The Cast of “Little Giants”: Where Are They Now?

Can you believe it's been 30 years since the kids' sports classic premiered?

What do you get when you mix Ed O'Neill, Rick Moranis and a bunch of football-playing kids and set them in Ohio? You get Little Giants, the 1994 film about two rival brothers and the pee-wee football teams they coach.

The film premiered 30 years ago on Oct. 14, 1994, making almost $20 million at the box office and living on today through quotable moments and a continued love for the cast.

"It was a load of fun to shoot, and it's crazy who will approach me nowadays and be like, 'Oh my God, I loved you from Little Giants,' " star Devon Sawa told ESPN in 2019. Calling it "this crazy football environment," he added of the cast and extras, "They had all these kids from everywhere that were the top of the football leagues for pee-wee football, these were legit kids."

As the film marks its 30th anniversary, catch up with some members of the Little Giants cast, then and now.

Rick Moranis as Danny O'Shea

An alumnus of the Canadian sketch series SCTV, Rick Moranis was a favorite in the comedy and film worlds prior to playing determined dad, brother and coach Danny O'Shea in Little Giants, with standout roles in Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors, Spaceballs, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Parenthood and My Blue Heaven on his résumé ... just to name a few.

Not long after the film debuted, Moranis took a step back from acting following the death of his wife, costume designer Ann Belsky.

"I took a break, which turned into a longer break," he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2015. "Stuff happens to people all the time, and people make adjustments, change careers, move to another city. Really, that's all I did."

Moranis, now 71, has made a few cameos in recent years, and was slated to star in a 2020s Honey I Shrunk the Kids reboot that was ultimately scrapped.

The actor has two grown children with Belsky.

Ed O'Neill as Kevin O'Shea

Ed O'Neill was already well-known on the small screen for portraying Al Bundy on Married... with Children from 1987 to 1997 before he took up the role of bullish brother Kevin O'Shea.

In a 25th anniversary chat with ESPN, director Duwayne Dunham shared the thesis for O'Neill's character.

"It was simple. I said just play Mike Ditka," he recalled. "Ed was great. So the combination of Ed and Rick worked out really well."

O'Neill's next big moment was on the hit ABC sitcom Modern Family, which ran with him as the family patriarch from 2009 to 2020. On the big screen, O'Neill has also voiced several characters in films such as Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Finding Dory (2016) and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). In 2024, the actor had his first post-Modern Family TV role in the FX miniseries Clipped.

O'Neill has two daughters with his wife, actress Catherine Rusoff. The couple has been married since 1986.

Shawna Waldron as Becky 'Icebox' O'Shea

At just 15 years old, Shawna Waldron's first on-screen role was as Danny's athletic daughter Becky “Icebox” O’Shea in Little Giants. Following the success of the film, she continued her teenage acting career in The American President (1995), Disney’s Mr. Headmistress (1998) and alongside Jean Smart in the TV movie A Change of Heart (1998). 

In 1999, Waldron landed a role as a regular in the CBS comedy Ladies Man, starring Alfred Molina, Sharon Lawrence and Betty White. She played Bonnie Stiles and left after the first season. 

More recently, Waldron has appeared in films like The Exorcism Diaries (2014), Dead Man Rising (2016) and Teacher (2019). These days, she works as an antiques dealer.

"I think the message was really strong with little girls, and it really means a lot to me when I hear things from people that affected them," Waldron told ESPN in 2019. "If that movie can do anything. If that's the one thing that this movie does, man that makes me really happy."

Waldron is married to filmmaker Adam Dick.

Devon Sawa as Junior Floyd

A total '90s heartthrob, Devon Sawa was having a moment when he joined the cast of Little Giants as rough-and-tumble quarterback Junior Floyd. Another actor actually had the part before Sawa — who was filming Casper — hit the set. (And according to ESPN, fellow '90s kid Jonathan Taylor Thomas was up for it, too.)

"The problem when you're 12 or whatever and your boy gets canned, bringing in the new kid, for the first couple of weeks, I was not liked on that set," Sawa told ESPN in 2019. "Because I was the replacement."

However, the stars ultimately meshed. "It was just four months, which seems like the longest time when you're that age," he recalled. "And it was a lot of fun. It was Al Bundy. And of course Rick Moranis was huge at the time, and it was nothing but good memories." He revealed to PEOPLE in 2024 that he's still in touch with much of the cast — and that his mom had even kept his jersey and helmet from the film (plus the VHS!).

After 1995's Casper and Now And Then, Sawa starred in several films and TV shows, notably Wild America, Final Destination, and The CW's Nikita. He also played Eminem in the rapper's music video for his song "Stan" and currently stars in the Syfy horror series Chucky.

Todd Bosley as Jake Berman

Todd Bosley played the snot-nosed yet determined Jake Berman in Little Giants.

In 2019, he posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) “Little Giants was my first big acting gig, and the 5 months we spent making it felt like the greatest summer camp ever.  And that was because of the awesome friends I made along the way.”

After his breakout role, Bosley appeared in the Robin Williams film Jack in 1996. Since then, he has appeared in popular TV shows like Seinfeld, Reba, That’s So Raven, Scrubs, House and iCarly. 

In February, Bosley reunited with his Little Giants costars Shawna Waldron and Marcus Toji. Together, they showed off a signed DVD of the 1994 film on Instagram. They called upon Travis Kelce to sign it before they handed it off to a local Kansas City charity, Operation Breakthrough.

Sam Horrigan as Spike

After Sam Horrigan played the rude and arrogant Spike in Little Giants, he went on to regularly appear in seasons 4 and 5 of the ABC hit show Grace Under Fire. During his run on the show, he also starred as Val in the Disney Channel movie Brink!

In February of 2024, Horrigan discussed the resurgence of the film Brink! on an episode of the Magical Rewind podcast.

“I get messages at like 3 a.m.,” he said. “People will be reaching out to me like ‘We just got back from the bar are we’re all watching Brink!’ People who used to skate when the movie came out, they stopped, they became parents, and then now they’re back skating again. There is a crazy resurgence of just skating in general.”

Since his role as a Disney Channel villain, Horrigan has made small screen appearances in shows such as One Tree Hill, Desperate Housewives, Veronica Mars, Reba, CSI and Modern Family. 

In June 2018, the actor filed for divorce from his wife, Betty. The two share children Blake and Hailey.

Marcus Toji as Marcus

Though Marcus Toji didn't have football experience when he stepped into the role of Marcus, he had been acting in TV before landing his part.

The actor shared fond memories of on-set antics with ESPN in 2019, and joked, "I did all my own kicking. All the crappy kicks were 100 percent me."

Toji said that at the time, the young actors "all hoped it would be [successful], but as a kid you don't think about the numbers." Though it wasn't an initial hit, "it wasn't until about maybe four, five years later that we realized it was popular," he added.

Following Little Giants, Toji continued acting in everything from Boy Meets World and Hey Arnold! to The Goldbergs and Patriot.

Toji is now married (with children!).

Alexa PenaVega as Priscilla O'Shea

Getting her start as an actor at a young age, Alexa PenaVega (née Vega) already had a number of small TV and film roles, including the series Evening Shade, under her belt before landing Little Giants as Priscilla O'Shea.

She went on to appear in the Spy Kids series, starring in the first film (2001), and the two sequels, Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams (2002) and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003). In 2011, she reprised her role as Carmen yet again in the sequel, Spy Kids: All the Time in the World.

In addition to Spy Kids, PenaVega is well-known for her role in the 2004 teen comedy film Sleepover, and has continued to act in various TV and films, including Ruby & the Rockits, The Middle and Nashville. In 2015, she competed on Dancing with the Stars, finishing in sixth place.

In recent years, she has done countless Hallmark films, including a few with her husband, former Big Time Rush star Carlos PenaVega. Together, they have three children, two sons born in December 2016 and June 2019, and a daughter born in May 2021.

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