What The Cast Of Risky Business Looks Like Today

The 1983 teen sex comedy-drama "Risky Business" tells the story of high school student Joel Goodsen (Tom Cruise), who's pressured by his parents to strive for perfection and become a business student at Princeton. However, his chances at achieving that are jeopardized when he is left home alone for a few weeks, during which he winds up sinking his dad's Porsche in the river and losing his mom's priceless crystal egg. The only option he seems to have left is to open his house up for a night of profitable prostitution.

The film was a breakout hit for Cruise, whose iconic lip-syncing performance while wearing nothing but a pink button-up, socks, and underwear slid him straight into instantaneous stardom. The immensely popular film would go on to gross over 10 times its $6 million budget and earn its place as one of the signature films of the '80s.

Nearly four decades after its release, you might be wondering just what happened to the actors behind one of the best teen comedies of all time. If you'd like to find out what the cast of "Risky Business" looks like today, feel free to take this article for a spin. Just be sure to have it back in the garage before your parents get home.

When Joel Goodsen is home alone, he decides to call a prostitute. That night, the lovely Lana arrives at his house and spends the night. When he leaves the following morning to get money from the bank to pay Lana, he returns home to find himself robbed. Tracking her down, the two wind up going into business together while possibly falling in love in the process.

While her character in "Risky Business" seems to have a head for numbers, Rebecca De Mornay in real life seems to have quite the knack for show business. She went on to star in everything from intense thrillers like "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" and "Identity" to raunchy comedies like "Wedding Crashers" and "American Reunion," with her most recent film being the 2020 Nick Cannon effort "She Ball."

De Mornay has also dominated television screens for years, recreating the role that Shelley Duvall made famous in the 1980 horror classic "The Shining" for the 1997 miniseries version, as well as landing recurring roles on popular shows like "ER," "Jessica Jones," and "Lucifer."

When Joel goes to confront Lana about her stealing his mother's glass egg, they wind up having to make a quick getaway from Lana's previous employer, a pimp named Guido. Unhappy that Joel seems to be encroaching on his business, Guido aims to get his women back and enact revenge on Joel in the process.

Joe Pantoliano's performance as Guido was a breakthrough role for the accomplished actor who would soon afterwards appear in the '80s classic "The Goonies," the Robert De Niro comedy "Midnight Run," the Tommy Lee Jones action thriller "The Fugitive," and director Christopher Nolan's narratively twisty "Memento." This led to Pantoliano regularly appearing in projects for the Wachowskis, as the male lead in their directorial debut "Bound," the steak-eating Cypher in "The Matrix," and Will Gorski's dad Michael in the Netflix series "Sense8." Elsewhere on television, Pantoliano won an Emmy for his performance as Ralph Cifaretto on "The Sopranos."

In 2006, Pantoliano wrote and directed his first documentary "No Kidding! Me 2!!" which aimed to help destigmatize mental illness, a cause he continues to champion with his non-profit organization of the same name. In 2020, he was struck by a car and suffered a severe head injury, but that hasn't kept him from acting. The same year, he appeared for the third time as Captain Conrad Howard in "Bad Boys For Life," and will reunite with his "Bound" co-stars Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon for the next season of Syfy's "Chucky."

While Joel is hosting a plethora of prostitutes at his house for a one-night-only event, Bill Rutherford, a representative from Princeton University, arrives to interview Joel to see how he would fit in at the college. Will Joel be able to convince Rutherford of his Princeton qualifications or is it more likely that he'll have to go to the University of Illinois instead?

Richard Masur has had an incredible career with nearly 150 credits to his name. Masur has appeared in everything from the classic horror film "The Thing" to the Michael Keaton clone comedy "Multiplicity" to the Stephen King miniseries "It." On television, he's had recurring roles on classic sitcoms like "Rhoda" and "One Day at a Time," the soap opera "All My Children," and the streaming series "Transparent" and "Orange is the New Black."

With the varied career Masur has had, it's no surprise that he was elected the president of the Screen Actors Guild twice in a row, serving in that role from 1995 to 1999. He continues to appear in countless films and TV, most recently landing another recurring role on the TV Land series "Younger" and a couple of guest spots on "Magnum P.I." and "Bull."

Joel and his friend Barry are both members of Future Enterprisers, a school group intended to train future business owners. Barry seems to do most of the school work, making a memo device for the class, while Joel utilizes his business knowledge to make real money to pay for repairs to his father's sunken Porsche.

Bronson Pinchot made his film debut in 1983's "Risky Business" and followed it up with a scene-stealing performance in 1984's "Beverly Hills Cop." Pinchot landed his most popular role in 1986, as the fish-out-of-water American immigrant Balki Bartokomous in the hit ABC sitcom "Perfect Strangers." He went on to appear in an eclectic array of films like "True Romance," "The First Wives Club," and "The All New Adventures of Laurel and Hardy in For Love or Mummy."

After his television success on "Perfect Strangers," Pinchot also appeared in the Stephen King miniseries "The Langoliers," the sitcom "Step By Step," and his own home remodeling show "The Bronson Pinchot Project." More recently, he was seen as the school principal on "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" and in the quirky crime drama "Clowning."

Miles Dalby inspires his friend Joel to live a more carefree life by first relaying his own personal words of wisdom, then by forcibly setting him up on a date with a call girl. Miles begins to regret his help when he winds up in a car being chased by a dangerous pimp and sees his friend beginning to make some poor decisions.

While Curtis Armstrong's film debut in "Risky Business" was a big deal, the following year he landed his most popular role as Dudley "Booger" Dawson in "Revenge of the Nerds," a role he played in four films through 1994. Along the way, he also landed major roles in the cult classic "Better Off Dead," its spiritual successor "One Crazy Summer," and the hit television series "Moonlighting."

Armstrong has frequently appeared in comedies like "Jingle All the Way," "Van Wilder," and "DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story," as well as the occasional drama like the musical biopic "Ray" and the critically acclaimed "Akeelah and the Bee." On television, he landed recurring roles in "The Closer," "New Girl," and "Supernatural." Armstrong is also a talented voice actor, lending his voice to Snot in "American Dad!," Dan in "Dan Vs.," the titular robot in "Robot and Monster," Ezekiel the Cockroach in "Doom Patrol," and Mr. Crummyham in "Monsters at Work."

Joel's father (Nicholas Pryor) expects his son to get accepted into Princeton, not adjust his very expensive stereo, and leave his Porsche alone. Successfully putting Joel under an immense amount of pressure, Mr. Goodsen leaves with his wife on vacation, trusting that Joel will take great care of the house in his absence.

Prior to "Risky Business," Nicholas Pryor appeared in soap operas like "Another World," "The Nurses," and "All My Children" in addition to films like "The Happy Hooker," "Damien: Omen II," and "Airplane!" Afterwards, he continued to rack up film and television roles including the part of Robert Downey Jr.'s father in "Less Than Zero" and recurring roles in "Beverly Hills 90210," "Party of Five," and "Port Charles."

Pryor continues strong to this day, most recently appearing in the films "Doctor Sleep" and "Halloween Kills," as well as playing Baron Zemo's butler Oeznik in the Disney+ Marvel series "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier."

After letting Lana stay the night at his house following her departure from her pimp Guido, Joel returns home from school the following day to see that his friend Glenn has appeared to enjoy some illicit business. He soon discovers it wasn't with Lana, but with Lana's friend Vicki, who has also separated herself from Guido and settled into Joel's house.

While not as prolific as some of the other actors in "Risky Business," Shera Danese has the distinct honor of being the actress who appeared in the most episodes of "Columbo." There's a very good reason for this as well, considering she was the wife of "Columbo" star Peter Falk. She featured in her first episode while they were still dating in 1976, her second after they were married in 1977, and continued popping up all the way through 1997.

Danese also appeared alongside her husband in 2000's "Enemies of Laughter" and 2005's "Checking Out." Without Falk, she also had roles in the 2006 crime drama "Alpha Dogs" and a 2010 episode of "Cold Case." After the passing of her husband in 2011, it seems like Danese has retired from acting.

Rounding out the trio of Joel's best friends is Glenn, who uses Joel's house on multiple occasions to sneak away and have sex — initially with his girlfriend, interrupting Joel and Barry's business studies, and later with Lana's prostitute friend Vicki.

Raphael Sbarge went on to appear in films like "My Science Project," "Carnosaur," and "Pearl Harbor." He fared even better on television, playing Michael Jonas in "Star Trek: Voyager," Jake Straka in "The Guardian," and Dr. Archie Hopper and the voice of Jiminy Cricket in "Once Upon a Time." Sbarge also took a step behind the scenes to direct multiple web series, including "On Begley Street," which followed Ed Begley Jr. as he pursued making his home more environmentally friendly.

His latest feature film role was in the 2020 horror movie "There's No Such Thing as Vampires," while in 2022, he guest-starred on episodes of "The Resident," "1883," "The Rookie," and "Gaslit."

Joel's friend Miles calls an escort named Jackie to spend the night with Joel, but when the transgender prostitute arrives, Joel declines and says there was a mistake. What could easily have been a transphobic (and possibly racist) joke manages to mostly avoid this by Joel and Jackie having a polite conversation that ultimately results in Jackie rightfully getting compensated for her time and Joel getting a recommendation for someone he might prefer. She even helps him later in the film when he's tracking down his missing crystal egg.

Bruce A. Young went on to co-star with George Clooney in the 1984 sitcom "E/R," based on a play he had co-written (no relation to the show "ER," which later rocketed Clooney to fame). After that Young appeared in hit films like "The Color of Money," "Basic Instinct," and "Jurassic Park III." In addition to his film and television acting roles, he co-wrote the 1996 fantasy film "The Lord Protector."

Most recently, Young appeared as Borrada in the 2015 "Star Trek" fan film "Renegades," and in 2017 played Admiral Armstrong in the web series spin-off.

"Risky Business" occasionally drops us into the mind of Joel Goodsen as we witness his dreams and fantasies. These scenarios usually fall apart in anxiety-inducing catastrophes. One of these involves Joel attempting to seduce Kessler, a babysitter he knows. But as soon as he begins to make his moves, the police, Joel's parents, and Kessler's parents all arrive to dampen the mood.

After her film debut as Kessler in "Risky Business," Sarah Partridge made a few minor appearances in films and television series, though her voice would lead her to far more success. Partridge has provided voices for characters in animated fare like "My Little Pony," "Darkwing Duck," and most recently "Tuttle Twins."

But her real vocal talent was found in singing. In 1998, Partridge released her first jazz album, "I'll Be Easy to Find." Six albums followed soon after and a Christmas album is scheduled to be released in October 2022.

When Joel crashes his father's Porsche into a river, he finds himself suddenly strapped for cash. Finally relenting to Lana's suggestion of utilizing his house as a center for business, Joel plans a one-night event that fills his house with lonely men and beautiful call girls.

One of the many call girl extras who can be glimpsed briefly in the background of the party is two-time Emmy winner Megan Mullally. The brief background work in "Risky Business" is her first credited feature film performance, but she went on to appear more prominently in films like "Stealing Harvard," "The Kings of Summer," and 2022's "Crush."

Of course, Mullally is much better known for her television work, most prominently in her role as Karen Walker in the 1998 NBC sitcom "Will and Grace" as well as its 2017 revival. She also had featured roles in "Party Down," "Childrens Hospital," and "Breaking In," while famously appearing alongside her husband Nick Offerman as his fictional ex-wife Tammy in "Parks and Recreation." Next up, she'll star in the Disney+ original series "Percy Jackson and the Olympians."

One of the first things Joel does when his parents are away is take his father's Porsche out for a joy ride. Sexy music plays as the car reverses out of the garage, only to abruptly stop as the car almost immediately stalls. Restarting the car, the music picks up where it left off and Joel and his friend Barry head off into the night.

While you may think this was a scripted scene, you'd be wrong. You'd also be wrong if you thought Tom Cruise's Porsche passenger was Bronson Pinchot. In fact, as pointed out on the film's DVD commentary, it was Tom Cruise's friend and fellow actor Sean Penn. The two had met while working on the film "Taps," so Penn came out to visit Cruise during filming. Penn jumped in the car before filming started and was joking around with Cruise, making him so distracted that he stalled the car, resulting in the iconic scene.

Penn had his breakout role the previous year in 1982's "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and went on to star in countless films, winning Oscars for his work in 2003's "Mystic River" and 2008's "Milk." Most recently, he can be seen in 2021's "Licorice Pizza" and the 2022 Starz series "Gaslit." 1991 saw the release of his first film as a writer and director, "The Indian Runner," and he has continued to work behind the scenes, most recently directing 2021's "Flag Day."

While Tom Cruise had previously appeared in "Taps" and "The Outsiders," his Golden Globe-nominated role as a high school student turned pimp in "Risky Business" was the one that put him in the big leagues. Soon he was taking to the skies in "Top Gun," hustling pool players in "The Color of Money," and taking care of his autistic brother in "Rain Man." Nearly every movie he made following "Risky Business" was either a financial or critical hit and frequently both.

Cruise was nominated for three Academy Awards for "Born on the Fourth of July," "Jerry Maguire," and "Magnolia." He also won three Golden Globes for the same roles, though in 2021, he returned the awards due to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's lack of diversity and other ethical concerns.

Despite his sometimes controversial public life, Cruise continues to dominate the box office in films like the ongoing "Mission: Impossible" series, which has earned over a billion dollars worldwide, and the 2022 sequel "Top Gun: Maverick," which has also grossed over a billion dollars all on its own.

Mrs. Goodsen joins her husband on vacation, worried that Joel will forget the date and time of their return home but trusting him not to get into any trouble. While she's away, she makes sure to frequently check in with Joel to ensure that he is on his best behavior — but little does she know what's going on in her house.

Janet Carroll was another actor making their feature film debut in "Risky Business," paving the way for a successful career in film and television. Carroll appeared in the Sean Connery film "Family Business," the 1995 comedy "Destiny Turns on the Radio," and the Jennifer Lopez thriller "Enough," while also portraying recurring roles on "Murphy Brown," "Melrose Place," and "Married... With Children."

An accomplished jazz singer, Carroll was working on her fourth album when she was diagnosed with brain cancer. She passed away at the age of 71 on May 22, 2012. Her two final film roles were released posthumously: 2015's "College Debts" and 2016's "Crosser."