Whatever Happened To Twister Star Jami Gertz

A few decades ago, Jami Gertz seemed on the verge of becoming one of the biggest stars of her generation. Gertz grew up in Glenview, Illinois, where her father sold siding. After growing up in Illinois, Gertz burst onto the scene in the early '80s with roles in "Endless Love" alongside a young Brooke Shields and "On the Right Track," when she was just 15 years old. After being discovered in a talent agency search, she studied drama at NYU and later appeared in John Hughes' "Sixteen Candles," and cult classics like the 1987 "Less Than Zero" and the 1996 "Twister." 

But since the early 2000s, Gertz has somewhat faded out of the spotlight. Although the actor is still popping up in plenty of TV shows and films — we can bet you've seen her in something without even knowing it — her acting career has begun to make way for other projects. So, what has Gertz been up to since her early days in '80s and '90s Hollywood?

In 1989, when Jami Gertz seemed to be at the height of her career, the actor married her husband, Tony Ressler. Many people think this marriage to Ressler was a pivotal moment in Gertz's journey — Ressler was a graduate of Columbia University's Business School who went on to become a co-owner of the Hawks and, as of 2024, has an estimated net worth of $11.1 billion.

However, as Gertz explained to The Hollywood Reporter in 2018, Ressler was far from a billionaire when the pair tied the knot. "Everyone thinks I married a rich guy," she said. Instead, she was the main earner in the house in their early days, so the marriage was no reason for her to slow down her career. "But I made more money — way more money — than Tony when I met him," she went on. "I paid for our first house. I paid for our first vacation. I married him because I fell in love with him."

After marrying Tony Ressler, Jami Gertz and her husband began their family. The pair had three sons and a daughter: Oliver Jordan Ressler, born 1992, Nicholas Simon Ressler, born 1995, Theo Ressler, born 1998, and Abigail Brynn Ressler, born 2003. 

Raising four children certainly changed things for the couple. "When I went to do 'Twister,' I had a 3-year-old and a 6-week-old and I was in the middle of cornfields in the middle of Iowa, and there was no way that I could even get back to base camp where they were," she said to Arkansas Democrat Gazette in 2012 of her early motherhood. "And I barely saw them for about four months." 

The experience led Gertz to rethink her career as she found herself craving more time with her children. "And I think this question: Can you have it all as a woman? I think you can't have it all gracefully. Things suffer. Pieces suffer at different times."

In another universe, Jami Gertz might have been one of the biggest stars in the world. In fact, she came very close to starring in one of the most successful shoes ever made — "Friends." As show creator David Crane told Vanity Fair, "Jami Gertz is a really talented actress, but not Rachel. So we held our breath for 24 hours until she passed." As the actor told Forward, she turned down the role of Rachel Green back in the early '90s because she "wanted another child." She added, "It just wasn't the right time. I've never looked back." At the time, she was mother to her eldest son, Oliver.

"Friends" ran for ten seasons and remains one of the most popular shows ever. Jennifer Aniston, who took the role of Rachel after Gertz turned it down, became a huge star along with the rest of the cast. It's safe to say that Gertz's career would have looked very different had she accepted the part.

Although you may not have realized it, Jami Gertz appeared in plenty of projects after her "Twister" role in 1996. From 2002 until the show's end in 2006, for instance, Gertz starred in the CBS sitcom "Still Standing." Gertz played Judy Miller, a dental assistant in Chicago who strives to be a "cool mom" to her kids. At its height in Season 1, the show drew in over 14 million viewers.

For Gertz, the show remains a career highlight thanks to her wonderful character and her fellow castmates — even though it may not have been critically successful or even often-remembered by viewers. "I'm very proud of that show," she said to AV Club in 2012. "We were not a media darling by any stretch of the imagination. [Laughs.] But we entertained people and made people laugh." She added, "It was just a blast. I loved every moment of that show."

Far from stepping back from Hollywood in the 2010s, Jami Gertz actually created her own production company. As the actor explained to The Hollywood Reporter, she had decided to start producing her own work because she found that roles were fewer and further between than they had once been. "You reach an age, and you slow down, and the jobs are a little hard to come by," she confided. "So I decided to put money into a project of my own." 

She launched the company Lime Orchard Productions and backed the film "A Better Life." The film was released in 2011 and the lead actor, Demian Bichir, even earned an Oscar nomination for his work. Gertz didn't act in the project. Despite her success as a producer on "A Better Life," Lime Orchard Production ended up being a short-lived venture. "I tried for five years and was not very successful," she said, adding that she lost millions of dollars of investment on the company. In 2024, Gertz returned to producing, working on "Magic City: An American Fantasy."

Jami Gertz continued her transition from film to TV with a role in ABC's "The Neighbors" from 2012 until 2014. The actor played Debbie Weaver, a dedicated mother and the wife of Lenny Venito's Martin.

As Gertz explained to AV Club, she had to audition for the role despite all of her experience over the previous three decades. "It was just a lovely script, so I went in and read, and read again, and then read for the network and got the gig," she said of the process. "So it was kind of the old-fashioned way, which does really feel wonderful."

Although Gertz loved working on the comedy, the show wasn't particularly well-received by critics, but Gertz didn't pay any attention to the criticism. "I don't read any of it, because it's just a person's opinion; it's their job," she said to Forward. "I don't necessarily agree. The truth is, what's funny to one person is not funny to another." However, despite her faith in the show, it was canceled after just two seasons in 2014.

As Jami Gertz's acting career began to slow down and her ventures into producing proved to be unsuccessful, she found herself instead focusing more and more on her family life. Not only was she busy with her and Ressler's children, she also stepped into the role of hostess, becoming a bit of a social butterfly. As The Hollywood Reporter noted, she became known for her "lavish dinner parties," which she threw for their family friends, including bigwig producers like Disney's Bob Iger.

Soon, her parties became a top priority. "I was doing an episode of 'Ally McBeal' with Marlo Thomas, and I wanted to get home because I was having 70 people over for Passover," she recalled of one instance. She ended up inviting Thomas to the event, who was shocked by how elaborate it was. "She was just so stunned to come into this home," Gertz said. "She knew me as this actress playing her daughter. She had no idea I had this whole other side to my life."

So, what was Jami Gertz up to when she wasn't on set? Yahoo! asked the actor this question in 2012 and she replied that she liked to try and keep healthy. "I try to exercise," she said. "I'm a SoulCycle devotee, because it's now come to L.A.. But I'll go, like, every other day. I don't know if it's good to do every day."

She also spoke about her diet, explaining that she tried to keep her portions reasonable, but she added that she wasn't restrictive when it came to different types of food. "If I want a burger, I'm having a burger, I am absolutely having a burger." She confessed that while she didn't do her own cooking she did make her own coffee. In fact, she noted that she was so good, she might even make an excellent barista if the acting didn't work out!

Although Jami Gertz's career may have started to look a little different in the 2010s, the actor continued appearing in films and TV shows when she could. In fact, a glimpse at her CV shows that she was pretty busy bouncing from set to set. In 2009 and 2010, she guest starred on "Entourage," appearing in five episodes as Marlo Klein. Then, in 2011, she guest starred on "Modern Family" as Laura, one of Phil's clients who had a bad habit of speeding through the suburbs in her car.

Transitioning from series lead to guest star wasn't always easy for Gertz. "It's hard when you go on as a guest, especially on a successful show like 'Entourage' or 'ER' or 'Modern Family,'" she said to AV Club. "Sometimes you can be made to feel very comfortable while you're a guest, and sometimes you can be made to feel like you're not comfortable." The experience meant that whenever she did act as a series regular, she made sure to make guest stars feel welcome. "That's kind of what I've learned from being the guest star on some of these really great shows," she explained.

A big change came for Jami Gertz and her family in 2015 when her husband, Tony Ressler, made the decision to buy the Atlanta Hawks basketball team during an auction. He made the deal from a desk in his closet. "I was walking in and out of the closet," she recalled of the life-changing moment to The Hollywood Reporter. "And he looked at me, and I looked at him, and he's like, 'Jami, are we going to do this?' I'm like, 'I don't know. I'm so scared.' And he's like, 'It would be so much fun!' And then we were jumping and screaming, 'Oh my God — we just bought a basketball team!'"

Gertz had already started to become a fan of the sport. As her son Nick revealed, she "slowly started to gain an appreciation for the game" after marrying Ressler. Over the years, the couple had begun to imagine what buying a team might be like. "At some point, it became a reality," said Nick. Although, it should be noted that buying the team set Ressler back a staggering $850 million.

Since 2015, Jami Gertz has taken on a big role in the operations of the Hawks. While her husband, who is famously shy, takes charge of things behind the scenes, she has largely become the "face" of the brand, frequently appearing at events and speaking about the team. She even acted as the face of the team for the NBA Draft Lottery in 2018, 2019, and 2020.

"I think it's fair to say that she makes a better impression on our fan base than any of us in the organization," Ressler confessed of their set-up to The Hollywood Reporter. "I'm very active on the business and player personnel decision-making. But Jami steps in when it comes to so many parts of the business that I did not appreciate or have any experience in." Ressler then recalled how Gertz would sometimes give tours to new employees. "She's great at that. And I am not," he said.

Even though Jami Gertz was becoming more and more busy with the Hawks in the mid-2010s, her acting career didn't stop altogether. In 2016, she guest starred on the popular NBC show "This Is Us" alongside Mandy Moore. Gertz played Marin Rosenthal, the boss of Chrissy Metz's Kate. This was followed by another guest role in 2017 as "David's Wife" in Hulu's "Difficult People," which was canceled.

But even though Gertz may have taken on these roles, soon, her responsibilities with the Hawks were so great that they became her main focus. Plus, she and her family had actually moved to Atlanta to stay close to their team. "It just seemed like a natural moment for me to take a break from acting," she confessed while speaking about her role with the Hawks, adding, "It's hard to even say it out loud because I love what I do. It's given me so many beautiful things in my life, taught me so many things about myself and the world around me." However, Gertz couldn't resist a return to acting with a role in the 2022 Prime film "I Want You Back."

Aside from her work with the Hawks and the occasional acting role, Jami Gertz keeps herself busy with philanthropy. With an estimated net worth of $3 billion as of 2023, Gertz has a lot to give — and she tries to do just that when she can. As entrepreuneur Rishab Bhatt told V Magazine in 2020, Gertz and her husband Tony Ressler are one of Bhatt's top picks when it comes to celebrity philanthropists. "Jami tops the list of charitable celebrities with her overall donations exceeding USD 10 million. She embodies everything possible when two powerful and wealthy people combine forces for the greater good."

In 2012, Forbes put them at the top of their "30 most generous celebrities list" after a whopping $10,569,002 donation. In 2020, the couple gave $5 million to support Black-owned businesses. In 2024, they donated $150,000 to support research of prostate cancer.

In 2024, Jami Gertz suddenly found herself the subject of some online discourse after the release of "Twisters," the sequel to the cult classic 1996 film. As people revisited the '90s film, many viewers found themselves perplexed by Gertz' role. In the film, Gertz had played Melissa, the fiancée of Bill Paxton's storm-hunting Bill Harding. While he and Helen Hunt's Dr. Jo Harding set off to chase twisters, Gertz acted as the sobering voice of reason, warning them against their daring storm-hunting ways. "I think that my role in it was to be the voice of the audience, in a way," Gertz later reflected to AV Club. "Like, "Why are you doing this? Why are you getting so close to tornados? Why are you chasing tornados to begin with?" 

In hindsight, a lot of viewers realized that her character was done dirty by the film. One Vulture article cited all of the ways in which Melissa was mistreated. ScreenRant also published an article claiming that Gertz's character deserved a little respect and justice rather than being painted as the villain of the story. Huffington Post and Collider also came to similar conclusions.