'Freaky Friday' (2003) Cast Then vs. Now

Cosmopolitan

2 days ago

When Freaky Friday came out in 2003, low-rise jeans were in, cell phones weren't smart, and Lindsay Lohan was a 17-year-old girl on the verge of superstardom. She'd already starred in The Parent Trap as a kid, but she became a huge teen star with Freaky Friday, which was soon followed by both Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and Mean Girls in 2004.
Now, 22 years later, Freaky Friday is getting a sequel, Freakier Friday, which will again star Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. (Also 22 years later, low-rise jeans are back in. Funny how that works.) In the new movie, Lohan's character, Anna, is now a mom herself and is engaged to be married, similar to how her mother, Tess, was about to get married in the original. But this time, it's not Lohan and Curtis who body-swap with each other. Lohan's daughter, Harper (Julia Butters), and her fiancé Eric's (Manny Jacinto) daughter, Lily (Sophia Hammons), all get switched up.
And while there are some new additions the cast, the main cast members from the first movie are returning for Freakier Friday, so let's take a look at what's gone on in their careers in past 20 years—and see how their style has changed, too.
Lindsay Lohan had just turned 17 when Freaky Friday hit theaters in 2003. And her career really blew up from there, particularly with the release of Mean Girls the following year. Lohan received an onslaught of media and paparazzi attention (which was sadly the case for many young women stars at the time). It all caused her to take a break from Hollywood as a result of how she was being treated by the public. Recently, Lohan has started to act in mainstream projects again. In addition to Freakier Friday, she had a small part in the Mean Girls musical movie and starred in the Netflix movies Our Little Secret and Irish Wish.
Jamie Lee Curtis had been acting for decades when Freaky Friday came out. She's best known as Laurie Strode in the Halloween franchise, and she's also starred in movies including True Lies and A Fish Called Wanda. Her biggest career update since the release of Freaky Friday? Winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once in 2023.
Chad Michael Murray plays Jake, Anna's crush, who actually falls for her while she's inhabiting her mom's body. (Weird, but okay!) Murray was a heartthrob of the early 2000s. He had already had roles in Gilmore Girls and Dawson's Creek, and he began to star in One Tree Hill the same year Freaky Friday came out. He currently stars in the Canadian series Sullivan's Crossing, and like Lohan, he also recently starred in a couple of Netflix movies, The Merry Gentlemen and Mother of the Bride.
Tess' fiancé, Ryan, is played by Mark Harmon. Soon after Freaky Friday came out, Harmon began starring in the TV show NCIS, which became the role he is best known for. He remained on the show for 19 seasons, and he's still part of the NCIS world as the narrator for NCIS: Origins.
Anna's annoying little brother, Harry, is played by Ryan Malgarini. Malgarini appeared in a number of projects as a child actor, including roles in Gilmore Girls and Malcolm in the Middle. More recently, he was in episodes of Teen Wolf and Mom, but Freakier Friday is his first on-screen role in six years. He also works as an acting teacher.
Christina Vidal plays Maddie, one of Anna's friends and the lead singer of her band, Pink Slip. Vidal was a child star prior to Freaky Friday, and was already known for starring in the movie Life with Mikey and in the Nickelodeon series Taina. Most recently, she starred in the TV series Primo and The Terminal List, and she's appeared in episodes of shows, including House, Blue Bloods, and Being Mary Jane.
Another Pink Slip member is Peg, played by Haley Hudson. Freaky Friday was Hudson's first on-screen role, and she went on to have parts in Weeds and Marley & Me. Hudson recently started a band, Hudson Rubin, with Daniel Rubin, who also played a member of Pink Slip—although, one who was more in the background of the movie.
Rosalind Chao plays Pei-Pei, the owner of the Chinese restaurant where Tess and Anna's body-switch situation begins. Chao was already a successful actor and had starred in one of her best-known roles in The Joy Luck Club ten years earlier. Some of Chao's more recent projects include the live-action Mulan remake and the series Better Things, Sweet Tooth, and 3 Body Problem.
Pei-Pei's mother—the woman who gives Tess and Anna the magical body-swap fortune cookies—is played by Lucille Soong. The 89-year-old actor's career spans back to the late 1950s, but you might have seen her starring in the TV show Fresh Off the Boat. She also had a voice role in 2021's Raya and the Last Dragon.
Anna's teacher Mr. Bates, who hates her and keeps giving her bad grades, is played by Stephen Tobolowsky. (Tess in Anna's body later realizes that it's because she turned him down when they were in high school together.) Tobolowsky is a character actor, so he has a lot of smaller roles in a ton of films, including Thelma & Louise, Groundhog Day, and Memento. One of his latest projects is a recurring role in Nobody Wants This.
In Freaky Friday, Julie Gonzalo plays Stacey, Anna's ex-friend/current bully. And unlike all of the other cast members listed above, she is not returning for Freakier Friday. Gonzalo is still acting, though. She has had roles in Veronica Mars and Supergirl, and she's now a regular in Hallmark Channel movies.
Sadly, two characters from the original won't be in the sequel because they have since passed away. First, there's Harold Gould, who played Tess and Harry's grandpa, Alan. Gould had a lengthy television, theater, and film career. His final project was a 2010 episode of Nip/Tuck. He died that same year at age 86.
Willie Garson played Evan, one of Tess' therapy patients. (The one that had appointments every day, meaning he met up with Anna pretending to be Tess, too.) Garson, who was best known for Sex and the City and White Collar, died in 2021 at age 57.