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There are many things to feel nostalgic about and your former favorite TV shows are one of them. There used to be nothing like TGIF or curling up with the good old WB Channel to watch Dawson's Creek and Felicity. And how great is it that so many "old" shows like Blossom and Buffy are currently streaming on some platform somewhere?
The stars of these shows were, at one time, unable to go anywhere without being recognized (some still are) and they were bringing in some serious cash, especially considering how young some of them were. But where are they now and are they still making as good a living?
Kerri Russell
Wikimedia Commons
Like many of her peers (Ryan Gosling and Britney Spears to name a few) Keri Russell started her acting career on the All-New Mickey Mouse Club when she was 15-years-old. Just a year later, she booked a role in her first major movie, Honey, I Blew Up the Kids. She went on to appear on Boy Meets World, Married... with Children and in a Bon Jovi music video. She got her breakthrough role when she was 22-years-old - the title role in the WB series, Felicity, for which she went onto win an Emmy Award. Following Felicity, Keri did a lot of stage acting, landed a brand endorsement deal with CoverGirl cosmetics and appeared in numerous movies like Adam Sandler's Bedtime Stories and Waitress. In 2013, she started playing Elizabeth Jennings in FX's The Americans, which ran for six seasons, ending in 2018. Celebrity Net Worth reported that Keri made $100,000 per episode for her staring role on the show. Most recently, she appeared in Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. According to Town & Country, Kerri currently lives in Brooklyn Heights with her partner and former The Americans co-star Matthew Rhys, her three children and has an estimated net worth of $12 million.
James Van Der Beek
When he was only 20, James Van Der Beek landed the life changing role of Dawson Leary on Dawson's Creek. The show ran for six seasons and ended in 2004. Even though the show was quite popular and James Van Der Beek was a household name, he claims that the show "paid almost nothing" due to the fact that he signed a "bad contract", according to Showbiz Cheat Sheet. Despite this and the fact that Van Der Beek has said that there was no residual money from Dawson's Creek and that his money from the show ran out years ago, he still has an estimated net worth of $8 million. This is thanks to multiple television and movie credits such as Varsity Blues, Scary Movie, Ugly Betty, How I Met Your Mother, Don't Trust the B-- In Apartment 23 and What Would Diplo Do, which he stared in and created. He also competed on Dancing with the Stars in 2019. He is the father of five children and recently traded in his LA life for a large property in Austin, Texas that has a barn and several cabins.
Mayim Bialik
Mayim Bialik got her start at just 12-years-old playing Bette Midler's character as a child in the movie Beaches. Soon after that she landed the title role of the popular show Blossom, which ran on NBC for five seasons. The show ended in 1995, but Mayim's career was just getting started. She went on to voice characters in animated projects such as Hey Arnold, Extreme Ghostbusters and Kim Possible. She was on three episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and guest-starred on numerous TV shows, including Fat Actress, Bones and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Mayim then become a guest star on The Big Bang Theory before getting promoted to a series regular during the show's fourth season. According to Celebrity Net Worth, she appeared in 203 episodes and made $200,000 an episode (that's roughly $4.5 million per season). That is until the show's final two seasons when the five main stars agreed to take a pay cut so that Mayim's salary could go up to $450,000 per episode, roughly $10 million a season. Not only has Mayim had a busy acting career, but she is also a neuroscientist, a published author and the co-founder of a non-profit, all of which contribute to her estimated net worth of $25 million.
Christine Lakin
While her name may not be as recognizable as the others on the list, you certainly know Christine Lakin as Alicia (Al) Lambert from Step By Step. After the show was cancelled, Christine went on to appear in television movies for Showtime, a Bud Light commercial that aired during Super Bowl XLI and The Hottie and the Nottie alongside Paris Hilton. She voiced a character in The Walking Dead: Season Two video game and is now the voice of news anchor Joyce Kinney on Family Guy. Christine is also a writer and has sold scripted content to MTV and Hulu. Her podcast, Worst Ever, can be found on AudioBoom and iTunes. According to Idol Net Worth she has an estimated net worth of $3 million.
Jaleel White
You know him for asking the popular question "did I do that?" countless times on Family Matters in the 1990's and he now has an estimated net worth of $8 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Jaleel White is best known for playing Steve Urkel for nine seasons. His character's popularity inspired a doll and Urkel-O's cereal. He also reprised the role on Full House and Step By Step. He is also a writer (he actually wrote two episodes of Family Matters), has acted in more than 20 films and has guest stared on Boston Legal, Psych, House and Castle. Jaleel was the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic's Christmas Blast and Sonic Underground. He also wrote, produced and starred in a web series called Fake It Till You Make It and competed on Dancing with the Stars. Most recently, he landed a recurring role on Netflix's The Big Show Show.
Sources: Celebrity Net Worth, Town & Country, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Celebrity Net Worth, Idol Net Worth, Celebrity Net Worth,
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