Ferris Bueller at 40: Where Is The Cast Now?
If you’ve ever glanced at a parade float and wondered what it would be like to get up there and blast out a Beatles song, there's a good chance you once watched and once loved the ‘80s classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
With the movie’s 40th anniversary landing in June 2026, John Hughes’ eternally youthful tale of three friends who skip school is about to reach middle age, yet nearly all of its central cast members are still out there doing great work across movies, television, and theatre.
In the list below, I’ve rounded up eight of the stars of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off cast and explored what they’ve been up to for the last four decades. Read on to learn a bit more about each of them and use the guide to find some of their best known work on services like AppleTV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere.
Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller
There is, of course, only one place to start, and that’s the man whose name is in the title — aka Ferris Bueller, or Matthew Broderick as we’ve since come to know him. By the time Hughes came calling with the starring role, the New York native had gained recognition for his performance in the 1983 thriller WarGames and had already won his first Tony on Broadway, but the energy he brought to Ferris made him a global star.
Since the movie’s release, however, Broderick has never quite reached the leading man heights that most people would have expected at the time. The actor has had a wonderful career, no doubt, especially on the New York stage — where he‘s since gone on to win another Tony and also starred in the hugely successful reboot (and later, the screen remake) of Mel Brooks’ 1967 comedy The Producers.
Outside of that, he’s probably just as well known for playing small roles or cameos in movies like Godzilla, Tower Heist and Trainwreck, or shows like 30 Rock and Only Murderers in the Building, as he is for being married to Sarah Jessica Parker.
One to watch: The Producers, although the original still probably beats it
Alan Ruck as Cameron Frye
Since playing Cameron, Ferris’ perennially disappointed best friend, Alan Ruck’s career has almost gone the opposite way to Broderick’s. Funnily enough, eight years on from watching his dad’s Ferrari GT crash out the window in Hughes’ movie, his next notable role came in Speed — a movie about a vehicle that absolutely nobody wanted to stop moving, least of all Ruck’s nervy tourist, Doug Stephens.
That smash hit (as perfect a movie as any that exists, IMO) led to a series of supporting turns in ‘90s popcorn classic like Twister and Cheaper by the Dozen, but by the end of the ‘00s the roles had started to dry up for Ruck — in 2010 alone, he appeared as three separate characters in three different versions of CSI. That is, of course, until Jesse Armstrong cast him as Connor Roy — the *actual* eldest son — in his phenomenally beloved and garlanded HBO series Succession. Ruck’s performance earned him an Emmy nomination and has since kick-started a career renaissance. Good for him!
One to watch: Succession, if you are a “serious person”. Speed if not.
Mia Sara as Sloane Peterson
Also somewhat similar to Broderick, Mia Sara looked every bit a Hollywood star when she appeared as Ferris’ girlfriend, Sloane, in Day Off, but for one reason or another her career never fully took off. This was doubly strange, as Sara had come into Hughes’ movie on the back of Ridley Scott’s Legend a few years earlier — in which she starred alongside a young man named Tom Cruise.
Regardless, Sara continued to work in movies and television, appearing in Sidney Lumet’s A Stranger Among Us in 1992 and playing the female lead in Timecop opposite Jean Claude Van Damme a little while after. She was also, apparently, in a sports action movie called By the Sword with F. Murray Abraham and Eric Roberts which, according to Wikipedia, was the first feature film about fencing — whatever this is, I’m in.
Relative to that, Sara’s ‘00s and ‘10s were relatively quiet, but her fans recently got to enjoy her delightful screen presence once again when she appeared as the young Charles Krantz’s dancing grandmother in The Life of Chuck last year.
One to watch: It has to be Legend, but that fencing flick sounds kinda awesome.
Jennifer Grey as Jeanie Bueller
When you think about it, Jennifer Grey might be the only member of the main cast of Ferris Bueller who went on to have a significantly more famous role — and no, that other person (more on him in a moment) who you are thinking of doesn’t count.
Grey came into Bueller on the back of Red Dawn and a small part in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club, but she really became a star the following year when she played Francis “Baby” Houseman in the bonafide ‘80s classic, Dirty Dancing. Since then, it’s been mostly small roles and TV stuff, but if you’re a fan of her work do make sure to look out for her in Jesse Eisenberg’s 2025 Oscar winner, A Real Pain.
One to watch: No one puts Dirty Dancing in the corner.
Charlie Sheen as Garth Volbeck
As I mentioned above, Charlie Sheen might absolutely steal the one scene that he appears in in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off — he plays the leather jacket-wearing bad boy who flirts with Jeanie in the police station — but you would be hard-pressed to say that it’s anything close to a central role. Either way, Sheen has gone on to have the best career out of anyone in the Ferris Bueller cast. That career has also, as we all know too well, been the most tumultuous.
Sheen basically became an A-lister a few months after Day Off was released when Oliver Stone’s Platoon won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. From there, the actor became one of the major Hollywood stars of the ‘80s and ‘90s, appearing in huge hits like Wall Street, The Rookie, and Hot Shots!, before easing into the world of TV with his starring role in the hugely popular (and hugely lucrative) Two and a Half Men.
I don’t need to tell you what happened next, but his 2025 tell-all documentary, aka Charlie Sheen, could easily spark a comeback.
One to watch: Plenty to choose from, but for peak-powers Sheen, you have to go Wall Street.
Ben Stein as Ferris' economics teacher
Ben Stein, who plays Ferris’ deadpan economics teacher in a short but iconic scene early on in the movie, has enjoyed a varied career both on and off the screen. The son of an economist who worked in the White House during the Nixon administration, Stein began his working career as a trial lawyer before getting a job as a columnist for the New York Times and eventually as a speechwriter for President Gerald Ford.
Somehow, he made the transition to Hollywood comedies thanks to his famously dry delivery — this all basically began with his role in Bueller, which led to parts in movies like Planes, Trains and Automobiles and The Mask as well as a recurring role in The Wonder Years. He also played himself alongside Kevin Kline’s U.S. President in Dave.
One to watch: The Mask. It really is sssssmokin’.
Edie McClurg as Grace
Edie McClurg’s name might not ring a bell, but if you’ve seen Ferris Bueller and remember the school secretary who likes to keep pencils in her hair, then you already know who we’re talking about.
McClurg had already been in the industry for a decade when she took on the role of Grace, the school secretary and she’s continued to work in movies and TV ever since — most notably providing her voice in beloved movies like The Little Mermaid (as Carlotta), A Bug’s Life (as Dr. Flora) and Cars (as Minny). My favourite McClurg performance, however, will always be her debut role as Helen Shyres — one of the main antagonisers (and one of the first to get their comeuppance) in Brian De Palma’s 1976 classic horror, Carrie.
One to watch: Carrie
Jeffrey Jones as Edward "Ed" R. Rooney
We are unfortunately obligated to mention Jeffrey Jones here, as the comedy actor will be familiar to basically anyone who grew up on Ferris Bueller and other movies in that genre — he is probably best known for playing Lydia’s father in Beetlejuice and appeared in other classics like Amadeus and, eerily enough, The Devil’s Advocate.
However, Jones was accused of some truly awful things in 2022. The details of these accusations are out there if you’re interested in learning more. Just be warned, they are quite upsetting.
