Children who grew up in the 1990s regard Free Willy as a significant cultural landmark. The cast of the socially conscious, kid-friendly film about a troubled orphan who befriends and ultimately frees a caged whale named Willy Keiko became stars, and two sequels (a direct-to-DVD episode that’s best left forgotten) were released. Children all over the world were enthralled by them.
Nearly 25 years later, Free Willy still inspires young viewers, but what has the cast been up to since Willy was filmed?
Rae-Lori Petty.
When Lori Petty started working as marine biologist Rae in Free Willy, she already had a lot of experience with aquatic species. Petty was in high gear following his two pivotal performances in A League of Their Own and Point Break. Free Willy gave her career another boost, and a few years later, the lead role in Tank Girl turned her into a cult icon.
Petty had little choice but to work on small, low-budget independent films and TV guest appearances on series like Star Trek Voyager and NYPD Blue as opportunities dried up. Petty developed and directed The Poker House, starring Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence, in 2008 after studying Penny Marshall and Kathryn Bigelow because she was interested in directing.
The film, which had its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival, received mixed reviews, with some praising its intensely personal and difficult subject matter.
Petty is currently portraying Lolly Whitehill, a paranoid, schizophrenic prisoner who is a fan favorite on the well-known Netflix series Orange is the New Black.
Jayne Atkinson as Annie Greenwood.
Having previously portrayed sympathetic mothers, Jayne Atkinson was well-prepared for her role as foster mother Annie Greenwood in the movie Free Willy.
Actor Atkinson was born in England and raised in Connecticut.
Before appearing in the family movie, she played Lindley Eisenberg, a new mother, in the drama series A Year in the Life on NBC and the matriarch Karen Buckman in the 1990 TV series Parenthood, which had a single season.
Following the success of Free Willy, she subsequently portrayed a different mother in Blank Check before making a comeback in Free Willy 2.
Atkinson started her career in theater, and she still frequently appears on and off Broadway and in important regional productions. While costarring in The Heiress at the Long Wharf Theatre in 1989, she and her husband became friends. For the Tony Award for Best Actress, she has received two nods.
She did appear in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village and the Oscar-winning drama Syriana, but since Free Willy 2, the majority of her on-screen time has been spent on television, where she has had significant roles on 24 and Criminal Minds in addition to her current leading role as Secretary of State Cathy Durant in Netflix’s critically acclaimed political drama House of Cards.
Glen Greenwood is Michael Madsen.
It’s safe to assume that, besides co-star Lori Petty, Michael Madsen was the Free Willy cast member who received the most attention. The incredibly busy actor had already made a name for himself as Mr. Dot Blonde in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and romanced Susan Sarandon in Thelma and Louise by the time he played mechanic Glen Greenwood in Free Willy.
Even though he was happy to have the Free Willy movies to “balance out” his evil people, he declined to do Free Willy 3 in favor of other projects and returned for Free Willy 2.
Chicago-born Madsen, Virginia Madsen’s older sibling, has been a consistent contributor to movies and TV shows for more than 35 years. He currently has about 300 credits.
On Kill Bill Vols, Tarantino and Madsen collaborated once more. The Hateful Eight, 1 & 2, & 2. Along with these roles, he appeared in the stylish Sin City, Donnie Brasco, where he played a mafioso opposite Johnny Depp and Al Pacino, and the Bond film Die Another Day, where he appeared briefly alongside his friend and neighbor Pierce Brosnan. The actor continues to work and sell his hot sauces despite the fact that many of his films are undoubtedly of B-movie caliber.
Michael Ironside – Dial
Similar to Michael Madsen, Michael Ironside fits the mold of the “working actor” stereotype. With roles as villains like Free Willy’s Dial in movies like David Cronenberg’s Scanners, Top Gun, Extreme Prejudice, and the science fiction classic Total Recall, the seasoned character actor has built a successful career.
Ironside’s phone keeps ringing with job opportunities even though he frequently portrays characters who have died. Since Free Willy, he has consistently worked, making appearances on ER, Desperate Housewives, Starship Troopers, Smallville, and X-Men: First Class. He currently has nine projects in various stages of production, according to his IMDb bio.
Richard Riehle – Wade
Even if you are unaware of Richard Riehle’s name, you undoubtedly are aware of who he is. The character actor’s more than 40-year career and more than 350 film and television appearances have seen him play a variety of supporting roles, Free Willy being just one of them.
He stumbled into acting his senior year to get the credits he needed to graduate from college, and as a result, he wound up going to graduate theater school.
His acting career has been based on portraying the bulky, mustachioed sidekick in numerous TV shows and films, such as The West Wing, Ally McBeal, The Fugitive, Martin Scorsese’s mob drama Casino, Lethal Weapon 4, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D, and even as Ed Rooney in a TV series version of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. His big break came when he costarred with Matthew Broderick in Glory as the Quartermaster.
In the cult comedy Office Space, he portrayed the endearing IT specialist Tom Smykowski, and in Kristen Wiig’s 2011 smash hit comedy Bridesmaids, he wooed Jill Clayburgh as the mechanic Bill Cozbi.
Riehle keeps a busy schedule in front of the camera and on stage, where he has appeared in both off-Broadway productions and on Broadway. He doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon, with more than a dozen projects in the works. In his alumni magazine, he wrote, “I feel great when I work, and that doesn’t even have to stop. ”.
Dwight is Mykelti Williamson.
Mykelti Williamson has played several different police officers before Dwight in Free Willy. Prior to that, he had a prominent supporting role on Hill Street Blues. In the television movie Police Story: Monster Manor and the horror movie The First Power, he played a small role as a police officer. His portrayal of the endearing shrimp boat captain Bubba in Forrest Gump was his most memorable performance after his Free Willy performance.
Following his return as Dwight in Free Willy 2, Williamson went on a tear, making appearances in the ’90s classics Heat, Waiting to Exhale, Con-Air, and Primary Colors. In television shows like 24 and CSI: NY, he has continued to stay involved.
Williamson has been acting for more than 50 years, but ten years prior to his role in Forrest Gump, he worked as a contractor on the side, renovating kitchens and bathrooms.
Being the creator and marketer of the cooking spice company BubbaStyle, he enjoys working a second job. Williamson most recently collaborated with his Broadway co-stars Denzel Washington and Viola Davis once more for the Oscar-winning Fences movie in 2016.
August Schellenberg – Randolph Johnson
Richter was the only actor to appear in all three Free Willy movies; the other was a Canadian actor named August Schellenberg. Schellenberg had a long history of consistent employment in American and Canadian film and television before landing his breakthrough role in Free Willy.
He had acted in episodes of The Equalizer and Counterstrike and provided voices for characters in The Adventures of Tintin and The Equalizer. Michael Ironside and Schellenberg previously teamed up on the 1983 suspense film Cross Country before playing respective roles in Free Willy.
Son of a Mohawk mother and a Swiss father, Schellenberg primarily played Native American-ancestry roles, such as Sitting Bull in Terrence Malick’s Crazy Horse and Powhatan alongside Colin Farrell and Christian Bale in The New World from 2005.
Schellenberg reprised his role as Sitting Bull in the critically acclaimed HBO film Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee from 2007, for which he received an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Schellenberg has had a long career in theater and graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada with a classical education. She has also given workshops for Native actors all over Canada. He had a love for boxing and spoke motivationally all over the United States and Canada. Schellenberg passed away in 2013 from lung cancer.
Jason James Richter – Jesse
When he was just 13 years old, Jason James Richter outcompeted 4,000 other applicants to land the role of the troubled orphan boy Jesse in the 1993 family film. This was Richter’s acting debut.
Richter, who was at the time a complete unknown, won over the casting directors, who dubbed him a “Young Steve McQueen” after he showed up to the audition with a frown, ragged pants, and unruly hair. Richter quickly became a teen heartthrob and rising young star thanks to the film’s $153M global box office haul.
According to Richter, he received 500 fan letters on average each week after the first movie’s release.
Later, he made appearances in the two sequels Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home and Free Willy 3: The Rescue, but neither film achieved the same level of critical acclaim or commercial success as the original.
After that, he took part in The Neverending Story III and appeared as a guest star on several TV shows, such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch and The Client, before giving up acting at the age of 18 to play bass guitar in the band Fermata.
After years of protracted cross-country touring, Richter has resumed acting, specializing in independent films, plays in the Los Angeles area, and guest appearances on Criminal Minds and Bones.
