? Spicoli's your guy. Don't think the classroom's an appropriate venue for your munchies delivery? Dude, that's just bogus.

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Sean Penn

Now: Who woulda thunk it? The actor who started out as Spicoli grew up to be Sean Penn, super-serious, Oscar-winning actor ('Mystic River'), controversy-courting political activist (he recently visited Venezuelan prez Hugo Chavez) and family man (he and wife Robin Wright Penn have two kids).

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Jennifer Jason Leigh

Then: She was Stacy Hamilton, the smart but shy wallflower with low self-esteem (you know, the kind of girl who becomes a successful lawyer and shows everyone up at the reunion). She went "all the way" with her boyfriend's best friend Mike (Robert Romanus), with disastrous results.

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Jennifer Jason Leigh

Now: Like we imagine her 'Fast Times' character, Leigh grew up to be cool, excelling in indie ('Georgia') and mainstream film ('Single White Female'); but amazingly, Oscar has never looked her way. She's married to director Noah Baumbach ('Squid and the Whale') and stars in his next movie, 'Margot at the Wedding.'

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Judge Reinhold

Then: In his first major film role, Reinhold played Stacy's brother Brad, a popular high school senior who took his job at the local burger joint just a little too seriously. In one of the film's most memorable scenes, he pleasured himself while fantasizing about a topless Phoebe Cates. Hey, we can't blame him.

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Judge Reinhold

Now: Most recently, he appeared in the 'Santa Clause' films, and he'll co-star in the 2008 Kevin Costner vehicle 'Swing Vote.' He also earned major cool points for his stint on 'Arrested Development,' in which he played the star of a TV show called 'Mock Trial With J. Reinhold.' Verdict: He's guilty ... of being awesome.

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Phoebe Cates

Then: She became an instant sex symbol after starring as sexpot Linda Barrett in 'Fast Times.' This was thanks in no small part to a legendary fantasy sequence in which she climbed out of a pool dripping wet and removed her red bikini top in slow motion -- all to the sounds of The Cars' 'Moving in Stereo.'

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Phoebe Cates

Now: Though she's only been in one film since the early '90s, 2001's 'The Anniversary Party,' she's kept busy raising two kids with husband Kevin Kline. Their son Owen Kline's an actor, too, having earned raves in 'Squid and the Whale' after director Noah Baumbach's wife -- Cates' co-star Leigh -- suggested him for the role.

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Ray Walston

Then: Walston wasn't shy about admitting regrets for starring in 'My Favorite Martian,' which made him a household name but typecast him as an alien. Good thing some of us are too young to remember, and know Walston best as Mr. Hand, a history teacher whose dislikes included truancy, marijuana and Jeff Spicoli.

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