Free Willy is regarded as a major cultural landmark by children who grew up in the 1990s. Two sequels (and a direct-to-DVD episode that’s best forgotten) to the socially conscious, family-friendly movie about a troubled orphan who befriends and ultimately frees a caged whale named Willy Keiko were also released. They captivated kids everywhere, all over the world.
What have the cast been up to since the production of Free Willy?
Nearly 25 years later, Free Willy still motivates young viewers.
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Ms. Rae-Lori Petty.
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What the current cast of Free Willy looks like.
Lori Petty had a lot of experience with aquatic species before she began working as the marine biologist Rae in Free Willy. Petty was in high gear as a result of his two crucial roles in A League of Their Own and Point Break. Her career received a further boost thanks to Free Willy, and a few years later, the lead role in Tank Girl catapulted her to cult status.
As opportunities dried up, Petty was left with no choice but to work on small, low-budget independent films and TV guest roles on series like Star Trek Voyager and NYPD Blue. Petty studied Penny Marshall and Kathryn Bigelow because she was interested in directing, and in 2008 she created and directed The Poker House, starring Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence.
Reviews for the movie, which had its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival, were generally negative, though some praised it for dealing with such a sensitive and intensely personal subject.
Petty is currently starring in the popular Netflix series Orange is the New Black as Lolly Whitehill, a paranoid, schizophrenic prisoner who is a favorite of the audience.
As Annie Greenwood, Jayne Atkinson.
The current cast of Free Willy.
Jayne Atkinson was well-prepared for her role as foster mother Annie Greenwood in the film Free Willy because she had previously played sympathetic mothers.
Actor Atkinson was raised in Connecticut after being born in England.
Prior to appearing in the family film, she portrayed Lindley Eisenberg, a new mother, in the NBC drama series A Year in the Life and the matriarch Karen Buckman in the one-season 1990 TV series Parenthood.
She first played a different mother in Blank Check after the success of Free Willy, and then she made a comeback in Free Willy 2.
Atkinson began her career in theater, and she continues to frequently appear both on and off Broadway as well as in significant regional productions. She and her husband met while costarring in The Heiress at the Long Wharf Theatre in 1989. She’s been nominated twice for the Tony Award for Best Actress.
She did appear in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village and the Oscar-winning drama Syriana, but since Free Willy 2, the majority of her on-screen time has been spent on television. She has had significant roles on 24 and Criminal Minds in addition to her current leading role as Secretary of State Cathy Durant in Netflix’s critically acclaimed political drama House of Cards.
Michael Madsen plays Glen Greenwood.
The current cast of Free Willy.
Michael Madsen was probably the Free Willy cast member who garnered the most attention, aside from co-star Lori Petty. By the time he played mechanic Glen Greenwood in Free Willy, the incredibly busy actor had already established himself as Mr. Dot Blonde in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and the love interest in Thelma and Louise.
He was glad to have the Free Willy films to “balance out” his evil people, but chose to pass on Free Willy 3 in favor of other projects and returned for Free Willy 2.
For more than 35 years, Chicago-born Madsen, Virginia Madsen’s older sibling, has consistently contributed to films and television programs. He currently has around 300 credits.
Tarantino and Madsen worked together once more on Kill Bill Vols. The Hateful Eight, 1 and 2, and 2. The stylish Sin City, Donnie Brasco, in which he played a mafioso opposite Johnny Depp and Al Pacino, and the Bond movie Die Another Day, in which he made a fleeting appearance alongside his friend and neighbor Pierce Brosnan, were some of the other roles he played. Although many of his movies are undoubtedly of the B-movie caliber, the actor still works and promotes his hot sauces.
Dial for Michael Ironside.
What the current cast of Free Willy looks like.
Michael Ironside fits the mold of the “working actor” stereotype in a similar way to Michael Madsen. The veteran character actor has carved out a successful career playing villains like Free Willy’s Dial in films like David Cronenberg’s Scanners, Top Gun, Extreme Prejudice, and the science fiction classic Total Recall.
Although he frequently plays characters who have passed away, Ironside’s phone never stops ringing with job inquiries. Since the release of Free Willy, he has maintained a consistent work schedule, making appearances on ER, Desperate Housewives, Starship Troopers, Smallville, and X-Men: First Class. According to his IMDb bio, he has nine projects currently in various stages of production.
Wade, Richard R.
What the current cast of Free Willy looks like.
Richard Riehle is undoubtedly someone you are familiar with, even if you don’t know his name. Free Willy was just one of many supporting roles that the character actor has played over the course of his more than 40-year career and more than 350 film and television appearances.
He ended up attending graduate theater school because he stumbled into acting during his senior year of college to earn the credits he needed to graduate.
His acting career has been built around playing the big, mustachioed sidekick in a variety of TV shows and movies, including The West Wing, Ally McBeal, The Fugitive, Martin Scorsese’s mob drama Casino, Lethal Weapon 4, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D, and even as Ed Rooney in a TV adaptation of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Glory, in which he played the Quartermaster alongside Matthew Broderick, gave him his big break.
He starred as the endearing IT expert Tom Smykowski in the cult comedy Office Space, and as the mechanic Bill Cozbi in Kristen Wiig’s 2011 smash hit comedy Bridesmaids, where he charmed Jill Clayburgh.
Riehle maintains a busy schedule in front of the camera and on stage, where he has performed in both off-Broadway productions and on Broadway. With over a dozen projects in the works, he doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. He stated, “I feel great when I work, and that doesn’t even have to stop,” in his alumni magazine. ”.
As Mykelti Williamson, Dwight.
The current cast of Free Willy.
Before assuming the role of Dwight in Free Willy, Mykelti Williamson played a number of other police officers. He had a prominent supporting role on Hill Street Blues before that. He appeared as a police officer in a minor capacity in both the horror film The First Power and the television film Police Story: Monster Manor. After his Free Willy performance, his portrayal of the endearing shrimp boat captain Bubba in Forrest Gump stands out as his most enduring performance.
Williamson went on a tear, making appearances in the 90s classics Heat, Waiting to Exhale, Con-Air, and Primary Colors after making a comeback as Dwight in Free Willy 2. He has remained active in programs like 24 and CSI: NY.
Williamson has been acting for more than 50 years, but ten years before he played Forrest Gump, he worked as a contractor on the side, remodeling bathrooms and kitchens.
He takes pleasure in holding a second job and is the founder and marketer of the cooking spice business BubbaStyle. The most recent project Williamson worked on with his Broadway co-stars Denzel Washington and Viola Davis was the 2016 Oscar-winning Fences film.
Randolph Johnson as August Schellenberg.
a current photo of the cast of Free Willy.
The other actor, a Canadian actor by the name of August Schellenberg, didn’t appear in all three Free Willy films; Richter did. Before he got his big break in Free Willy, Schellenberg had a long history of reliable employment in American and Canadian film and television.
He had voiced characters in The Adventures of Tintin and The Equalizer and appeared in episodes of The Equalizer and Counterstrike. Prior to starring in their respective roles in Free Willy, Michael Ironside and Schellenberg collaborated on the 1983 thriller Cross Country.
Son of a Mohawk mother and a Swiss father, Schellenberg primarily portrayed characters with Native American heritage, including Sitting Bull in Terrence Malick’s Crazy Horse and Powhatan with Colin Farrell and Christian Bale in The New World from 2005.
In the highly regarded HBO film Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee from 2007, Schellenberg played Sitting Bull once more, earning him an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
The National Theatre School of Canada is where Schellenberg received a classical education and began a long career in theater. Additionally, she has conducted workshops for Native actors across the country of Canada. He loved to box, and he traveled the United States and Canada giving motivational speeches. Lung cancer claimed Schellenberg’s life in 2013.
Jesse is played by Jason James Richter.
The current cast of Free Willy.
Jason James Richter, then just 13 years old, beat out 4,000 other hopefuls to play the troubled orphan boy Jesse in the 1993 family movie. Richter’s first acting role came with this.
The casting directors gave Richter, who was at the time an unknown, the nickname “Young Steve McQueen” after he showed up to the audition with a frown, ragged pants, and unruly hair. The movie’s $153M worldwide box office take helped Richter quickly establish himself as a rising young star and teen heartthrob.
After the initial film’s release, Richter claimed to have gotten 500 fan letters on average every week.
He later appeared in the two sequels Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home and Free Willy 3: The Rescue, but neither movie was as well received by critics or as successful financially as the original.
After that, he participated in The Neverending Story III and made guest appearances on several TV shows, including Sabrina the Teenage Witch and The Client, before giving up acting at the age of 18 to play bass guitar in the band Fermata.
After years of extensive cross-country touring, Richter has returned to acting, focusing on independent movies, plays in the Los Angeles area, and guest roles on Criminal Minds and Bones.
