The School Of Rock Kids Then And Now
Can you believe it’s been 20 years since School of Rock was released? Besides making us feel extremely old, that also fills us with warm, fuzzy feelings, because it’s one of our favorite films of the noughties. Not only did the 2003 music-comedy make us fall in love with the inimitable Jack Black, but it also showcased an ensemble cast of seriously talented kids. So what happened to them? Are those actors still on our screens, are they rocking out somewhere, or did they quit showbiz entirely after the Battle of the Bands?
1. Marta — “Blondie”
When Caitlin Hale joined the cast aged 12 as Marta, she only had a little bit of experience as an actor, having appeared in two episodes of Blue’s Clues. But according to co-star Angelo Massagli, who played Frankie, Hale’s audition for School of Rock was a slam-dunk.
Massagli — who just so happens to be Hale’s boyfriend in real life now! — told Inside Edition in 2021, “I get in there and the little blonde girl next to me, she gets called in first. And she starts singing show tunes and just blows the roof off the place. It was excellent.”
Caitlin Hale swapped singing for sonography
Given Hale’s incredible singing voice, fans might be surprised to learn that she didn’t stick around in showbiz for long. After briefly reprising her Blue’s Clues role in 2006, she decided to focus on her education, and this led her down a totally different career path.
After getting a diploma in journalism in 2013 from Arizona State University, the former actress decided to enter the medical field. She’s now an OB-GYN ultrasound technologist and a registered diagnostic medical sonographer.
2. Frankie — “Tough Guy”
Do you think Angelo Massagli knew he was meeting his future partner when he joined the School of Rock cast? As Frankie — a.k.a. “Tough Guy” — one of the band’s security team, Massagli brought to life one of our favorite characters in the movie. It’s had to believe that he only had a couple of on-screen roles to his name by that point.
That said, you might recognize him from 2002’s Stuart Little 2! He was also in seven episodes of Cosby and had a recurring role in The Sopranos, appearing in 18 episodes over a five-year stretch.
Angelo Massagli found love with a co-star
After Massagli’s last acting credit in 2009, he pretty much vanished from the limelight, but then he made headlines again in 2021 — albeit for a whole other reason. School of Rock fans went wild when it was confirmed that he and Caitlin Hale were in a long-term romance.
Massagli explained to Inside Edition, “We have a group chat where all the School of Rock kids, we just hit each other up whenever someone moves somewhere new, or is doing something different. So Caitlin is like, ‘Hey, I’m moving down to Florida.’” They organized a meet-up and have been an item ever since. We don’t know what we’re more excited about: Marta and Frankie ending up together or the fact that the whole cast has a group chat!