'Top Gun' Cast: Where Are They Now?

Top Gun' Cast: Where Are They Now?

It's been 23 years since Maverick and Goose flaunted their need ... their need for speed ... and you'd be surprised to know who's still flyin' high, and who's been skirting under the radar. Let us play your wingman as we reconnect you with the cast and crew (Kenny Loggins included!) of 1986's top-grossing hit 'Top Gun.' -- By Adam Duerson

(4) Paramount/ (3) Everett Collection/ Zuma

Tom Cruise

Played: Pete "Maverick" Mitchell

Then: Thomas Cruise Mapother IV had topped $40 million at the box office just once ('Risky Business') when he landed this role, which Sean Penn, Scott Baio and Tom Hanks (imagine that ... ) all declined. Perhaps a taller obstacle: his diminutive 5'7" stature. In scenes with Kelly McGillis (5'10"), Cruise often wore lifts.

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Tom Cruise

Now: Cruise has since claimed as many Oscar noms as he has Hollywood-actress wives (three), and he's endured countless peaks (see his cameo in 'Tropic Thunder') and valleys (remember Oprah's couch, anyone?). In July, the world's most famous Scientology advocate stars in 'Knight & Day' with Cameron Diaz.

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Kelly McGillis

Played: Charlie Blackwood

Then: There's a long list of leading ladies for whom Maverick could have lost that loving feeling -- Tatum O'Neal, Jodie Foster, Sarah Jessica Parker, Linda Hamilton and Brooke Shields all said no -- but McGillis was the girl. She was such a hit that test audiences demanded the now famous love scene, and Scott obliged.

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Paramount / Everett Collection

Kelly McGillis

Now: Her career climaxed two years later with the critically acclaimed 'Accused,' and then trickled towards a five-year hibernation to start the new millennium. In 2007, McGillis joined Showtime's 'L Word,' setting the stage for her announcement two years later that she was gay. Said McGillis: "Life is a freaking journey."

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Val Kilmer

Played: Tom "Iceman" Kazansky

Then: Eat your heart out, William Zabka. Kilmer took the classic '80s d***head role to new extremes as Maverick's nemesis, who oozed sarcasm and sneered like no other. (His "bulls---" snort in the classroom was ad-libbed.) And all of that despite not wanting the role. Kilmer says he was strong-armed into it by Paramount.

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Val Kilmer

Now: Kilmer would hook up with Scott twice more, most memorably as Elvis in 'True Romance' (but never with Cruise, with whom he allegedly tussled off screen). He spoofed his character as a civilian airline pilot in 2000 on 'SNL,' setting the stage for his next role, as the villain in 'SNL''s 'MacGruber' movie, coming in April.

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Anthony Edwards

Played: Nick "Goose" Bradshaw

Then: Quite literally the guy behind the guy, Goose was the classic comic-relief sidekick, from his goofy cop-stache to his pedestrian frame -- and all of it so out of place in an oiled-up beach volleyball scene. Shockingly, Edwards was the only cast member who didn't throw up on his pre-production flight in an F-14 Tomcat.

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Paramount / Everett Collection

Anthony Edwards

Now: Edwards went big time in 1994 as 'ER''s Dr. Green -- as in cash-money green; he made $35 million for one three-season period. (Of note: two other 'Top Gun' alums, Michael Ironside and Rick Rossovich, also starred on the show.) He recently ran the New York City Marathon to raise funds for his Kenyan nonprofit organization.

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Tom Skerritt

Played: Mike "Viper" Metcalf

Then: This guy'd been around by the time 'Top Gun' took off -- from early TV roles on 'Gunsmoke' and '12 O'Clock High' to films like 'Alien,' to an ad campaign for Guess? Jeans -- making him a comfy pick as Maverick's probably-too-tolerant commanding officer. Not to mention that slick 'stache, which lent him some authority.

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