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Another Look at Last Year’s Rising Stars

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In conjunction with Calendar’s current Shooting Stars series about this summer’s promising new faces in movies, here’s a look at what happened to the 12 who were featured last summer:

Matt Adler’s debut breakthrough, “North Shore,” did fair business at the box office for a few weeks, then disappeared. Aside from the two other films in which Adler was featured in 1987--”Amazon Women on the Moon” and “White Water Summer”--the young actor spent much of late ’87 working on “Doin’ Time on Planet Earth” for director Charlie Matthau. A Cannon Films representative said “Doin’ Time” will be released this year.

Robert Downey Jr. has become one of Hollywood’s busiest young actors. After ‘87’s “Less Than Zero”/”The Pick-Up Artist” pairing that launched his career, Downey’s been hard at work on “Rented Lips” with his father, writer-director Robert Downey Sr.; “1969” with fellow Hot Face Kiefer Sutherland, due out in October; “True Believer” with James Woods, “The Big Band Theory” with his father and “Life After Life” with Cybill Shepherd, which is in production.

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Andy Garcia parlayed his touted starring debut in “The Untouchables” into other featured roles in “Stand and Deliver,” opposite Lou Diamond Phillips, and a film for HBO with Ellen Barkin titled “Clinton and Nadine.” The strike by the Writers’ Guild of America slowed work on Garcia’s next star turn--in “The Sixth Family” with Jennifer Grey and Kevin Bacon--but it’s on the boards.

Jami Gertz’s hot half-year in ’87 (starring roles in “The Lost Boys” and “Less Than Zero”) didn’t lead immediately to more work. But Gertz just wrapped a film for Weintraub Entertainment called “Mismatch” with teen throb Kirk Cameron, and is now shooting “Silence Like Glass” with Martha Plimpton in West Germany.

Esai Morales, the fiery half-brother Bob in ‘87’s musical hit “La Bamba,” spent a good deal of time afterward trying to get writing/directing projects off the ground. There was also some partying around town and he did some political work for the Christic Institute, traveling with actor Judd Nelson on a tour to the Soviet Union. Morales just wrapped the remake of “Bloodhounds of Broadway” with Madonna and has other deals ready to go when the writers’ strike is officially over.

Elizabeth Pena went back to the small screen after playing Richie Valens’ sister-in-law in “La Bamba” and has had starring roles in the series “I Married Dora” and “Funny, You Don’t Look 200.” She also had a starring role in the Steven Spielberg production “Batteries Not Included.”

Meg Ryan’s career has taken off like a rocket since “Innerspace,” in which she co-starred with Dennis Quaid and Martin Short. Ryan has since starred opposite Kiefer Sutherland in “Promised Land,” Quaid in the remake of “D.O.A.” and Mark Harmon and Sean Connery in “The Presidio.” Ryan also immersed herself in politics, showing up at the Democratic National Convention and working for environmental causes.

Elizabeth Shue has primarily been occupying herself with graduating from college since her breakthrough appearance in “Adventures in Babysitting,” but between classes co-starred opposite Tom Cruise in Touchstone’s “Cocktail,” the No. 1 film at the American box office.

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Ione Skye, still just 17, followed her appearances in “River’s Edge” and “Stranded” with star turns in “A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon” with River Phoenix, and the TV movie “Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story.” She’s now in production with “Say Anything,” from 20th Century Fox, with co-star John Cusack.

Kiefer Sutherland’s 1988 picked up where his 1987 left off. Sutherland, the vampire captain of last year’s “The Lost Boys,” hit the screen this year as a young man on the run in “Promised Land” and as Michael J. Fox’s decadent sidekick in “Bright Lights, Big City.” Sutherland has major roles in two films still in the ’88 oven: He plays a young gun in “Young Guns” and a young Bohemian in “1969.”

Mario Van Peebles moved from the big screen (“Heartbreak Ridge,” “Jaws: The Revenge”) to the small screen, starring this year in the well-regarded zany gumshoe series “Sonny Spoon.”

Daphne Zuniga has been busy deploring toxic waste dumping and offshore oil drilling since her turn in “Spaceballs” for Mel Brooks--but she also took time out to act in “Boys” (with current Shooting Star Dermot Mulroney), “Last Rites” for MGM/UA opposite Tom Berenger and “The Fly II” with Eric Stoltz. Zuniga was also on hand in Atlanta for the Democratic Party get-together, where she kept a high profile.

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