THE star of a hit 90’s teen drama looks unrecognisable 31 years after their series debut.
Michael Perl is best known for playing Winston in the TV series based loosely on the popular Francine Pascal novels, Sweet Valley High.
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But when he was much younger he almost got kicked out of school as a direct result of playing Danny Zuko in the school production of ‘Grease’.
The star thought that Danny was a smoker and took in a pack of cigarettes rolled into the sleeve of his t-shirt, but the school found that to be unacceptable.
However, in recent Instagram posts the star looks unrecognisable from his long ago Sweet Valley days.
Sweet Valley High was a huge hit with teens back in its day and starred Brittany and Cynthia Daniel as the two lead characters.
The series ran from 1994 to 1997 and revolved around the lives of Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, beautiful blonde twins who lived in the fictitious Sweet Valley, California, and their gang of friends.
Elizabeth was warm, friendly and sincere, while her twin sister Jessica was flirty, mischievous, and irresponsible.
Michael played Winston Egbert, the class clown who had a major crush on Jessica.
But he dates a girl named Mandy Farmer, who later moves away, and then begins dating Maria Santelli, a popular cheerleader.
In college, he starts going by the name of “Winnie” and a clerical error leads to his placement in an all women’s dorm, where he meets popular sorority girl Denise Waters, who becomes the love of his life.
Unfortunately, life after university sees Winston transform from a goofy, cheerful oddball into a mean, resentful businessman whose wealth from the dotcom boom can’t cure his loneliness.
After a night of drunken debauchery, he falls from a balcony to an untimely death.
When the show ended, Michael went to get his BFA in Theatre from UCLA’s school of Theatre, Film and Television.
Since graduating, Michael has been working consistently in film, television and Los Angeles theatre.
He has appeared in Bold and the Beautiful, Scandal and Chuck to name a few.
As well as playing the lead roles in a series of films that include Bye Bye Bernard, Lena and the snowball and The Violin.
Michael also started a production company called Burton Street Productions, with his wife Melissa Lugo.
Melissa who is also an actor and costume designer has appeared in numerous shows including Star Kids, Book of Secrets and Ronson.
Together the pair have produced award-winning short films and web series under that banner and share moments of their happy life on Instagram with their followers and friends.
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