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Antonio Banderas is one of the most recognizable names in Hollywood, so it's no wonder he's had steady work since Spy Kids. He's been in Machete Kills, The Expendables 3, and a ton of Latin films. He also played Burger Beard in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. We're used to seeing Banderas on the big screen.
What we're not used to seeing is a bald Banderas, but that's what we got as Banderas plays Pablo Picasso in Nat Geo's miniseries Genius, which highlights the renowned abstract painter.
- Age: 64
- Birthplace: Málaga, Spain
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Daryl Sabara (who played Juni Cortez) mostly works in sound studios these days, as the vast majority of his work has involved voicing animated characters in shows like Ben 10 and Ultimate Spider-Man. It's safe to assume some of his time in said studios was likely spent as a spectator as well.
Before Sabara's proposal to Meghan Trainor on December 22, 2017, the two had been dating for a year and a half, so he's definitely spent some time watching her record her jams. Perhaps his most noteworthy gig after Spy Kids was his run as Tim Scottson on Weeds, but that ended in 2012.
- Age: 32
- Birthplace: Torrance, California, USA
Spy kid Carmen Cortez was played by Alexa PenaVega, who had a pretty busy childhood film career, but she hasn't appeared in as many recognizable Hollywood projects since then. Other than a seven-episode run in Season 3 of Nashville and a small role in the comic book movie, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, her most noteworthy on-camera work since 2001 has been her "Birth Vlog" and now her "Mommy Vlog," centering around her first foray into parenthood after the birth of her son, Ocean King PenaVega, in late 2017 with husband Carlos Pena Jr. from Big Time Rush.
In the vlog she "gets real," showing her fans that famous mommies are just like regular mommies — all broadcast from her sprawling home worth millions of dollars.
- Age: 36
- Birthplace: Miami, Florida, USA
Teri Hatcher's most noteworthy gig since Spy Kids is hands down her eight-year run on Desperate Housewives, but it's not like she hasn't had work outside of that. She had a lengthy stint on Supergirl as a villain (and interestingly, had been in both Smallville and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman before that), and a large role in The Odd Couple (the CBS sitcom starring Chandler Bing).
Obviously, these aren't blockbuster movies, but the suggestion she's homeless is ridiculous. Yet Star magazine alleged just that nonetheless. They ran a story saying she was homeless and living out of her car, including paparazzi-snapped images of her in a van. In reality, she was filming a YouTube series called Van Therapy. Teri Hatcher is just fine.
- Age: 60
- Birthplace: Palo Alto, California, USA
You may or may not have recognized Mama Crotez (Carla Gugino) opposite the Rock in San Andreas (and in the sequel), but you probably didn't recognize her in the Netflix original Gerald's Game or the DC Extended Universe. To be more accurate, you probably didn't recognize her voice in the DC films.
She was the voice of Kelor in Man of Steel, and the Kryptonian ship in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In fact, she even acted as a touchstone between the DCEU and DC's small screen universe, or Arrowverse, as she voiced the AI in the Fortress of Solitude in an episode of Supergirl. While Gugino has had consistent work on TV ever since Spy Kids, her biggest cinematic roles often came courtesy of director Zack Snyder, appearing in both Watchmen and Sucker Punch.
- Age: 53
- Birthplace: Sarasota, Florida, USA
Cheech Marin sat down with the Los Angeles Times in early 2018 to discuss the burgeoning California weed industry and his related contempt for Jeff Sessions, among other things. Marin was famous long before Spy Kids, so while he has continued to get work in plenty of big name films and shows (including a surprising amount of Pixar properties), he probably hasn't even needed to.
Perhaps most surprising is the large number of video games to which he's lent his voice. In the end, fewer people are likely to remember Marin as Felix Gumm than they are to remember him as a marijuana figurehead.
- Age: 78
- Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
Since playing Machete in Spy Kids, Danny Trejo has been in pretty much everything. For those unaware, the ultra-violent Machete series is in fact a spinoff of Spy Kids (kind of — the series technically stems from a fake trailer in Tarantino's Grindhouse). Regardless, Trejo has been in a lot more than Machete.
His iMDB page features so many simultaneous projects, one must assume he doesn't sleep — though maybe it's easier because Trejo pretty much always plays the same character. He has also opened multiple taco spots and a donut shop in the LA area. The most interesting thing about Trejo actually has nothing to do with Hollywood. He opened up to Heat Vision about his time in prison back in the '60s, and has been living clean ever since.
- Age: 80
- Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
Before Spy Kids, Robert Patrick was best known for his role as the T-1000 in Terminator 2, a time he looked back on fondly in a 2017 Los Angeles Times interview, stating it was so much easier to stay in shape in his youth. His 12-hour days on set for Scorpion take a toll on him, but one he's grateful to endure.
What's more, he finally gets to play a good guy for once. His villain Mr. Lisp from Spy Kids may not have been the darkest of evildoers - case in point, he actually looks grumpier in Scorpion - but he was a villain all the same.
- Age: 66
- Birthplace: Marietta, Georgia, USA
You may have heard of this guy, but you may not have remembered he was in Spy Kids. He made a cameo as Devlin, showing up in the final scene of the first film to offer a mission to Juni and Carmen. Since Spy Kids, Clooney has made his directorial debut — with 2002's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind — and has continued acting and directing without surcease.
Has he needed to, though? Of course not. He made a couple hundred million dollars when he sold Casamigos Tequila, and he's making close to that number as the face of Nespresso. He is celebrated for his philanthropy and political activism, as well as his decision to finally settle down with the famous human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and their twins, who were born in 2017.
- Age: 63
- Birthplace: USA, Lexington, Kentucky
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Alan Cumming, who played the villain Fegan Floop in Spy Kids, has had no shortage of work since 2001, though some of his roles have been more prestigious than others. For instance, Cumming's reprised his role as Gutsy Smurf in The Smurfs 2, but he's also been in a wide variety of work including a six-year run as Eli Gold on The Good Wife.
In 2018 he made waves on CBS on Instinct, in which he plays a former CIA operative who is forced to return to the line of duty, and who is also a married gay man. As Cumming told The Hollywood Reporter, it wasn't solely the groundbreaking aspect of the role that drew him to Instinct, but he also found the story based on a James Patterson book intriguing.
- Age: 60
- Birthplace: Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland, UK
Tony Shalhoub will probably be forever linked with the role he landed the year after Spy Kids: the eponymous character in Monk, a lighthearted police procedural about a quirky but brilliant detective. Monk had a solid eight-season run, but is by no means the total of Shaloub's career.
He's worked steadily since, including a role in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and as the voice of Splinter in the Michael Bay Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. Perhaps his most surprising role, however, has been as the star of the Broadway musical The Band’s Visit. He actually had to take a hiatus from that role to film Season 2 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but returned after.
- Age: 71
- Birthplace: Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
Most people don't remember Mike Judge, the guy who co-created King of the Hill, was in Spy Kids, playing a character named Donnagon Giggles for the first three films. And while most of his acting since then has been voiceover, he has appeared in live-action entertainment outside of Spy Kids, including an episode of Frasier.
But of course, Judge is best known for his various animated television series, and has expanded beyond those bounds to create the smash hit HBO series Silicon Valley. Just call him the Emperor of Television.
- Age: 62
- Birthplace: Guayaquil, Ecuador
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Richard Linklater is most widely known as a director/producer, but he has a little acting on his resume, including his cameo as "Cool Spy" in Spy Kids. Fortunately, he's had more noteworthy achievements since, none more so than Boyhood, a film he wrote, directed, and produced over the course of 11 years, about a family and their young son who grows into a young man.
Patricia Arquette was actually the only one to walk away from the project with an Oscar (Best Supporting Actress), but the movie won three Golden Globes, including Best Picture and Best Director, categories for which it was also nominated at the Academy Awards.
- Age: 64
- Birthplace: Houston, Texas, USA
