Sean Penn (Jeff Spicoli)

Sean Penn (Jeff Spicoli)

Penn, the son of director Leo Penn and actress Eileen Ryan, had only appeared in one movie,"Taps," when he landed the starring role of surfer/slacker extraordinaire Jeff Spicoli in "Fast Times." His comic performance made him a star, yet almost everything he's done since has been hard drama, including "The Falcon and the Snowman," "Casualties of War," "Dead Man Walking," "Mystic River" (for which he won his first Oscar, in 2003), and "Milk" (his second Oscar, in 2008). He's also earned acclaim as a director, particularly for 2007's "Into the Wild." As well known for his outspoken politics and tumultuous personal life (divorced twice, from Madonna and Robin Wright) as for his movies, Penn will turn 52 on August 17. He'll be seen next winter as real-life mobster Mickey Cohen in "Gangster Squad."

Jennifer Jason Leigh (Stacy Hamilton)

<em>(Pictured right)</em>

Jennifer Jason Leigh (Stacy Hamilton)

The daughter of film and TV star Vic Morrow and screenwriter Barbara Turner, Leigh started out in TV movies but shot to stardom in "Fast Times" with her lead performance as Stacy Hamilton, whose early experiments with sex end in heartbreak. Her fondness for Method acting and for playing difficult, troubled women led mostly to roles in cult and independent films, including "The Hitcher," "Last Exit to Brooklyn," "Short Cuts," "Georgia" (written by her mother), "eXistenZ," "Margot at the Wedding," and "Greenberg" (the last two written and directed by Noah Baumbach, Leigh's husband from 2005 to 2010). Her biggest mainstream hit was probably 1992's "Single White Female," in which she played Bridget Fonda's memorably psycho roommate. In 2001, she and Alan Cumming co-wrote, co-directed, and co-starred in the acclaimed drama "The Anniversary Party." Most recently, the 50-year-old has been a regular in the current and final season of TV's "Weeds."

Phoebe Cates (Linda Barrett)

Phoebe Cates (Linda Barrett)

Cates, the daughter of Broadway and TV producer Joseph Cates, made her debut in 1982 in the starring role of "Blue Lagoon"-knockoff "Paradise." Stardom came with her next film, "Fast Times," that same year. Cates' turn as sexually frank teen Linda Barrett, including her famous poolside topless scene, instantly made her the reigning sex bombshell of the early '80s, a status cemented with her appearances in "Paradise" and "Private School." She took on a more demure role in the two hit "Gremlins" movies. After marrying Kevin Kline in 1989, she all but retired from acting; her last appearance was in "Fast Times" pal Jennifer Jason Leigh's "The Anniversary Party" in 2001. Today, the 49-year-old runs Blue Tree, a Manhattan boutique specializing in women's clothing and upscale trinkets.

Judge Reinhold (Brad Hamilton)

Judge Reinhold (Brad Hamilton)

Edward Ernest Reinhold Jr. was a stage actor before he landed his first major film role, as high school senior and fast-food wage slave Brad Hamilton in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." Two years later came his best-known role as the naïve Det. Billy Rosewood in Eddie Murphy's "Beverly Hills Cop," a role Reinhold reprised in two sequels. Since then, he's been known for light comic roles in such films as "Gremlins" (opposite his "Fast Times" crush, Phoebe Cates), "Ruthless People," "Vice Versa," and Tim Allen's "Santa Clause" trilogy. The 55-year-old's next film, due in 2013, is "Comics Open," about a celebrity golf tournament.

Robert Romanus (Mike Damone)

Robert Romanus (Mike Damone)

Romanus made his film debut in 1980 opposite Runaways singer Cherie Currie in "Foxes," but he's best remembered for his next film, "Fast Times," in which he stole scenes as Mike Damone, Ridgemont High's resident rock concert ticket scalper and self-styled ladies man. He's done a lot of character roles in movies and TV since then, most memorably, as Natalie's boyfriend Snake in a recurring part on "The Facts of Life." He's also worked as a schoolteacher and as a musician, in the band Poppa's Kitchen. Now 56, his most recent role, fittingly, was as Currie bandmate Joan Jett's guitar teacher in 2010's "The Runaways."

Brian Backer (Mark 'Rat' Ratner)

Brian Backer (Mark 'Rat' Ratner)

Even before he played lovelorn Mark "Rat" Ratner in "Fast Times," Backer was known for portraying shy nerdy characters, having won a Tony in 1981 for playing a Woody Allen-like nebbish in Allen's play "The Floating Light Bulb." "Rat" remains his best-known role, in a career that included such '80s comedies as "Moving Violations," "The Money Pit," and "Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol." His last prominent film appearance was in 2000, in "Fast Times" director Amy Heckerling's "Loser." Now 55, Backer made his last major public appearance last summer at a reunion of the "Fast Times" cast at Spike TV's Guy's Choice Awards.

Ray Walston (Mr. Hand)

Walston was a veteran stage actor, best known for his Tony-winning role as the Devil in "Damn Yankees" (which he reprised in the 1958 film), before he landed what may be his best known role, as the extraterrestrial with near-magical powers on the 1960s sitcom "My Favorite Martian." Two decades later, after more character work on TV and in movies, he was thrilled to get to play Ridgemont High teacher Mr. Hand, Jeff Spicoli's disciplinarian nemesis, for he had finally found a part whose popularity meant kids were at last recognizing him on the street for something other than that TV alien. More character parts on television and film followed, including a cameo in the 1999 remake of "My Favorite Martian," before he died in 2001 at age 86.

Forest Whitaker (Charles Jefferson)

Forest Whitaker (Charles Jefferson)

Before he played Ridgemont High football star Charles Jefferson, Whitaker was a real-life football star recruited to play at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, but a back injury benched him, leading him to explore drama instead. After supporting roles in such hits as "Platoon" and "Good Morning Vietnam," Whitaker earned acclaim for his first dramatic lead role as jazz titan Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwood's biopic "Bird" (1988). He continued to shine in both lead and supporting parts in such films as "The Crying Game," "Phenomenon," and "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai," before winning an Oscar as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 2006's "The Last King of Scotland." Whitaker has also enjoyed success as a director of female-oriented films, including "Waiting to Exhale" and "Hope Floats." The 51-year-old's most recent film appearance was opposite Robert De Niro and 50 Cent in the police drama "Freelancers," which opened in a limited run last weekend.

Eric Stoltz (Stoner Bud)

Eric Stoltz (Stoner Bud)

Stoltz debuted in "Fast Times" in a small role as one of Spicoli's stoner pals, but the movie marked the beginning of a long association between Stoltz and "Fast Times" screenwriter Cameron Crowe, who has cast Stoltz in such films as "Say Anything," "Singles," and "Jerry Maguire." Stoltz rose to prominence in the 1980s with the lead roles in "Mask" (as disfigured teen Rocky Dennis) and the John Hughes teen romance "Some Kind of Wonderful." The '90s saw him play memorable roles in such films as "Pulp Fiction," "Killing Zoe," "Anaconda," and "Mr. Jealousy." More recently, the 50-year-old's career has shifted to television, with recurring roles on such series as "Grey's Anatomy" and "Caprica." This season, he directed several episodes of "Glee."

Nicolas Cage (Brad's Bud)

<em>(See Cage at the 1:22 mark)</em>

Nicolas Cage (Brad's Bud)

Cage's role as Brad's pal in "Fast Times" came so early in his career that he was still billed under his real name, Nicolas Coppola. (Afterward, he changed his professional name as an homage to comic-book hero Luke Cage, and as a way to avoid charges of nepotism, since his uncle is Francis Ford Coppola.) After reteaming with "Fast Times" bud Sean Penn in "Racing With the Moon," Cage finally became a bona fide leading man in 1987 with starring roles in "Raising Arizona" and "Moonstruck." He balanced his light-comedy skills with Method intensity until the latter trait won him an Oscar for 1995's "Leaving Las Vegas." Since then, however, he's been happy to cash in with roles in action films, from "The Rock" and "Con Air" to "Ghost Rider" and "Drive Angry." Last seen in this past winter's "Ghost Rider" sequel, the 48-year-old is due this fall in kidnapping thriller "Stolen."

Anthony Edwards (Stoner Bud)

Anthony Edwards (Stoner Bud)

Edwards' debut role in "Fast Times," as one of Spicoli's fellow stoners, was little more than a walk-on, but soon he had graduated to starring roles in "Revenge of the Nerds" and "Gotcha," and an unforgettable supporting role opposite Tom Cruise in "Top Gun." In the '90s, Edwards lost his hair but gained TV stardom with his lead role as Dr. Mark Green on eight seasons of medical drama "ER." The 50-year-old will next be seen as Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti in this fall's adaptation of Jack Kerouic's "Big Sur."

Cameron Crowe

Crowe famously began his career as an underage rock journalist (an experience recounted in his 2000 movie "Almost Famous"), but he broke into film as an overaged high schooler. Having missed on a traditional high school experience during his Rolling Stone years, the 22-year-old went undercover and spent a year as a student in a San Diego high school, chronicling the experience in a novel that he then adapted into the "Fast Times" screenplay. (He changed people's names but insisted all the events really happened.) Crowe graduated from screenwriter to writer/director with another teen classic, 1989's "Say Anything." His ambitions grew with "Singles," the smash "Jerry Maguire," and "Almost Famous," before crashing with the flop "Elizabethtown." Last year, the 55 -year-old directed the more modest "We Bought a Zoo."

Amy Heckerling

Amy Heckerling

Like much of her cast, Heckerling was a rookie when she landed in the director's chair for "Fast Times." The film's success made her a sought-after comedy director, though for a while, her biggest hit was the talking-baby farce "Look Who's Talking." She made a comeback with another sharply observed teen comedy, 1995's "Clueless." Since then, she's had trouble recapturing the magic; her 2000 film "Loser" proved to be one at the box office, and legal and financial troubles tied up the release of the Michelle Pfeiffer-Paul Rudd romantic comedy "I Could Never Be Your Woman" until it went straight to video in 2008. The 60-year-old is due back in theaters this Halloween with "Vamps," a vampire comedy starring her "Clueless" leading lady, Alicia Silverstone.