Jingle All the Way cast: Where are they now?

Jingle All the Way, then and now

It's a classic plot: A parent forgets to buy a super popular toy for their kid and must scramble on Christmas Eve to find said toy to prove that their child is, in fact, still loved. From feuding dads to slimy neighbors and shady mall Santas, Jingle All the Way was notoriously panned when it first came out in 1996, but has become something of a cherished holiday classic decades later. See what the cast has been up to since saving Christmas, ahead.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (Howard Langston)

As one of the world's foremost action stars with a penchant for comedy, Arnold Schwarzenegger's post-Jingle career included films like Batman & Robin (1997), Around the World in 80 Days (2004), and the first three films of the Expendables franchise (2010–2014).

Of course, his performing career took second position when Schwarzenegger, a moderate Republican, entered the political fray with a long stint as governor of California from 2003 to 2011. Schwarzenegger replaced Donald Trump as host of NBC's The New Celebrity Apprentice in 2017, but left after one season. He remains active in both politics and entertainment, urging his followers to listen to scientists during the global pandemic while also booking projects like Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) and Netflix's FUBAR, his first scripted series role.

Sinbad (Myron Larabee)

After walking away with a Turbo Man action figure in Jingle All the Way, the comedian and A Different World star had a few '90s TV gigs and feature comedies like First Kid (1996) and Good Burger (1997), and was on the Fox sitcom Rel from 2018 to 2019.

Rita Wilson (Liz Langston)

Already an established presence in the industry pre-Jingle All the Way, Rita Wilson went on to star in films like The Story of Us (1999), Runaway Bride (1999), Raise Your Voice (2004), Larry Crowne (2011) — alongside her husband, Tom Hanks — Boy Genius (2019), and Kimi (2022).

Behind the camera, Wilson is both a key officer at Hanks' Playtone production company and a producer on hits such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) and Mamma Mia! (2008), as well as both of their sequels. On TV, she enjoyed a recurring stint as Marnie's mom on HBO's Girls and Viola Walsh on The Good Wife. She starred as Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway before returning to the stage in 2015 opposite Larry David in Fish in the Dark. Wilson is also a recording artist, and released her fifth album, Rita Wilson Now & Forever: Duets, in 2022.

The actress earned another acting credit for Wes Anderson's 2023 ensemble film Asteroid City, which features a star-studded cast, including Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, and more.

Jake Lloyd (Jamie Langston)

After proving to everyone that the meaning of Christmas is more than a toy fad, Jake Lloyd would go on to appear in episodes of ER and The Pretender before landing the role of his career: playing Anakin Skywalker, the boy who would be Darth Vader, during his pod-racing days in 1999's Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace.

In 2001, Lloyd retired from acting, saying that playing the role of young Anakin led to intense bullying from his classmates. The former child star was in the news back in 2015 after being arrested for reckless driving, driving without a license, and resisting arrest, which landed him in jail for almost a year until he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital for his schizophrenia; he has stayed out of the spotlight since then. Lloyd last appeared on screen in the 2001 hydroplane racing film Madison.

Phil Hartman (Ted Maltin)

The legendary SNL comic hilariously played the Langstons' slimy neighbor, but is well-known for numerous other projects throughout the '80s and '90s. Phil Hartman starred on the eccentric sitcom NewsRadio and was a constant presence over in Springfield, providing the voices for tons of characters on The Simpsons (like fan-favorite Lionel Hutz).

Unfortunately, the comedian's career was tragically cut short two years after Jingle All the Way in 1998, when he was shot to death by his wife in a grisly murder-suicide. After his death, EW's Dan Snierson wrote, "The affable Hartman, in other words, was the last person you'd expect to read about in lurid headlines in your morning paper."

Robert Conrad (Officer Hummell)

After a robust acting and music career in which he thrived — especially in the '50s and '60s — Robert Conrad was inducted into the Stuntman's Hall of Fame for the work he did while starring on The Wild Wild West from 1965 to 1969, and hosted a weekly radio show, The PM Show With Robert Conrad, from 2008 until 2019. Conrad died in 2020 at age 84.

Jim Belushi (Mall of America Santa)

Mall Santas are shady, but, apparently, the Mall of America Santa is the shadiest. Following his small but memorable role in Jingle All the Way, Jim Belushi added dozens of other notable appearances to his résumé, but it was his eight seasons as the lead of ABC's According to Jim — to say nothing of his two seasons of Saturday Night Live in the mid-'80s — that solidified him to most of America as a household comedy name, an expectation he defied on 2017's Twin Peaks revival. He also appeared in Wonder Wheel (2017) and Gigi & Nate (2022).