What the Hell Happened to Lea Thompson?

Nothing "happened."

If you want the answer grab a handful of any good movies from the 1980s, or any era for that matter, and take note of all the "promising" young actors. Then look 20 to 30 years later and see which ones have become "A-list" stars.

Very, very few, and there is nothing wrong with that, it is just the nature of the business. Lots of actors and very few stars. This guy Lebeau either has too much time of his hands or simply doesn't know how to research interesting topics.

TxMike
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference.

Back to the future shot Lea's career into the stratosphere. However, with Space Camp not doing well at the boxoffice and Howard The Duck being a huge financial bomb Lea's career, I think began to stall. Both these films were released after Back To The Future. However, Lea got back on her feet and made Some Kind Of Wonderful. Though that film wasn't a success Lea won good reviews and continued working. Lea continued to work in features into the early nineties. She starred in Beverly Hillbillies, Article 99, Dennis The Menace and a cameo in Little Rascals. She was a very busy actress. Lea took time off to concentrate on a family. In the midnineties Lea made the transition to television and was very successful. Lea has often said that there were better roles being offered in the world television. Once Caroline was cancelled she worked on Broadway and another television series. Today, besides Switched At Birth she has made many indie films. She's extremely busy and quite sought after. She has had a long and successful career. Look back at the actors she worked with in the early years. Not very many have the career longevity that Lea has had. Nothing has happened.

Well that was certainly an idiotic article.

What the hell happened to LT?

Well, it's 30yrs later and she's starring in a show that's in it's 3rd season with a 7.9 star rating. So there's that...

Her career faded as she got older. It happens to a lot of actors, male and female.

You don't hear too much about Andrew McCarthy or Eric Stoltz or Billy Zane these days, either, other than small budget stuff.

Great question

What has happened to Lea Thompson after her roles in back to the future movies, it seems like she fell of the face of the earth?

https://www.quora.com/What-has-happened-to-Lea-Thompson-after-her-roles-in-back-to-the-future-movies-it-seems-like-she-fell-of-the-face-of-the-earth/answer/%E0%A4%86%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF-%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%BE-Aditya-Simha

According to Lea Thompson, her Hollywood movie career as a lead actress evaporated sometime after she became a mother of a child. After The Beverly Hillbillies, she said she just stopped getting starring roles - this was right after when she first became a mother. She attributes that to a Hollywood perception that actresses who become mothers aren’t fit to be lead actresses anymore.

This anachronistic attitude was probably more prominent in the 80s, which is why her career did get affected. But one must also state that a lot of her post BTTF films did bomb badly (Howard The Duck for instance). So, it’s a combo of the two, I’d say!

Conclusion

However, it isn’t right to say that she dropped off of the face of Earth. She continued to do supporting roles, and even did TV shows (Caroline in the City and Switched at Birth for instance). She’s had a fairly decent career post BTTF, it’s just not been as a main lead in big budget Hollywood movies.

Maybe she's willing to do some 1000 dollar movie in Kansas now?

She likes her career the way it is. Not everyone has to be the center of attention, like her costar from All the Right Moves