No matter your age, Nickelodeon was probably a major part of your childhood. The network has had countless cartoons and live-action shows that helped children and teenagers navigating a world that is sometimes very fun and sometimes very scary.

Of course, those Nick fans grow up eventually and stop watching those shows. The question remains, though: just what happens to those actors who made up your childhood? Did they land on their feet with major new roles or did they simply fade away into the distance?

The answer to that question: it depends! Some of these child actors grew into insanely successful roles in TV, film, and music (and in some cases, all three). Others disappeared into relative obscurity once the Nick spotlight was off them. No matter what happened to their careers, catching up with these actors is like reconnecting with an old friend from your childhood.

Curious who made it big and who simply flopped big time? Fortunately, you don’t have to get in a Twitter feud with the stars of Drake & Josh to find out everyone’s fate. All you have to do is keep scrolling in order to discover 15 Nickelodeon Stars Who Became A-Listers (And X Who Completely Flopped)!

A-Lister: Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande was a full-fledged Nickelodeon powerhouse not that long ago. She appeared in Victorious and on Sam & Cat. Despite its popularity, Sam & Cat was canceled after one extended season. That was okay, though —Grande didn’t really need Nick anymore!

She had started working on her music career way back in 2010, and she used her Nick popularity to help that career grow. Once she was no longer with Nick, Grande was able to focus on that music exclusively. Her first studio album came out a year before Sam & Cat got the ax, and she went on to two other hit albums.

She’s also found the time to cameo in movies like Zoolander 2 and has provided songs for soundtracks like Beauty and the Beast. So far, it looks like the sky is the limit for Grande!

Flop: Miranda Cosgrove

Miranda Cosgrove is a name and a face very familiar to fans of Nickelodeon. She made a splash in Drake & Josh and then starred in the mega popular iCarly. Once that show ended, it seemed like a given that she was destined for success on the small and big screen alike.

As it turned out, that wasn’t exactly true. She was going to star in a TV show called Girlfriend in a Coma, but casting issues and behind the scenes drama dashed the series before it began. She also had a role in the series Crowded, but that fizzled after one season, and her show Spaced Out ended up not being picked up for series. Sadly, her biggest roles after iCarly have been when she continued to voice Margo in the Despicable Me movies!

A-Lister: Jessica Alba

While her career may be quiet lately, Jessica Alba is one of the biggest Nickelodeon breakout stars in history. Nick fans with a long memory may remember her as Jessica on the classic show The Secret World of Alex Mack, and she went on to do big things. She was in several other TV shows (ranging from Flipper to Beverly Hills, 90210) before properly hitting Hollywood.

It started when Alba was cast as the female lead in the horror cult classic Idle Hands. She went on to star in movies like Sin City, Fantastic Four, and The Eye. Along the way, she was the series lead in the James Cameron sci-fi TV series Dark Angel. It turns out that after Nick, this girl was anything but invisible!

Flop: Danny Tamberelli and Michael Maronna

For fans of a certain age, Danny Tamberelli and Michael Maronna were once major faces of Nickelodeon. You may know them better by their characters: Pete and Pete! The show was a perfect combo of trippy music and unforgettable performances, and it’s a perfect love letter for the different stages of childhood.

Then again, children have to grow up someday, and once they did, we didn’t see a lot of Tamberelli and Maronna. Tamberelli is part of a comedy troupe, and he and Maronna have a podcast (ironically named The Adventures of Danny and Mike), but they are mostly off the pop culture radar nowadays. However, many old school Nick fans are hoping for a Pete and Pete full cast reunion, if only to see Mr. Tastee just one more time.

A-Lister: Melissa Joan Hart

Once again, syndication can lead to some pretty weird things for actors’ careers. In the case of Melissa Joan Hart, it meant that her career as a Nickelodeon star was a bit like a boomerang! Nick fans first met Hart on her iconic show Clarissa Explains It All. Very soon after that show ended, her star power got her cast as the lead once more, this time in Sabrina, The Teenage Witch.

As we explained, that show ended up being syndicated in some countries on Nickelodeon. However, Hart still managed to break out of the Nick bubble: she popped up in movies like Can’t Hardly Wait and Rent Control. She dabbled with a directing career for a bit before she became the star in her third major TV show with Joey Lawrence, appropriately named Melissa and Joey.

Flop: Nate Richert

Due to the magic of syndication, some actors became Nickelodeon stars almost by accident. That is the case for Nate Richert, as he played the love interest Harvey on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The series started on ABC and went on the WB (what is now the CW), but international audiences mostly discovered this series when it was broadcast on Nick.

Audiences all around the world admired Richert’s character Harvey and fell in love with him through the eyes of Sabrina. After that show ended, though, Richert pretty much fell off the radar for his fans: he’s focused on creating music now, but it’s mostly small solo stuff.

However, we really love to see Richert’s work, and we think he might have a major musical comeback right around the corner!

A-Lister: Nat and Alex Wolff

Nat and Alex Wolff were better known as two of the brothers in the Naked Brothers Band. While the band name sounds like something that would get you placed on a watch list for researching, it was also the name of their hit Nickelodeon show. That show’s heyday was over a decade ago, but it turns out they have gone on to do great things.

Nat has an eclectic but awesome acting career: he’s been in Paper Towns, The Fault in Our Stars, and even in Death Note. Alex has been rocking a film career, too, and while he mostly had roles in smaller movies like Coming Through the Rye, and modest movies like My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, he made a big-budged splash in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. There’s a lot of wattage in these brothers’ star power, and we can’t wait to see what’s next.

Flop: Jamie Lynn Spears

Sometimes, a big impediment to the career of an actor is when a famous sibling casts a really long shadow. In the case of Jamie Lynn Spears, the shadow doesn’t get much bigger than the one cast by her famous sister Britney! Nonetheless, it looked like her career was rocking and rolling— she starred in Nickelodeon shows like All That and her own series, Zoey 101.

However, that show ended shortly after Spears announced that she was pregnant. This ended up being very controversial, as Jamie Lynn Spears was only sixteen at the time. That made many waves in the teenage media world she worked in, and she effectively bowed out of public life to concentrate on her new family. While we wish her the best, it’s tough to not imagine the career she might have ended up having!

A-Lister: Emma Roberts

Emma Roberts is another Nickelodeon alumnus that fans learned to love. She was mostly known for her time on the show Unfabulous, and her role as Addie Singer helped put her on the radar with a Teen Choice Award nomination and a Young Artist Award nomination. Once Unfabulous went off the air, though, Emma Roberts and her star power just kept going!

She had early success in films like Aquamarine and Nancy Drew. She went on to star in more serious work such as Hotel for Dogs and Scream 4. It turns out that role in Scream paid major dividends: she ended up playing multiple roles in multiple seasons of American Horror Story and also starred in Scream Queens. And if her crazy film and TV career ever dies out, she also has great musical chops to fall back on!

Flop: Drake Bell

Drake Bell is one of those actors who might as well be a Nick mascot for many fans. He starred in things like The Amanda Show and in three different Fairly OddParents movies, but he is most known for the show that shared his name, Drake & Josh. Once that series ended, though, his career ended up sagging a bit.

For instance, he has a musical career and several albums under his belt, but the more he focuses on concept albums, the more he seems to get away from the sound his fans grew up loving.

As an actor, things have been dicey: he’s had steady work as a voice actor in Ultimate Spider-Man, but he’s also had canceled shows and low-key digital series. Let’s put it this way: he’s more famous for his Twitter feud with former co-star Josh Peck than any role or album!

A-Lister: Kenan Thompson

The best thing that most Nickelodeon stars can hope for is that their time with the network gives them all the skills they need for a lifetime of success. In many ways, the best example of that is Kenan Thompson. During his time at Nick, he starred in All That as well as Kenan & Kel. He even starred in the Nick movie Good Burger based on a sketch from All That.

After Nick, Thompson had an interesting movie career that included Fat Albert, two different Mighty Ducks movies, and even the crazy Samuel L. Jackson movie Snakes On a Plane. In 2003, he began acting on Saturday Night Live, where he holds two important milestones: he was the first actor cast who was born after SNL started in 1975, and he has been on the show consecutively for longer than anyone else.

Jerry Trainor

Nickelodeon fans of Gerald “Jerry” Trainor may recognize him from several different Nick shows. He starred in Drake & Josh, iCarly, and even in T.U.F.F. Puppy. Fans fell in love with Trainor’s unique brand of quirky humor and all-around charm.

He went on to star in the Nick movie Best Player and the doomed Nick series Wendell & Vinnie, but after that, things have been pretty slim pickings for Trainor. You may have seen him in a World of Warcraft video project called Project Lore or heard him in the Halo podcast Hunt the Truth, but he’s mostly behind the scenes nowadays as a voice actor and as bassist in the music group Nice Enough People.

While he’s great in these modest gigs, we’d love to see him back in the action of a regular acting gig.

Flop: Tadhg Kelly

Tadhg Kelly is mostly known to Nick fans as Ben Singer on the TV show Unfabulous. He rocked that role for forty-one episodes, but it ended way back in 2007. We wish we could tell you that his star had continued to rise in the last decade, but he’s mostly been in very small roles.

For instance, the most recurring TV role was being in three episodes of My Mother/Agent. He played “Vladim” twice in something called Llama Cop (the TV series and a short). It’s not that Kelly doesn’t still have the acting chops that made Nick fans love it, but somewhere along the way, he got relegated to a lifetime of background roles. That is a pretty “unfabulous” fate for our favorite Unfabulous actor!

A-Lister: KeKe Palmer

When fans discovered KeKe Palmer, she came on like a force of nature! She starred in the Nick show True Jackson, VP while also providing the catchy theme song for the show. With her acting skills, musical chops, and even a fashion line modeled after the show, she was a bonafide cultural phenomenon.

Her musical career started taking off shortly before True Jackson, VP ended: she was signed to Interscope Records and later, Universal Music Records, and has released multiple albums, singles, and an awesome mixtape. Not content to be a musical superstar, she also rocked a career in TV and film. Dhe has been in things ranging from the Ice Age: Continental Drift movie to the Masters of Sex TV show. She also had her own talk show, Just Keke and starred in Scream Queens. She even found time to write a memoir!

A-Lister: Ryan Reynolds

This next actor hardly needs an introduction, although many fans may not realize he was ever a Nickelodeon star. That’s right: Ryan Reynolds starred in a Canadian soap opera called Hillside, and Nick released it in the US as a show called Fifteen. He was also in a TV movie for Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, when it aired on ABC. His post-Nick years have been very, very good!

He’s starred in shows like Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place and movies ranging from Blade: Trinity to Adventureland. In more recent years, his career has positively exploded: he had an ill-fated starring role in Green Lantern, but this helped him land the role of Deadpool. That movie became a foul-mouthed hit for 20th Century Fox, and Reynolds’ fans are waiting with baited breath for the sequel.

Pretty good for a kid from a Nickelodeon soap opera, huh?

A-Lister/Flop: Amanda Bynes

Some of the Nickelodean stars who went on to become A-listers are a bit like Icarus who flew too close to the sun. One such case is Amanda Bynes: Nickelodeon helped make her a star with her appearances in All That and Figure It Out. All of her fans wondered what the next big step for her would be.

At first, things were going great: She appeared in films like Big Fat Liar, Lovewrecked, and She’s the Man, and she established a serious fanbase with her hit show What I Like About You. Bynes hit her heights with appearances in Hairspray and Easy A, but she had some substance abuse issues and law enforcement run-ins that required hospitalization of Bynes and parental control of her finances; her career never fully recovered.

Got any Nick stars we missed? Let us know in the comments!