What The Cast Of Married... With Children Looks Like Today

For 11 seasons, we wondered if love and marriage really did go together like a horse and carriage for the ever-depressed Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill), who seemed to hate his life, his job, and even his family. All that ever seemed to make him happy was the nudie bar and the memory of scoring four touchdowns in a single high school football game. Perhaps the theme song was more meta than literal, however — we, the regular viewers, were married to the show, and a love of the actors went along with that, even when their characters were sometimes detestable. Besides, the unconventional antics of Fox's first primetime series paved the way for "The Simpsons."

So where are they now? We loved the Bundys, but when the show ended, we had to set them free, as one does. Some have stayed on our TV sets as new characters, while others aren't on the radar so much. Would we know them if we saw them again, after all these years? (Unfortunately, as TVLine previously reported, a proposed animated revival of "Married... With Children" is no longer in the works.)

Let's find out. As of this writing, here's what the cast of "Married...With Children" looks like today:

Ed O'Neill was only 41 when he took the role of Al Bundy, the sad-sack, middle-aged shoe salesman who has little more than contempt for his suburban family life, but neither the talent nor the luck to do better. Yet O'Neill made him seem far older, with his slumped posture and permanent facial expression of doofy disgust. It was all simply acting: O'Neill himself has maintained a solid, satisfying career since; on ABC's "Modern Family," which lasted 11 seasons just like "Married...With Children," he played happier patriarch Jay Pritchett, who's actually glad to be married.

In one of his most recent roles, O'Neill played disgraced former Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling in the miniseries "Clipped" (above). As a sports personality infamously caught making racist comments, he's playing a meaner character than usual, but that's still good ol' Ed recognizable under that hairpiece. He even unbuttons his collars the same way!

Katey Sagal had to strike maybe the toughest balance of any of the show's cast. She had to clearly be desirable enough for Al to have had kids with in the first place, but also annoying enough for him to not want to be around her much anymore. Sagal pulled it off with her performance, which she over-augmented with tackiness and smoking. (The big hair did the character of Peg no favors, but it was a gift for Sagal as an actress.)

No longer required to wear terrible wigs, Sagal has excelled in very different subsequent roles, as motorcycle club matriarch Gemma on "Sons of Anarchy," one-eyed spacefaring mutant Leela on the animated "Futurama," and John Goodman's post-Roseanne love interest, Louise, on "The Conners." Whether it's with Dan Conner or Philip J. Fry, she manages these days to be an unabashed object of desire, and a kick-ass one to boot.

With Ric Flair-platinum hair, skimpy outfits, and dialogue emphasizing her cluelessness, Kelly Bundy was the quintessential dumb blonde for the primary era of the blonde joke. She was also pretty plainly a lure for teenage boys who might not watch more conventional sitcoms, and it worked — they loved her. Applegate went on to star as a much smarter teen in "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead," while her adult career has included starring roles on shows like NBC's "Up All Night," ABC's "Samantha Who?" and Netflix's "Dead to Me." She's also become well-known to a new generation as Veronica Corningstone in the "Anchorman" movies, as the much smarter counterpart to Will Ferrell's clueless Ron Burgundy.

Sadly, in 2021, Applegate was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which has taken a physical toll. Now walking with a cane, she has effectively retired from live-action performances, but is open to doing voiceover roles and making personal appearances, as she did at the 2024 Emmys and her Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony.

David Faustino is as old today as Ed O'Neill was when "Married... With Children" ended. We can still see Bud Bundy in him, though, like in the above photo from Applegate's Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony.

A child actor since the age of 8, Faustino was 13 when the show began, and 24 when it ended, living out his entire teens and early 20s in front of nationwide TV audiences. Though Faustino was a handsome kid, the character of Bud was typically portrayed as a dateless loser, in contrast to his far more promiscuous and desired sister. Faustino would later discuss the pitfalls of childhood fame, although the worst trouble he got into afterward was misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Faustino mostly does voice-over these days, though he also makes self-parody appearances on shows like "Bones" and in the fourth "Sharknado" movie. A proposed Bud-centric spinoff series was discussed but never quite materialized.

Amanda Bearse came to "Married...With Children" following her notable lead role in the vampire horror-comedy "Fright Night." As nosy feminist neighbor Marcy, she made a perfect nemesis for sexist, retrograde Al, and in real life, Bearse and O'Neill also had issues, ostensibly over her omission from a TV Guide cover. None of it stopped her from staying on the show, which kindled her love of directing; after it ended, she turned her career sights behind the camera on many sitcoms, including Applegate's "Jesse."

After publicly coming out as gay in 1993, she has periodically made appearances in queer cinema, like "The Doom Generation" and "Bros." More recently, she was in the "Napoleon Dynamite"-esque comedy "Tapawingo," with Jon Heder. In general, however, she prefers directing and appears on camera only sporadically nowadays, but she's certainly not a recluse and has been doing the horror convention rounds for the 40th anniversary of "Fright Night." It is, after all, one of the 106 best horror movies of all time, and one of the 30 best vampire movies.

Ted McGinley's traditional good looks have often been subverted in the roles he plays, from himbo Jefferson D'Arcy on "Married... With Children" to the bullying Stan in "Revenge of the Nerds" and its sequels. Now in his sixties, however, he's been getting a lot more sincere in faith-based films like "God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness" and "Do You Believe?" That has carried over into TV, where he played an evangelical Christian dad on the Roma Downey-produced "The Baxters" (above). He's also stealing scenes as Derek, next-door neighbor of Jason Segel's Jimmy, on the Apple TV dramedy "Shrinking."

Proving that looks aren't everything, though, McGinley also does voice acting, having played Aquaman on "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" and ship captain Denny Clay on "Transformers: Robots in Disguise."

Perhaps proving that the Clark Kent disguise can be effective after all, David Garrison looks the most different of all the former cast members, mainly due to his glasses and white hair. But the resemblance is still there! Garrison, who played Marcy's first husband Steve, left "Married... With Children" in the fourth season because he missed stage acting, but he would return periodically to reveal that Steve's life had become even more awkward.

Garrison has continued to make brief appearances on TV, but on stage, he is best known for playing the Wizard in the first touring version of "Wicked." He likes to do musicals, and "Married... With Children" predated the trend of sitcoms having a musical episode. Even his diction is more theatrical and mannered than that of Steve Rhoades, which likely proves he was stretching more as an actor back then than we thought.

Buck the dog was originally named Mike in real life, but after many years with the Bundys — and to avoid confusion — his owner, animal trainer Steven Ritt, renamed him Buck. Charming, loving, and easily trainable, Buck lasted 10 seasons before he started having trouble seeing and reacting to hand-signal commands. At the ripe old doggy age of 12, he retired from the show, though the character of Buck was reincarnated into the body of a new dog named Lucky, whose thoughts were voiced by the same actor, Kim Weiskopf. (Kevin Curran and Cheech Marin had previously given voice to Buck's thoughts up until Weiskopf became permanent in Season 8.)

Buck, the real dog, died a year after retirement, but he was preserved by the Los Angeles-based taxidermy service Bischoff's the Animal Kingdom.