1993 came with a lot of good movies, but nothing beat Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. This movie gave us the most real-looking (for that time) and terrifying dinosaurs, and a brand-new anxiety trigger called “raptors working a door handle.” While the adults argued about science and hubris, the movie’s most dramatic performance belonged to Tim and Lex Murphy—the unfortunate grandkids who got the worst “family trip” experience imaginable.
Jurassic Park turned Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards into poster children of the franchise’s original panic. For more than 30 years, they’ve been quietly building lives that make total sense for two people who embraced chaos as a part of their lives.
Joseph Mazzellom
Tim Murphy, who loved dinosaurs, was electrocuted but got up. Joseph Mazzello’s career has some thematic similarities. He stayed in the industry, moved into adult roles, and expanded into directing and writing.
Mazzello has said Steven Spielberg wrote him a recommendation letter that helped him get into USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, and he later earned a degree in cinema and television. How can one top this kind of mentorship flex, especially since Spielberg is also responsible for half your childhood?
He kept landing big and, what’s more important, various roles rather than living forever in “former child star” purgatory. His best-known adult credits include HBO’s WWII miniseries The Pacific, The Social Network, and Bohemian Rhapsody, where he portrayed the Queen bassist John Deacon.
He’s also made his own movie, Undrafted, in 2016, which he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in. Not too shabby for Spielberg’s protégé.
Ariana Richards
Lex Murphy demonstrated bravery, assertiveness, and sufficient computer skills to rescue the situation. Ariana Richards played her with the exact vibe of a kid who can handle danger but would still like everyone to stop screaming for ten seconds.
Richards was already working before Jurassic Park. Her early credits include an appearance on The Golden Girls, plus films like Prancer and Tremors. After the blockbuster, she continued getting roles here and there, including a cameo in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and a later return in Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001).
But her adult life shifted away from acting and toward art. In a 2015 People feature, Richards said she was focusing on professional painting and talked about telling people’s stories on canvas. Back then, she was living in South America during an art tour and described her day-to-day life as much quieter than Hollywood but still very rich.
She also kept the Jurassic Park connection alive by letting that experience inspire her artwork. In a post from her GalleryAriana account, Richards said her first self-portrait after the film was a watercolor titled “Raptor Vision,” inspired by the famous “jello scene.” If you ever wondered what happens when a kid processes blockbuster stress, apparently the answer is oils, brushes, and a perfect visual memory.
Is she done with acting forever? You never know until you do. People’s 2022 update quoted Richards saying that if a great role or project found her, she’d be open to it. She has also taken occasional on-screen work, including the TV movie Battledogs (2013).
On the personal side, Richards’ life became a different kind of adventure. She married Mark Bolton in January 2013 and was expecting her first child in 2015. So, right now, she is an artist, an actress, and a loving mother and wife, which feels fitting for someone who grew up in the middle of the most famous theme park ever filmed.
Both Jurassic Park kids are as okay as anyone can be after spending their formative years learning that “spare no expense” does not include double-checking safety protocols on the set. But the real plot twist is that neither of them needed a franchise comeback to prove to the viewers they made it. All they did was simply keep going, each in their separate way, but both without getting eaten by the loose “clever girls.”
