Grease cast: Where are they now?

John Travolta (Danny Zuko)

Before he donned Danny Zuko's leather jacket, John Travolta was already a bona fide star thanks to his roles as Vinnie Barbarino on Welcome Back, Kotter, Billy Nolan in Carrie (1976), and Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (1977) — for which he received his first Academy Award nomination. Following the juggernaut success of the film, Travolta's next hit came with 1980's Urban Cowboy, but then a string of disappointments followed, and the actor's career hit a slump throughout the following decade.

In 1989, however, things began to turn around with the success of Look Who's Talking, costarring Kirstie Alley, but it was 1994's Pulp Fiction, directed by Quentin Tarantino, that truly sparked his career resurgence, earning him his second Oscar nomination in the process. He has gone on to star in several hit films since, including Get Shorty (1995), Face/Off (1997), and Primary Colors (1998), as well as a return to movie musicals with his performance as Edna Turnblad in the 2007 remake of Hairspray.

In 2012, Travolta reunited with Olivia Newton-John for their holiday album This Christmas, and, in 2016, he received his first Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Robert Shapiro in FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.

Travolta was married to the late Kelly Preston from 1991 until her death from breast cancer in July of 2020. The couple had three children together: Jett, who tragically died from a seizure in 2009, Ella Bleu, and Benjamin.

Olivia Newton-John (Sandy Olsson)

Already a Grammy-winning recording artist and country music star when she was cast as good-girl-gone-bad Sandy, Olivia Newton-John's career rose to greater heights after the movie became the biggest box office hit of 1978. Thanks to her soundtrack contributions "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Summer Nights," she became the second woman to have two singles in the Billboard top five at the same time. In addition to the box office and Billboard success brought on by the musical, her performance in Grease also landed her a Golden Globe nomination.

Inspired by her climactic transformation into "Bad Sandy," Newton-John revamped her sound and image for her next album, Totally Hot, to add more of a Pink Ladies edge. Her big screen follow-up, Xanadu — costarring Gene Kelly — was a critical and commercial failure, but produced a hit soundtrack and a slew of top 20 singles, including "Magic," which spent five weeks at No. 1 on the charts. The movie musical was also where she met her first husband, Matt Lattanzi, and in 1986 gave birth to their daughter, Chloe Rose.

In 1981, she released Physical, the biggest album of her career. The risqué title track ruled the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks, and its tongue-in-cheek, aerobics-inspired music video became an MTV staple. She went on to record 15 more studio albums, achieving a career total of 26, and selling over 100 million units worldwide.

In 1992, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and became a tireless advocate for cancer research throughout the rest of her life, founding the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Australia. In addition, she was "hopelessly devoted" to philanthropic works, including a stint as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program. Her cancer returned in 2013 and 2017, and on Aug. 8, 2022, her husband John Easterling announced the icon's death at the age of 73.

Stockard Channing (Betty Rizzo)

By the time she was cast as high school bad girl Rizzo, Stockard Channing had already amassed an impressive list of stage and screen credits, including a starring turn opposite Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson in Mike Nichols' The Fortune (1975).

After two brief attempts at sitcom stardom in the early-1980s, Channing re-teamed with Nicholson and Nichols (as well as Meryl Streep) for the film Heartburn, based on Nora Ephron's best-selling novel. She continued to work onstage as well, eventually earning a Tony award for Best Actress in a Play for Peter Nichol's A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, and nominations for her work in The House of Blue Leaves and Six Degrees of Separation, Four Baboons Adoring the Sun, The Lion in Winter, Pal Joey (for Best Actress in a Musical), and Other Dessert Cities.

In 1993, she reprised the role of Louisa "Ouisa" Kittredge for the film version of Six Degrees and received both Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for her performance. She worked steadily through the '90s before joining the cast of the celebrated drama The West Wing in 1999 — which brought her six Emmy nominations and one win. She went on to win one more Emmy for the made-for-television movie The Matthew Shepard Story in 2002, which earned her a Screen Actors Guild award as well.

Channing has continued to appear on both stage and screen, and played a recurring role on the CBS drama The Good Wife until 2016. She has been married and divorced four times, and was in a long-term relationship with cinematographer Daniel Gillham until his death in 2014.

Jeff Conaway (Kenickie)

Kenickie, the T-Birds second-in-command, was brought to the screen by Jeff Conaway. Like his costar John Travolta, Conaway appeared in the original cast of Grease on Broadway, serving as an understudy for several of the roles, eventually taking over the part of Danny Zuko. He followed his time on the Great White Way with guest star turns on a number of television shows before joining the cast of the Grease film and becoming a series regular on the sitcom Taxi.

After three seasons on Taxi, and two Golden Globe nominations, Conaway left the hit show due to both creative differences with the producers and his struggles with drug abuse on set. Throughout the rest of the '80s and early-'90s, he primarily worked in guest spots on TV, and small supporting roles in films, until he booked the role of Zack Allan on Babylon 5 from 1994 to 1999.

Things took a dark turn in the mid-2000s when Conaway relapsed from substance abuse and turned up on reality TV as a star of the VH1 shows Celebrity Fit Club and Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew. Conaway died in May of 2011 from complications from pneumonia.

Didi Conn (Frenchy)

Didi Conn, born Edith Bernstein, is the only cast member to appear in all three screen adaptations of Grease, having also appeared in 1982's Grease 2, and Fox's Grease: Live! (2016).

After her turn as beauty school dropout Frenchy in the original 1978 film, she went on to star in television shows like The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, Benson, and the PBS series Shining Time Station — alongside Ringo Starr, and, later, George Carlin. Conn has appeared on series such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Transparent, and Blue Bloods. She competed on the hit British series Dancing on Ice in 2019, but was eliminated in week four.

After her son David was diagnosed with autism at an early age, she has become an outspoken advocate for autism awareness, and, in 2008, she was named the National Celebrity Spokesperson for Autism Speaks. She has been married to her second husband, David Shire, since 1982.

Dinah Manoff (Marty Maraschino)

The daughter of screenwriter Arnold Manoff, and Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress/director Lee Grant, Dinah Manoff played Marty Maraschino, the Pink Ladies' biggest flirt. Following the success of Grease, and a yearlong stint on the ABC sitcom Soap in 1978, she went on to win a Tony award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play in 1980 for Neil Simon's I Ought to Be in Pictures. She stayed busy for the rest of the '80s, starring in the film version of the play, as well as parts in Ordinary People (1980) and the horror movie Child's Play (1988).

In 1988, she booked the lead role of Carol Weston in the hit NBC spin-off of The Golden Girls, Empty Nest. She costarred on the sitcom alongside Richard Mulligan and Kristy McNichol, and was featured in every episode of its seven-season run.

Manoff has three children with her second husband, Arthur Mortell. After her oldest son, Dashiell, tragically died in a car accident in 2017, she began teaching acting at the Purdy Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor, Wash., as a way to deal with her grief. In 2021, she released her first novel, The Real True Hollywood Story of Jackie Gold, through Star Alley Press.

Barry Pearl (Doody)

Frenchy's troublemaking boyfriend Doody was portrayed by Barry Pearl, who performed in the first national tour of Grease prior to joining the cast of the film. In the years since, he has built a long list of guest star credits on TV shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Baywatch, Beverly Hills, 90210, and Even Stevens. Pearl and his onscreen love interest Didi Conn are the only two cast members from the 1978 film to appear in Grease: Live! in 2016.

In addition to his work as an actor, Pearl has directed a number of theatrical productions, and taught film arts at Joey Travolta's Inclusion Film Company for children and adults with developmental disabilities.

Kelly Ward (Putzie)

Kelly Ward brought the youngest member of the T-Birds, Putzie, to life in a role specifically created for the film. Grease wasn't his first time working with costar John Travolta, as the two worked together on 1976's made-for-television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Five years later, after a handful of TV appearances in shows like M*A*S*H, The Waltons, and Magnum, P.I., Ward retired from acting on-camera.

He has gone on to become a voice director for Disney Television Animation, and a screenwriter for numerous cartoons, including the feature film All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996). From 1992 to 1996, he served as Vice President of Animation at MGM studios, and spent 23 years as an adjunct musical theater professor at the University of Southern California's School of Dramatic Arts.

Jamie Donnelly (Jan)

Jan, the nerdy, junk food-loving member of the Pink Ladies was played by Jamie Donnelly, who originated the part on Broadway, and was the only cast member to play the same role in both the stage musical and the film. Prior to Grease, she also starred in the premiere New York and Los Angeles productions of The Rocky Horror Show alongside Tim Curry.

After the success of the movie, Donnelly took an almost 20-year break from acting, working as a theatrical coach in the Los Angeles area. She returned to the profession in the late-'90s and has appeared on television in series like Monk, Veep, and Ray Donovan, as well as the feature films Cyrus (2010) with Marisa Tomei and Black Mass (2015) with Johnny Depp.