The “Halloweentown” Cast: Where Are They Now?

The classic Halloween movie has been a Disney Channel staple for 25 years

It’s the 25th anniversary of Halloweentown!

While the Disney Channel Original Movie premiered on Oct. 17, 1998, just in time for the Halloween season, the idea for the film existed for several years prior and was inspired by executive producer Steve White’s daughter.

White's wife, Sheri Singer — also an executive producer on the film — recalled the moment to E! News in October 2017: "He came in one day to me and said, ’I don't know where to go with this, but my daughter said to me, 'Dad, where do all the creatures from Halloween go the rest of the year when it's not October 31?' And that's how it was born.”

Halloweentown in its original form was developed in 1994 with “a little bit more adult appeal,” and after the success of Under Wraps (1997), Disney scooped up Halloweentown, and it was redeveloped for kids.

Debbie Reynolds was the first actor to be cast, taking on the role of Aggie Cromwell. The rest of the parts were filled over time: Kimberly J. Brown as Marnie Piper, Aggie’s granddaughter; Judith Hoag as Marnie’s mother, Gwen Cromwell Piper; Joey Zimmerman as Marnie’s brother Dylan Piper; and Emily Roeske as Marnie’s sister Sophie Piper.

The original movie was followed by three sequels, including Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge (2001), Halloweentown High (2004) and Return to Halloweentown (2006).

Brown spoke to PEOPLE in October 2022 about the legacy of the Halloweentown franchise. "It's just crazy to think about the impact that it has had on culture as a whole. It's a Disney film, and yet they're so revered and beloved," she said.

So what has the cast been up to in the 25 years since the legendary film premiered? From continued success in Hollywood to new career paths, here’s where the cast of Halloweentown is now.

Debbie Reynolds as Aggie Cromwell

Debbie Reynolds was born Mary Frances Reynolds in El Paso, Texas, on April 1, 1932.

In the late 1930s, Reynolds and her family moved to California. When she was a teenager, Reynolds entered — and won — the Miss Burbank pageant. Growing up, her career goal was to become a gym teacher, but at 16, she landed a movie contract with Warner Bros. after a scout discovered her at the pageant.

Two years after she won Miss Burbank, Reynolds starred in Three Little Words (1950), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for most promising newcomer. She was just 17 when she was cast opposite Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain (1952), which turned her into a household name.

Reynolds had a storied career in Hollywood for many decades. In addition to her Golden Globe nomination in 1951, she received several more for Bundle of Joy (1956), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), The Debbie Reynolds Show (1969–1970) and Mother (1996). She also was nominated for an Academy Award for The Unsinkable Molly Brown and received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy Awards in February 2016.

Throughout her career, she appeared on a number of TV shows, including as Bobbi Adler, mother to Grace Adler (Debra Messing), on Will & Grace from 1996 to 2006. Her career also extended to Broadway, earning a Tony Award nomination for her role in Irene, and to music, releasing multiple solo albums and appearing on compilations.

One of Reynolds’ most beloved roles was that of Aggie Cromwell in the Halloweentown franchise. As the family matriarch and a resident of Halloweentown, Aggie guided her grandchildren through their journey of developing and honing their magic.

Reynolds was married three times. She wed Eddie Fisher in 1955, and the couple had two children: Carrie Fisher and Todd Fisher. They divorced in 1959 after Reynolds learned that Eddie had been having an affair with her close friend Elizabeth Taylor. Reynolds was married to businessman Harry Karl from 1960 to 1973 and real estate developer Richard Hamlett from 1984 to 1996.

Reynolds died on Dec. 28, 2016, at age 84 after having a stroke and her official cause of death was intracerebral hemorrhage. Her death came just one day after her daughter Carrie died.

“My mother and my sister are together now,” her son Todd told the Associated Press. “She said, ‘I want to be with Carrie.’ And then she was gone.”

Kimberly J. Brown as Marnie Piper

Kimberly J. Brown was born on Nov. 16, 1984, in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Brown began acting when she was 5 years old. In her early career, she appeared on Broadway, including in Four Baboons Adoring the Sun, Les Misérables and Showboat. One of her early television roles was Marah Lewis on the soap opera Guiding Light from 1993 to 1998, earning her a Daytime Emmy nomination when she was 11. Her feature film credits include Be Cool (2005) and Bringing Down the House (2003), and she lent her voice to A Bug’s Life (1998) and Little Polar Bear (2001).

Brown may be best known for her role as Marnie Piper in the first three Halloweentown movies. The lasting legacy of Halloweentown over the decades is not lost on Brown, who told PEOPLE in October 2022, "It is such a gift to bring joy to people and to have this relationship with people over the movies and share the magic over the years."

In addition to her fond memories of Halloweentown and her costars, Brown also met her fiancé, Daniel Kountz, working on Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge. More than two decades after the movie came out, Brown and Kountz got engaged. While the couple were not romantically linked on set, they reconnected in 2016. Brown first sparked dating rumors when she posted a photo of the couple kissing on Instagram.

Brown is an alum of the Upright Citizens Brigade and Second City Improv Conservatory. Since Halloweentown, she has stayed busy in her career; she’s portrayed characters in General Hospital, the Hallmark film Crossword Mysteries (2019) and the AMC series Low Winter Sun.

Judith Hoag as Gwen Cromwell Piper

Judith Hoag was born on June 29, 1963, in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Hoag was inspired to become an actor by her childhood heroes, Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball and Mary Tyler Moore, she said during a panel at Classic Rewind Weekend 2022.

She had several recurring TV roles early in her career, including Charlotte “Lotty” Bates Alden in Loving and Melissa Shaw Elliott in Wolf. In 1990, she portrayed April O'Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which became one of her most recognizable roles. Over the years, she’s also appeared in episodes of several iconic TV shows, including Roseanne, Walker, Texas Ranger, The Nanny, Murder, She Wrote, Melrose Place and more.

Hoag, Reynolds and Zimmerman appeared in all four Halloweentown movies. She reflected on the franchise at Classic Rewind Weekend. “I did the movie because Debbie Reynolds was doing the movie and I was such a fan,” Hoag said. “At the time, nobody really knew what the Disney Channel was. I loved the idea of playing a witch and being in a witch family, but I really wanted to work with her.”

After Halloweentown, she appeared on HBO's Big Love and was a series regular in the first two seasons of CMT's Nashville. In recent years, she had a recurring role in the Syfy series The Magicians and starred in the films Finding You (2021) and Roll with It (2023).

Hoag was previously married to actor Vince Grant, with whom she shares a son and a daughter. She married Philip Stone on Feb. 13, 2021, according to her Instagram. Hoag is also stepmother to his two sons, Philip and Logan.

Joey Zimmerman as Dylan Piper

Joey Zimmerman was born on June 10, 1986, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Zimmerman is the child of artists: His father, Henry Zimmerman, was an actor, while his mother, Kat Zimmerman, was a musician. In November 2022, he told Jake’s Happy Nostalgia Show! that his family moved to California for his father’s career when he was 3 years old. He would join his dad at auditions until he got his own agent and booked his first job — a commercial for McDonald’s.

Throughout the ‘90s, Zimmerman appeared on a variety of TV shows, including Frasier, Caroline in the City and Felicity. When it came to Hallowentown, he said it was a “very long process” with “a lot of auditions.”

“Suddenly, this role comes along that I hadn’t thought of myself in before," he said. "It was this new and interesting thing and almost frustrating, like, ‘Oh, I love Halloween and scary stuff, but I have got to pretend I don’t.’ ”

Zimmerman married his wife, Becky Zimmerman, in 2020. He has also kept his roots in the arts. He shares his photography on Instagram and has traded movies and TV for the stage. In December 2022, he appeared as Aslan in a community theater production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in Grand Forks, North Dakota. According to his Instagram, he is directing a production of The Dark Art of Poe to kick off the 76th season of the Greater Grand Forks Community Theatre.

Emily Roeske as Sophie Piper

Emily Roeske was born in Milwaukee on July 15, 1991.

Roeske started acting as a child after following in her sibling's steps. Her parents owned a martial arts studio, and her brother, James Paul Roeske II, began competing in and winning several tournaments across the U.S., she shared on Instagram. As a result, he appeared on several talk shows, including The Tonight Show. Talent agents scouted Roeske’s brother at the legendary late-night talk show and convinced her family to move out to California.

“He got an agent, started going on auditions and booking roles, and then he was in the movie 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain,” Roeske recalled in a different Instagram clip, adding, “I was on the set of that movie with him; the director gave me a small part. … I decided to get an agent and started acting and booking jobs as well.”

Outside of her part in 3 Ninjas and an appearance on an episode of ER, Roeske is best known for playing Sophie Piper in the first three Halloweentown movies. She retired from acting after Halloweentown High — until March 2021, when she announced her return to acting on Instagram.

Today, she lives in Arizona with her boyfriend, Jacob Arellano, whom she’s been dating since January 2020. Roeske and Arellano have embraced their blended family: Roeske is the mother of two daughters — Evie and Mavis — from a previous relationship. She also has two “bonus sons,” twins Lincoln and Logan, who are Arellano’s children from a previous relationship.

Though she temporarily stepped away from acting after her role as Sophie, Roeske has visited St. Helens, Oregon, where Halloweentown was filmed, on several occasions. She’s also appeared at fan festivals alongside former costars Brown, Kountz, Zimmerman and Phillip Van Dyke.

Robin Thomas as Kalabar

Robin Thomas played Kalabar, Halloweentown’s mayor and the film’s antagonist.

According to the agency MN2S, Thomas studied drama at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the art department to study sculpture. He then moved to New York, where he worked in the art space and construction.

In addition, he entered the film and TV world, landing his first role in 1982 on the soap opera As the World Turns. Thomas has since appeared in dozens of TV shows, including Another World, Who’s the Boss? and Life Unexpected. He later guest starred on NCIS: Los Angeles, Desperate Housewives and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

His film credits include Pacific Rim (2013), The Contender (2000) and the first two Halloweentown movies. Most recently, Thomas appeared in the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries film series Mystery 101 (2019–2021).

Halloweentown producer Singer told E! News that Kalabar was among the most challenging characters to cast. Still, Thomas ultimately was the right fit for the Disney villain, as he had previously worked with Steve White on Amityville Dollhouse (1996). Among the actors Singer had worked with over the years, she said he was “in the top five of doing his homework.”

“There was a lot of discussion about how do we do this,” she added. “As the mayor, he was more charming and likable, so that the audience would get used to him not being that scary so when he was, he really was.”

Thomas was previously married to Gina Wishnick. He is also the father of two children.

Phillip Van Dyke as Luke

Phillip Van Dyke was born in San Francisco on June 13, 1984.

Van Dyke was a child actor who played a wide variety of roles from 1993 up until 2003, when he retired from Hollywood. He’s best known for his roles as Ellis Solomon in The Home Court, as Noah Beznick in Noah Knows Best and as the voice behind Arnold Shortman on Hey Arnold! during the show's second and third seasons.

He appears in both Halloweentown and Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge as Luke, a goblin who lives in Halloweentown and does Kalabar’s bidding in exchange for the warlock making him look like a human.

After retiring from acting, Van Dyke went on to work for a financial services company, he told Bustle in 2015. The former actor married his wife, Jennifer, on Dec. 28, 2009. He’s also the father of three children, including a daughter, Paris, and a son, Flynn. His third child was born in October 2016, according to MTV.

In October 2020, Van Dyke spoke to E! News and reflected on the continued impact of the Halloweentown film franchise. "When you realize that [the films] had such an impact on people and that they're still fans and they're still watching these films every single year, it is pretty incredible," he said. "It's something that I try not to take for granted.

When asked if he would return for a fifth Halloweentown film, Van Dyke said, “If the rest of the cast came back and wanted to do that, I would be up for it.”

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