Nostalgia Trip: What happened to the faces and fads we grew up with

From the original Bond Girl to the boy that never grew up, we're taking a look at the faces that have us feeling seriously nostalgic.

Keep reading to find out where they are now... and don't worry ¨C we feel old too.

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When 18-year-old Nikki Blonsky from Long Island, New York, landed the lead role in the remake of Hairspray, the aspiring actress thought she was on her way to stardom.

And while Hairspray is one of the highest-grossing musical films in US box office history, its lead star was "left behind" by Hollywood and struggled to replicate the success she enjoyed with her role as Tracey Turnblad.

After seeing the musical on Broadway, Blonsky had dreamed of playing Tracy Turnblad herself one day.

Luckily enough, when the movie adaptation began casting, executives insisted on casting someone 'unknown' to play the character.

Blonsky, who had no prior professional singing or acting experience, auditioned and successfully nabbed the coveted role. ?

The teenager was working at her job at Cold Stone Creamery? when director Adam Shankman called to inform her that she got the part.

Blonsky was in good company in her debut role ¨C global superstar Zac Efron was cast as heartthrob Link, Michelle Pfeiffer was cast as ?Velma Von Tussle and John Travolta played Tracy's mum, Edna.

T?he film was both a commercial and cultural success and Blonsky in particular was praised for her work, winning the Critics Choice award for Best Young Performer and nabbing a prestigious Golden Globe nomination.

Despite this acclaim, acting roles quickly dried up for the young actress and it seemed her star was fading as fast as it had appeared.

In the years after her role as Tracy Turnblad, Blonsky has only appeared in a handful of productions and ended up taking a day job at a shoe store in New York City.

"So much false reporting! & false quotes. NO career changing! just experimented 4 a day working @ a friends boutique 2 see what it was like," Blonsky tweeted at the time.

However, her boss later confirmed she did in fact work at the store full-time.

Years later, Blonsky says she felt typecast following her portrayal of Tracey Turnblad and thatHollywood left her behind:

"I did not take a conscious step out of Hollywood and so long as I'm alive, I never will," she said in 2017 to Out Magazine.

"Singing and acting has been my dream since I was three.

"It kind of feels like the industry left me."?

In the mid-1990s US girl group TLC released a studio album that would sell 14 million copies worldwide.?

Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes had been honing their talents on the charts for a couple of years before the full force of fame hit.

In 1992 the trio released their debut album Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip. Two years later they would release their second album, CrazySexyCool.?

It made them an international name and triggered a major unravelling of the group.

Watkins and Lopes both joined the group around the same time, answering a call by a local Atlanta-based record producer.

As the story goes, the producer and one of his clients, Crystal Jones, were keen to form a new girl group.

For the early part of their career, Watkins and Lopes were joined by Jones in an act called 2nd Nature.?

After management took over, Jones was reportedly asked to leave the group, with Thomas stepping in. The group's name was changed to TLC.

The group's 1992 debut album scored three top 10 on the Billboard 100 and was deemed a success.

Their 1994 album CrazySexyCool went a step further, producing number one hits Creep and Waterfalls. The album earned the group two Grammy awards.

Despite their meteoric success, by 1995 the group were forced to file bankruptcy with reported debits in the millions.

"People to this day still do not believe that we were broke ¡ª but we were, OK?" Watkins said in the 1999 documentary TLC Behind The Music.

Billboard reported the group made US$5.6 million in profit, but the sum was sliced to US$50,000 per member after paying back their label for funding the album and its promotion, staff and tax.

The band experienced a deeper personal loss in 2002 when Lopes was killed in a car accident in Honduras in Central America.

?Lopes was behind the wheel of a rental car carrying nine others when she lost control of the vehicle attempting to avoid a truck.

She was the only fatality. She was 30.

Following Lopes's untimely death Watkins and Thomas performed a live show with their late bandmate appearing in a video montage.

By 2007 the pair decided to take a break from recording and performing as TLC.

Their absence was filled with the release of a greatest hits album. TV documentary series and TV films appeared also.

It wasn't until 2013 that they performed together again, with a guest singer to fill in? for Lopes.

Two years later ?Watkins and Thomas launched a crowd funding campaign to fund a fifth and final TLC album.

They released their Grammy award winning third album FanMail in 1999.

?Their fourth album 3D was released in 2002.

They set a fund goal of US$150,000 (A$216,000). They reached more than US$400,000 (A$580,000).

"We wanted to continue to stay outside the box," Thomas told Time in 2015.

"Fifteen years ago, we were really one of the first groups to work with MP3s, as far as a digital record. That was a big deal, and I remember people couldn't believe we had done something like that successfully."

After releasing the group's fifth album, Watkins and Thomas continue to perform as TLC.

They completed a UK tour last year.?

After selling 65 million albums worldwide, TLC remains the best-selling US girl group?.

It's now been more than 40 years since E.T. phoned home in 1982.

Audiences fell in love with Steven Spielberg's wide-eyed extraterrestrial with a heart of gold, as well as the young friends he made while stranded on earth.

The film, which won four Oscars, was deemed one of cinema's greatest in TIME's All-TIME 100 list, and inspired a hit ride at Universal Studios.Star Wars: Episode I ¡ª The Phantom Menace ¡ª or at least E.T.'s species did.

Since then, some of its young stars have gone on to achieve even greater Hollywood fame, while others took a break from the spotlight.

The film's protagonist, 10-year-old Elliott (pictured left), was played by Henry Thomas. Thomas was only a year older than his character, starring in the film at age 11.

Robert Macnaughton played Michael, Elliott's older brother (pictured right). Before landing the part at the age of 14, Macnaughton had starred in a few TV movies.

And of course, Drew Barrymore appeared in E.T. as the boys' younger sister, Gertie.? She was six years old for filming, and had turned seven by the time the film was released in 1982.

Henry Thomas is still acting, but initially took a break from Hollywood after his breakout role to finish school in Texas.

Thomas appeared in Murder One and the 2000 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses. He has appeared on ABC's season-long series Betrayal, and Law and Order: SVU.

His movie credits include Legends of the Fall, Gangs of New York, and Dear John.

He's also appeared in projects for Netflix like horror miniseries The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass.

He most recently played Peter Kavinsky's dad in To All The Boys: Always and Forever on Netflix.

After a few more TV movie appearances throughout the 1980s, Robert Macnaughton quit acting and began working as a mail carrier, revealing in an interview in 2017 that he grew tired of the auditioning process by the time he was about 30, so decided to get a "real job."

He eventually returned to screens for the first time since 1988 in Frankenstein vs. the Mummy and Laugh Killer Laugh in 2015.?

Drew Barrymore meanwhile went on to become an A-list Hollywood actress? and a household name.

She had roles in Scream, The Wedding Singer, Never Been Kissed, the Charlie's Angels films, 50 First Dates, He's Just Not That Into You, and more. And has executive produced films including How to Be Single.

She launched a talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show, in 2020.

In 2022, the cast of E.T reunited to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the movie.?

MC Hammer burst onto the music scene in the 80s and 90s but it wasn't until his album Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em in 1990 that he became an icon, selling more than 17 million copies.

MC Hammer ¨C whose real name is Stanley Kirk Burrell ?¨C is a rapper, dancer and preacher whose hit single 'U Can't Touch This' followed by 'Too Legit To Quit' dominated the music charts.

His catchy singles, dancing prowess and colourful and energetic music videos were on every radio station and every TV show for years.

Despite is obvious talent, MC Hammer's success would burn hot but flame out fast.

Here is the story of MC Hammer, the man, the music and those amazing pants.?

M?C Hammer's talent as a dancer brought his performances to life and his unique wardrobe ignited fashion trends around the world.

While he was known to dress in tight-fitting bike pants and work out gear, paired with his latest 'bling,' it was his Parachute Pants that really stole the show.

The pants were fitted at the waste before parachuting out dramatically using reams of material before ending in fitted cuffs around his ankles.

It was his wife who designed the pants for him, after he complained about the difficulty he was having dancing in fitted pants, saying he didn't have room to move in them.

So she made the pants for him and the rest is history!?

MC Hammer himself came to detest the name Parachute Pant, commenting in an interview with ?Racked in 2016: "I detest the term. They're called Hammer Pants."

M?C Hammer and his wife Stephanie Fuller were married in 1985. They remain together to this day.

The couple met at a church revival meeting. They have five children including three sons and two daughters.

The rapper's music career ran from 1986 until 2017 although the height of his fame spanned just the early 90s.

He encountered financial troubles and struggled financially despite his huge success. MC Hammer released his music through is own recording business and record label and that came with its challenges.

He has also played baseball and worked as an actor and a preacher.

As?ide from his career success and influence, MC Hammer has remained a family man at heart.

He told Black Doctor: "You have wealth when you have a family. Family is all that I need."

During his ?career he was often seen accompanied by one of his five children at premieres and red carpet events.

At one stage MC Hammer dolls featuring his iconic pants were on sale.

MC Hammer is credited with changing the music scene and has been called one of the "best dancers of all time" by BET.

He remains active in his career, performing and appearing on social media and in advertisements.?

If Peter Ostrum's name doesn't ring a bell to you, Charlie Bucket's almost certainly will.

Ostrum played the young protagonist of 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory?, the original adaptation of Roald Dahl's beloved book.

In a story that doesn't sound dissimilar to the story's famous quest for the Golden Ticket, talent agents had been searching all over the US to find their Charlie.

They finally came upon him in a children's theatre in Cleveland. Three months later, Ostrum's casting was confirmed and he flew to Munich to start shooting.?

It was the role of a lifetime for any young actor ¨C and for Ostrum, it was the only one that would ever appear on his resume.?

T?he 12-year-old actor won hearts with his portrayal of the poor, good-hearted paper boy who wins one of five coveted Golden Tickets for a tour of the famed Wonka chocolate factory (not to mention a lifetime supply of its goods).

The movie was a huge hit, and while it catapulted Ostrum to worldwide fame, he opted not to capitalise on the momentum.

The young star turned down producer David L Wolper's offer of a three-film contract when filming concluded, and ultimately left acting behind altogether in his senior year of school after auditioning and missing out on a number of theatre roles.

In a 2000 interview, he explained, "Everybody thinks that acting is such a glamorous profession, but it's a difficult profession."

Ostrum also admitted to distancing himself from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in the years after it came out.

"Growing up after the film, I always denied my involvement with Willy Wonka. I didn't really want to have anything to do with it," he told Oprah.