Andrew McCarthy

The pale kid who didn't fit into Hollywood

Andrew McCarthy came into the casting for Class in 1983 with a shyness that nearly cost him the part. He didn't have the athletic build of his co-stars, but his gaze conveyed a vulnerability the producers bought immediately. That film alongside Jacqueline Bisset was the first rung of a ladder he climbed far too quickly.

Fame hit him without warning.

In 1985, he shot St. Elmo's Fire, and journalist David Blum coined the term Brat Pack to define his generation. That label worked as a powerful brand but also as a glass cage for McCarthy. He never felt part of the group and avoided the nightlife parties that the rest of the actors frequented in Los Angeles.

In 1986, he played Blane in Pretty in Pink. Young audiences adored him because he embodied the rich boy with a conscience. He sold millions of tickets worldwide, but McCarthy felt his identity as an actor was fading with every teen magazine poster. That sense of being estranged stayed with him throughout his years of stardom.

The industry typecast him as the sensitive leading man.

In 1987, he starred in Mannequin, and in 1989 in the dark comedy Weekend at Bernie’s. They were box-office hits that padded his bank account while his interest in acting plummeted. The studio system of that era didn't know what to do with an actor who preferred introspection to spectacle.

The reinvention behind the monitor

The nineties were a rough journey, with small-budget roles and a voluntary retreat from the spotlight. But in 2010, his career took a different turn when he began directing television professionally. His work behind the camera on Gossip Girl opened the door to projects with a much rawer tone.

Nobody expected that the actor with the evasive gaze would end up running the set.

He directed 15 episodes of Orange Is the New Black starting in 2013. He also handled episodes of The Blacklist and New Amsterdam. During this stage, he discovered that he preferred controlling the frame to being inside it. He earned the respect of his peers as an efficient director who understood actors' fears perfectly.

In 2012, he published his travel memoir The Longest Way Home. Writing helped him purge the anxiety caused by public exposure. So he balanced his stays in Africa or the Amazon with his filming days in New York. Silence was his best ally during that period of personal searching.

In 2024, he premiered the documentary Brats at the Tribeca Film Festival. In this production, he reunited with former colleagues such as Demi Moore and Rob Lowe to examine the impact of their shared past. It was a way of closing a circle that had inevitably followed him for four decades.

Brats was released on Hulu in June 2024 and runs a total of 92 minutes.