How the Stars of Not Another Teen Movie Made it Big

There have been many movies that have spawned a lot of future stars in the movie world. But Not Another Teen Movie is not a movie you would expect to do just that. Not Another Teen Movie was a spoof comedy in 2001 that was a parody of all those cookie-cutter high school movies in the 80's and 90's. It didn't get good write-ups or box office, but it didn't sink to the level of the current Jason Friedberg/Aaron Seltzer parody films either. Not Another Teen Movie came and gone, but many of it's cast members haven't just come and gone. The cast of Not Another Teen Movie may not be A list stars per se, but a lot of them have been seen in some very high profile projects since it came out.

Chris Evans starred in Not Another Teen Movie as "the jock." Since Not Another Teen Movie, Evans has become best known as one of the most flaming jock-like figures in comic books. Of course, that refers to the cocky Human Torch in the Fantastic Four movies. The movies themselves are not very well regarded by comic book fans and critics, but Evans regularly got the best writeups for the two films. Evans also starred in the movies Cellular, Sunshine, and Street Kings since Not Another Teen Movie. Evans may not be a gigantic star, but he is much more well known than he was before he first came out in Not Another Teen Movie.

The other biggest breakout star from Not Another Teen Movie is Jamie Pressley, who played "the evil cheerleader" in that film. Pressley already had success as a model and pinup beforehand. But after Not Another Teen Movie, Pressley broke out years later on television as the wacky and scheming Joy on My Name Is Earl. Pressley was nominated for an Emmy in the show's first year, then won the Emmy in an upset a year later. Though Earl itself has slipped in recent years, Pressley is still as big a star on the show as lead Jason Lee.

Another Not Another Teen Movie star that recently made a big splash on TV was Chyler Leigh, who was the lead of Not Another Teen Movie as "the rebel." Leigh did guest spots on The Practice and was on the short lived Girls Club and That 80's Show after Not Another Teen Movie. But Leigh made it big on the TV radar by joining the world of Grey's Anatomy in it's fourth season. Not only that, Leigh got to play the sister of Grey's lead character Meredith Grey. Leigh should be back on Grey's next season, as she is now close to series regular George.

The next Not Another Teen Movie star you might have seen a lot of is Mia Kirshner, who played "the evil sister." By the time Not Another Teen Movie came out in 2001, 24 fans had already seen Kirshner as terrorist Mandy in the start of it's first season, a role which Kirshner returned to several times in future years. Kirshner is now better known to cable viewers as the star of the Showtime drama The L Word, which has enthralled fans of the lesbian drama for over four seasons. Kirshner was also the infamously murdered Elizabeth Short in 2006's The Black Dhalia.

The next Not Another Teen Movie cast member who's been seen a bit is Sam Huntington, who impersonated Chris Klein's American Pie character. Before Not Another Teen Movie, Huntington was the jungle boy in Tim Allen's Jungle 2 Jungle. Since Not Another Teen Movie, Huntington has been Jimmy Olsen in Superman Returns. More infamously, Huntingtonwas disguised as a caveman in the infamous Caveman sitcom last year.

Finally, one last famous Not Another Teen Movie co-star is Lacey Chabert, who played "the unattainable girl." Chabert was already well known for her work on Party of Five and her voice over work on several animated shows. Since Not Another Teen Movie, Chabert has continued to stay very busy and visible on many different projects. Chabert's most notable appearance was as one of the Plastics in the 2004 hit Mean Girls.

Unlike other movies that give birth to many careers, Not Another Teen Movie cannot be considered as launching the career of these stars. Some of them were already stars to begin with, and the film was bad enough that it couldn't actually be the cause of launching a career. But at the very least, several of Not Another Teen Movie's stars have done so much better in the following years than the movie itself. They have made their mark in comic book films, hit TV shows, bad TV shows, cable TV shows, and even the Emmys. That makes Not Another Teen Movie a bit more noteworthy than the countless other terrible movies that badly spoof other films.

Sources

IMDb- "Not Another Teen Movie" www.imdb.com/title/tt0277371/