Reality Bites star Janeane Garofalo looked so different as she stepped out in New York City for an outing in October, more than 30 years after starring in the hit coming-of-age film.
The 62-year-old took a stroll in a torn gray tank top and bright red sweatpants, which she paired with black sneakers, a silver chain necklace, colored bracelets and carry bags.
Janeane wore her long dark hair down in waves behind her back, letting it flow in the wind, and donned a pair of pink-tinted aviator-style glasses to complete the look.
Janeane's rise to the top
© BrosNYC / BACKGRIDThe actress began her career in stand-up comedy in the '80s, before getting her big break on The Ben Stiller Show and The Larry Sanders Show in the early '90s. Janeane was a cast member on Saturday Night Live between 1994 and 1995, but ultimately left the coveted job as she felt it wasn't for her.
She starred alongside Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke in Reality Bites, and was initially fired from the project before being rehired. "Previously I'd had one line – something like 'That'll be $11.50 please' – in a movie called Late for Dinner," she told The Guardian.
© Instagram"I didn't like the rehearsal process in Reality Bites, and I wasn't taking things seriously. At one point, I was fired for being disruptive. That taught me a lesson and, after they took me back, I made sure I learned it quickly." Janeane added that she laughed "a lot" on set and found the experience "purely fun".
"I was like 'the friend' or 'the chubby friend and there's about 8,050 actors you can put in that part, right? Ethan had to act quite vulnerable and sing. He wanted to transition into leading roles, but I was just thinking: 'Hey! Look at this! I'm doing a movie!'" she recalled.
Aging in the spotlight
The brunette beauty also starred in projects like Romy and Michele's High School Reunion and The Truth About Cats and Dogs, but her work began to dry up in the '00s.
"In the '90s, I had a lot of opportunities. That's not been the case since about 2002, and it hurts my feelings terribly," she said on George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. "Because I want to be accepted. I want to be thought of for roles."
© YouTubeJaneane got candid about how difficult it was to be a middle-aged woman in Hollywood in an interview with Vulture. "It's been hard in entertainment as a 45-year-old woman to find jobs. They get fewer and far between if you're older, unless you're one of the few lucky ones who work constantly, like Meryl Streep," she explained.
"I think most women as they age would tell you that it's harder and harder to find work…You just need an opportunity, and then you yourself have to do a good job, and then you hope that people go, 'Oh yeah, I forgot about her.'" Despite this, she has continued to work steadily, with roles in The West Wing, 24, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, Ideal, Broad City, Younger and Stranger Things: Tales from '85.
