McCarthy played Kevin, a drifting Georgetown graduate, in St. Elmo’s Fire, and then played Blaine, a wealthy high school senior who is ostracized by the Ringwalds in Pretty in Pink, and falls in love with Andy, who isn’t rich and makes his own clothes (which means he’s too cool for the school).
He then moved on to a window-dresser whose muse comes to life in The Mannequin and a disaffected college student in Less Than Zero (his RDJ and Pretty in Pink co-star James Spader are both considered next door to the Brat Pack), while Weekend at Bernie’s remains a self-explanatory reference.
McCarthy’s film highlights from the 1980s include The Joy Luck Club and Mulholland Falls, but he also has a penchant for theater (he told People magazine in 1999 that the Brat Pack wasn’t real). (At the time of the interview, McCarthy was starring in “Night Out”) and has become a busy director, with “Gossip Girl,” “Orange is the New Black,” “The Blacklist,” “The Sinner” and “Good Girls.”
In 2022, he joined The Resident for a season, and in 2023 he appeared in the independent film Grace Point, co-starring John Owen Lowe.
Mr. McCarthy also award-winning travel writer I wrote a YA novel Just Fly Away Before delving into the impact the Brat Pack tag had on his life in his 2021 memoir Brat: Stories from the 80’s.
The New Jersey native further explored the cultural influence of this nickname in his 2024 documentary Bratz.
McCarthy has a son from his first marriage to college sweetheart Carol Schneider, and a daughter with his wife Dolores Rice in 2011.
