Whether you wanted to be Baby Spice, Scary Spice, Posh Spice, Ginger Spice or Sporty Spice, the group were the embodiment of girl power in the nineties, even releasing their own Hollywood film Spice World: The Movie in 1997.
They weren’t the only music stars to feature in the film though, with musicians Bob Geldof, Elvis Costello and Elton John even making appearances as themselves.
It was a hit with both fans and the box office, making a huge $100million (£74million) following its release.
Along with musicians, there were starring roles for huge A-list actors in the film and Daily Star has looked at where some of the cast are now.
Alan Cumming
(Image: Getty Images)
Alan Cumming OBE played Piers, a documentary film maker following The Spice Girls’ every move, and it was Ginger Spice Geri Halliwell herself who asked him to be in the film.
Alan recalled that Geri had seen him perform in Hamlet at the Donmar Warehouse in 1993, and that his performance had connected with her, having lost her own father a few days before seeing the show.
In his new memoir, Baggage: Tales from a fully packed life released in October 2021, he also talks about the film being one of his favourite ever film roles and that the group gave him a card full of messages, including one from Emma Bunton calling him “a special spice boy”.
Having starred in some of the world’s biggest films, including Bond film Goldeneye and Eyes Wide Shut, he most recently voiced Loki in a Marvel Simpsons cross-over, appeared in TV series The Prodigal Son and is listed as appearing in a number of films currently in pre-production.
Away from screens, the bisexual star is married to illustrator Grant Shaffer. They became civil partners in January 2007 and legally married on the fifth anniversary of their union in 2012.
Roger Moore
(Image: AFP/Getty Images)
Bond legend Sir Roger Moore made a special appearance in Spice World: The Movie, as record executive The Chief who parodied a lot of the villains he faced in Bond, such as stroking a cat or preparing a martini while chatting to the group.
Roger had a long career in acting, and as well as the Bond films such as A View to a Kill, he appeared in huge productions including Curse of the Pink Panther and TV series such as Ivanhoe.
Spice World was one of his last major film roles, with Roger appearing in a number of TV series before his death aged 89 on May 23, 2017.
Richard E Grant
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Richard E Grant starred as The Spice Girl’s Manager Clifford, who sent the band to boot camp and made the group live on an iconic big red London bus.
The award winning actor has been an everlasting presence on our screens, appearing in Doctor Who, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and The Little Vampire, along with Marvel series Loki, as classic Loki, a role that he said he would love to return to if asked.
From 1986, he was married to renowned voice coach Joan Washington, with whom he had a daughter Olivia, who also followed their footsteps into the film industry as a casting director.
However, Joan sadly died earlier this year of lung cancer.
Speaking to Daily Mail, he said: “It’s an extraordinary phenomenon to be truly ‘seen’ and ‘known’ by another human, and in Joan, I found someone who innately did both.
“The depth of our grief is mirrored by the magnitude of our love.”
Stephen Fry
(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Spice World: The Movie is known for its dream sequences, and in one of them, Stephen Fry plays a judge who puts the group on trial for their crimes against music.
Stephen Fry is a British icon, having rose to fame alongside Spice World: The Movie co-star Hugh Laurie in TV series Fry and Laurie, although the two actually don’t share any scenes in the Spice World film.
Since then he has also starred in huge films including Wilde and Gosford Park and tv series Yonderland, Doctor Who and Bones, along with starring in films such as The Canterville Ghost, which is currently in post-production.
He has been married to partner Elliot Spencer since 2015.
Meat Loaf
(Image: Getty Images Europe)
Rock legend Meat Loaf played the lovable Dennis, who drove the big red London Bus that the Spice Girls lived and travelled around on.
He even jokingly refers to his own career and one of his biggest hits in the film, saying: “I love these girls, and I’d do anything for them… but I won’t do that.”
Throughout his career he worked with the late Jim Steinman and while there were reports that the two argued, Meat Loaf addressed this rumour in an interview with The Guardian saying: “Jim and I have never had an argument.
“The closest we ever came to an argument was when he had a million doughnuts, and he didn’t want to give me one.”
Though known as one of the world’s biggest music stars, his acting career dates back all the way to the Rocky Horror Picture Show in 1974, where he starred as Eddie alongside Spice World: The Movie co-star Richard O’ Brien.
Meat Loaf has also appeared in huge films including Fight Club and the The 51st State, as well as releasing his latest studio album Braver than we are in 2016.
Most recently he collaborated with singer Ellen Foley on her album Fighting Words.
He has also been married twice – first to Leslie Aday from 1979-2001 and has since married Deborah Gillespie in 2007.
In 2011, the star fainted on stage, then collapsed again in 2016 because of dehydration.
Despite the worry, the 2016 collapse caused controversy as pre-recorded vocals could still be heard playing while he was unconscious on stage.
Then in 2019, Meat Loaf fell off a stage at a convention and broke his collarbone.
Hugh Laurie
(Image: Getty Images for WarnerMedia)
Hugh Laurie CBE appears in one of the most surreal scenes of Spice World: The Movie, where he plays Agatha Christie character Poirot.
In the scene he is trying to solve a murder, but instead, gets distracted by Baby Spice.
Hugh’s career could have taken a different turn altogether, having studied Anthropology and Archaeology at Cambridge University.
It was thanks to a huge A-list actress however that he met close friend and collaborator Stephen Fry, as actress Emma Thompson, who was friends with Hugh, introduced him to Stephen – and as they say, the rest is history.
Since then he has rose to fame in series including Blackadder, House and most recently starred in TV series including Veep and Roadkill.
There has even been talk of a Fry and Laurie show reunion, with Hugh telling BBC Radio 2: “We see each other a lot and we talk about it often.
“I think it might happen, yes, but I don’t know why we’re both being sort of coy about it – ‘No after you, no after you’ – I don’t know why we do that.”
Hugh has been married to Jo Green since 1988 and they have three children together.
Despite his success, Hugh has been open about his struggle with severe clinical depression, and he has regular sessions with a psychotherapist.
Jennifer Saunders
(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Jennifer Saunders is as stylish in real life as she was in Spice World: The Movie, where she played a fashionable woman trying to impress Posh Spice.
However, after showing off her style to a disinterested Posh Spice, the two end up having a conversation about sea creatures after Victoria has recently learnt about them.
Jennifer has a long friendship with comedy partner Dawn French who she met at the Central School of Speech and Drama, and performed with her in programmes such as French and Saunders Presents and The Comic Strip Presents.
While working on a play with Dawn, Jennifer also admitted she fell asleep onstage and told podcast host Rob Brydon: “I just slowly nodded off and woke up to Dawn just staring at me like that (gestures) and not helping me.
“So I had to think, ‘Where am I and what’s the next line?’”
It was also while working on The Comic Strip Presents that she met husband Adrian Edmondson, who is known for his work including The Young Ones – a show that French and Saunders also made a cameo in.
They have been married since 1985 and have three children together.
As well as roles in programmes such as Absolutely Fabulous with Joanna Lumley, Jennifer has most recently starred in hit Netflix series The Stranger in 2020 and completed work on film Death on the Nile.
In 2009, Jennifer was diagnosed with breast cancer, however she didn’t announce it until a year later, explaining she was in remission after a surgery as well as chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Richard O’Brien
(Image: Getty Images)
Richard O’Brien played sneaky photographer Damian, who soon learns the error of his ways and asks for forgiveness from The Spice Girls.
He is one of the world’s biggest music stars himself, having written and performed in The Rocky Horror Show, as well as becoming known as the presenter of legendary game show The Crystal Maze.
Since then, he has also had roles in further Hollywood films including Ever After opposite Drew Barrymore.
O’Brien suffered a stroke in 2020, telling The Guardian that he “didn’t register that something was desperately wrong,” when he collapsed on the floor.
The legendary presenter was found by his wife at their home in New Zealand and has since recovered, continuing to work on audio dramas such as The Barren Author, and Disney film Phineas and Ferb: Candace against the Universe in 2020.
For more of the latest showbiz news from Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
