Good Gig

I was just watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  It's no classic, though apparently it's become a holiday favorite.  But it got me thinking. Kid actors don't usually have much of a career when they grow up, but they've done pretty well in the Vacation series.

In the first film, National Lampoon's Vacation, Anthony Michael Hall played the Griswold son, Rusty.  He obviously caught the eye of the screenwriter John Hughes, since Hall got to be the lead in a bunch of other Hughes films and became an iconic teen star.  The same film also features Jane Krakowski as Cousin Eddie's kid, and she went on to become a TV star in her adult years.

I admit the kids in European Vacation didn't do that well, so let's skip ahead to Christmas Vacation.  The Griswold children are played by Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki. Lewis became a major name in films and Galecki is a huge star on TV.

Then we come to the final Chevy Chase film in the series, Vegas Vacation.  The daughter is played by Marisol Nichols, who's having a pretty decent career on TV, and the son is Ethan Embry, who's had a decent career since in movies and TV.

There was a reboot of Vacation a few years ago, starring Ed Helms.  He plays Rusty, all grown up.  And now Rusty has two kids.  Those young actors seem to be doing okay, but let's give them a few years before we decide if they've made it or not.