Jamie Donnelly, ‘Jan’ from Grease – where she is today

A lot of times our mind might wander and think about certain celebrities we once adored. And if those celebrities have long since disappeared from the limelight, we often think of what they might look like now.

The story for Jamie Donnelly is the same, a lot of people loved her when she appeared in the hit 1978 movie, Grease. But unlike John Travolta who also starred in the hit film, she disappeared from the public eye.

So if you have ever wondered what happened to Jan from Grease, we have the answers for you! Keep reading to know what her life looks like today.

Jamie Donnelly played the character of Jan in the movie Grease. Her role was of fun and quirky girl, that she seemed to play perfectly. And while the role got her noticed by millions around the world, she decided to end her career while she was at its peak and instead focus on her home and raising her kids.

Before she accepted the role of Jan, Donnelly was already a rising star on Broadway. She was initially hesitant to play Jan, since she was used to playing bigger roles but her manager who also worked with John Travolta, convinced her to take the shot.

She accepted the role first on Broadway with a six-month contract. She ended up enjoying herself, extended the role, and stayed longer than originally intended. But when the originally actress who played the role returned, Jan was unceremoniously fired. Seven years later, she was urged by her manager to try out for the Grease movie.

“I said, ‘I don’t wanna go near that thing again.’ And he said, ‘You ought to give it a shot,’” she recalled. She landed the movie role, and later said of it, “I didn’t know then that the movie would be the hit that it is but, of course, now when people think of the character Jan, I’m the person that they think of.”

One of her most iconic scenes is when she said “Brusha, brusha, brusha, get the new Ipana” line during the pajama party scene. This was not in the script, but a suggestion she made to the director herself.

She showed the crew an old advertisement for Bucky Beaver toothpaste and they all found it funny and agreed to add it to the movie. Fans remember it fondly as one of Jan’s standout moments. While fans thought of her as a carefree spirit, she was personally dealing with things few had an idea about.

She had dyed her hair for the role since she had prematurely grayed. But not long after Grease became a certified success, the actress decided to part ways with Hollywood. She took a break which stretched for over two decades. This was not due to lack of opportunities but because she wanted to be committed to her family.

She decided to focus on her duties as a mother, and she has said she never regretted the move. A career as an actor is not easy and requires ample time away from home and family, and since she wanted to be present for her children, she decided to put acting on the backburner.

After over twenty years of being absent from Hollywood, Donnelly returned to acting in the late 1990s. Her first role after her break was in the 1998 film “Slappy and the Stinkers” and “Can’t Hardly Wait,” in the same year.

Her children were grown up by now and she felt it was time she reentered the world of acting again. In 2015, she appeared in a significant role in the movie Black Mass which also starred Johnny Depp.

She spent her youth at Mountain Lakes School and remembers the time fondly. She said of it, “I was at Mountain Lakes through all my high school years. I came right before I was a freshman and I was there through my high school graduation, and that was in ’64.”

She later married Stephen H. Foreman, a writer and author. The couple share two children, a son Sevi, and a daughter Madden Rose. Now Donnelly is a grandmother
who cherishes time with her family. The actress has transitioned into a new career, wanting to help younger actors in the industry. She has started a career in acting coaching.

The actress now proudly shows off her silver locks and does not mind the natural aging process at this stage in her life. Now, she does not appear in front of the camera often, but her role as Jan in Grease will forever live on.

Share this piece with other fans of the actress who might like to know what she has been up to lately.

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