Once Upon A Time aired on ABC between 2011 and 2018, featuring a large ensemble cast. Some of whom were well-known prior to appearing on the series, others less so. Once wasn’t their first rodeo.
Since each of their journeys on Once Upon A Time, have ended, many have moved on to new, different projects. Television, film, you name it.
Read on to find out what 13 cast members of Once Upon A Time were doing before and after the series aired.
Lee Arenberg (Grumpy)
Lee Arenberg played the dwarf Grumpy and his Storybrooke counterpart Leroy for over fifty episodes of Once Upon A Time as well as an appearance in Once Upon A Time In Wonderland. This makes him the series’ most frequently appearing guest-star.
Before landing this role, Arenberg was known for playing Pintel in the Pirates of The Caribbean film series, opposite Mackenzie Crook’s Ragetti.
He has also appeared on Disney’s Good Luck Charlie, American Gods on Starz and Showtime’s Californication.
Rebecca Mader (Zelena/Wicked Witch Of The West)
Mader joined the cast of Once Upon A Time in its third season, as the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. She was the main antagonist for that season’s second half.
Prior to this, Mader had played Charlotte Lewis on Lost, which Once Upon A Time co-creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz had written for.
In 2013, Mader had a small role in the Marvel Studios film Iron Man 3. She also starred in Work It, a short-lived comedy series on ABC.
Michael Socha (Will Scarlet)
Socha starred as Will Scarlet, one of Robin Hood’s Merry Men, in the fourth season of Once Upon A Time from 2014 to 2015.
He’d previously played the same character in the spin-off Once Upon A Time In Wonderland, which lasted for a single season.
Prior to appearing on either of these shows, Socha appeared in the This Is England series. Later, he appeared in the BBC miniseries World At War.
Meghan Ory (Ruby/Red Hiding Hood)
Meghan Ory’s Red Riding Hood (or Ruby as she’s known in Storybrooke) appeared regularly in the early seasons of Once Upon A Time but became a less frequent presence as the show went on in its later years.
Ory starred in the short lived espionage series Intelligence opposite Josh Holloway. Currently, she stars as Abby O’Brien in Chesapeake Shores.
She has also appeared as Hannah Lee in NCIS: New Orleans and in the Hallmark film The Memory Book.
Sean Maguire (Robin Hood)
Maguire joined Once Upon A Time in season three as the show’s second iteration of Robin Hood, taking over from future Lucifer star Tom Ellis.
As a young actor, Maguire starred for Aidan Brosnan in the BBC soap opera EastEnders for a year, in 1993.
He has also starred in two short-lived US sitcoms; Eve and The Class.
In 2020, Maguire played The Dark King in the fifth and final season of The Magicians.
Emilie De Ravin (Belle)
De Ravin made her debut as Belle during the first season of Once Upon A Time. She became a series regular from the second season onwards.
Although born in Australia, De Ravin was no stranger to American television. She had already appeared in the original Roswell series as well as five of Lost’s six seasons.
In 2010, De Ravin starred opposite Robert Pattinson in Remember Me.
Michael Raymond-James (Neal/Baelfire)
Raymond-James’ Neal Cassidy entered Once Upon A Time in the second season. He was subsequently revealed as Emma Swan’s past lover, Henry Mills’ biological father and the adult Baelfire, Rumplestiltskin’s son.
Already an established actor, Raymond-James starred as Rene in the firsr season of True Blood and later as Mitch Longo in the first season of Tell Me A Story.
He also starred in the NBC thriller Game Of Silence, which ran for a single season.
Colin O’Donoghue (Killian ‘Hook’ Jones)
O’Donoghue set sail on Once Upon A Time in season two, as the legendary Peter Pan villain Captain Hook, with the new name of Killian Jones.
A year earlier, Donoghue starred as a priest, Michael Kovak, opposite Anthony Hopkins in The Rite.
During the show’s run, he starred in Carrie Pilby, a 2016 comedy-drama film. He also played Peter in the post-apocalyptic thriller What Still Remains.
More recently, he portrayed JJ Sneed in an episode of Dolly Parton’s anthology series Heartstrings.
Lana Parrilla (Regina Mills)
Lana Parrilla was one of only two cast members to maintain her starring status in all seven seasons of Once Upon A Time, where she played Mayor Regina Mills and the Evil Queen.
Years earlier, Parrilla had briefly been a regular on 24 and guest-starred in Lost as a character named Greta.
Other past series regular jobs include runs on Spin City and Boomtown, which lasted a year each.
Robert Carlyle (Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold)
Carlyle also remained on Once Upon A Time, playing a myriad of characters which included multiple versions of Rumplestiltskin, his Storybrooke counterpart Mr. Gold and Weaver in the final season.
Scottish-born Carlyle is well-known for his roles in two 1990s films; Trainspotting (1996) and The Full Monty (1997), both of which are considered cult classics.
Just prior to joining Once Upon A Time, Carlyle played a scientist, Nicholas Rush, for two seasons on Stargate Universe before the show was cancelled.
Josh Dallas (Prince Charming/David Nolan)
Dallas, who played the heroic Prince Charming/David Nolan, completed his acting training in England. This experience as well as time afterwards amounted to eleven years across the pond, during which time he added Doctor Who to his resumé.
After returning to the United States, he played Fandral in the first Thor film. Commitments to Once Upon A Time prevented a return in the sequels.
In 2016, Dallas lent his voice to a pig in Zootopia, which starred a certain someone in his life.
Since 2018, Dallas has starred as Ben Stone in the NBC series Manifest.
Ginnifer Goodwin
Goodwin played heroine Snow White and her counterpart, school teacher Mary Margaret Blanchard, as part of the main cast for the first six seasons of Once Upon A Time. She later appeared as a guest in the series finale.
Between 2006 and 2011, Goodwin played Margene Heffman, one of three wives to Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) in the HBO series Big Love.
During Once Upon A Time‘s run, she also provided the voice of Judy Hopps, the lead character in 2016’s Zootopia, a Walt Disney Animation Studios film.
Since leaving Snow White behind, Goodwin has also portrayed Beth Ann Stanton on Why Women Kill and Genevieve Carson in Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings, in a different episode to Colin O’Donoghue.
Jennifer Morrison (Emma Swan)
Jennifer Morrison brought Emma Swan – The Savior herself – to Storybrooke and, indeed, to life.
However, prior to Once, Morrison had just completed a stint on another long-running series; House. She played Dr. Allison Cameron for the first six seasons and returned a guest thereafter.
Between House and Once Upon A Time, Morrison guest-starred as Zoey Pierson, Ted Mosby’s (Josh Radnor) latest love interest during the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother.
In 2011, Morrison starred in the MMA-based film Warrior, alongside Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Nick Nolte and Frank Grillo.
Next: Could Any ‘Once Upon A Time’ Alumni join Josh Dallas on NBC’s ‘Manifest’ ?
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