Andrew McCarthy

Always a good guy stand-out amidst the bad boys of the infamous 1980s cinematic "Brat Pack," Andrew McCarthy's down-to-earth appeal helped the handsome actor earn millions of teen fans during his eighties heyday. Hitting the ball out of the park time and again with roles in iconic Generation X films like "St. Elmo's Fire" (1985), "Pretty in Pink" (1986) and "Mannequin" (1987), McCarthy often played the well-off yet unassuming romantic lead with a good heart, who always should get the girl in the end. Unbeknownst to many of his young fans, however, McCarthy was also an accomplished theater actor, who appeared in productions of Tennessee Williams', Eugene O'Neill's, and Horton Foote's works both on and off-Broadway. After taking a turn toward the dark side in Bret Easton Ellis' feature adaptation of his edgy novel "Less Than Zero" (1987) and defying logic with a role in the misfire "Weekend at Bernie's" (1989), the actor watched his star - as well as those of most of his fellow Brat Packers - fall as their fans grew up and moved on to the next big thing. Keeping a low profile throughout the 1990s, McCarthy consistently worked, but remained under the radar for the most part, until regaining a more mature but no less potent sex symbol status as billionaire Joe Bennett in the popular but short-lived Brooke Shields' drama, "Lipstick Jungle" (NBC, 2008-09). Like his peers Patrick Dempsey and Robert Downey, Jr., McCarthy reemerged as a mature leading man for a new generation of fans.