How old was each actor saved by Bell during the original show?

The Hit High School Show of the Early ’90s Saved by the bell was a Saturday morning staple for many millennials growing up, and the actors on the series were close in age to their characters. Saved by the bell followed a ragtag group of six memorable students: troublemaker Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), All-American girl Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani Thiessen), athlete AC Slater (Mario Lopez), fashionista Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies), eccentric Samuel “Screech” Powers (Dustin Diamond) and student Jessie Spano (Elizabeth Berkley). Saved by the bell it ran from August 1989 to May 1993 as part of NBC’s TNBC lineup.

Saved by the bell was so popular that it spawned two films, two spinoffs and received the revival treatment in 2019, retaining the series title, although the Peacock show was canceled after its second season. The complicated thing about Saved by the bell is that no distinct timeline is given except for the ending in which the group graduates from high school. It is commonly believed that Saved by the bell seasons 1 and 2 take place during sophomore year, season 3 during junior year, and the final season during senior year.

7

Mark-Paul Gosselaar

Played Zack Morris

Since Saved by the bell it was a redesign Good morning, Miss HappinessMark-Paul Gosselaar’s character was one of the few characters from the original series to make it to the new one. When Saved by the bell debuted in August 1989, the character Zack Morris was supposed to be around 15 years old, turning 16 at some point throughout seasons 1 and 2.

Actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar was born on March 1, 1974, making him exactly the same age as his character (15) when the series began. THE NYPD Blue actor basically grew up with his Saved by the bell character, being approximately the same age as Zack Morris (give or take a year) throughout the show’s four seasons. When Saved by the bell ended in May 1993, Mark-Paul Gosselaar was 19 during the final.

6

Dennis Haskins

Played Mr.

Dennis Haskins began playing Mr. Belding in Good morning, Miss Happiness. Like Zack Morris, his character was brought in for recasting Saved by the bellbut as school director. In fact, in the original series, he was Gerald Belding, and in the Saved by the bell, he was Ricardo. The two were supposed to be brothers, but the characters were combined.

Haskins, born in November 1950, was 38 when the show debuted, just a few months shy of his 39th birthday.. Mr. Belding’s birthday is revealed in the series to be December 21, 1952, making the character a few years younger than the actor.

Haskins also appeared in Saved by the Bell: The New Class from 1993 to 2000, making him close to 50 years old when his time on the sequel series ended. Of course, Haskins didn’t stop playing Mr. Belding at that time. In fact, he last appeared as a character in a presidential election special in 2016, at age 65.and last played the character in other fiction projects in 2012 for the Nickelodeon film Victorious and a video celebrating the Carlton dance of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

5

Tiffani Thiessen

Played Kelly Kapowski

Tiffani Thiessen’s Kelly Kapowski was an entirely new character for Saved by the bellhowever she originally auditioned for Good morning, Miss Happiness. Impressed with how his acting had improved, developer Peter Engel decided to cast Thiessen as Kelly, Zack and Slater’s love interest at the start of the series.

Tiffani Thiessen was born on January 23, 1974, which means she, like Gosselaar, was the same age as her character (15) when Saved by the bell started and essentially grew with her character, although she left the series for a while near the end when new episodes were ordered. When Bayside High School students walked across the stage to graduate in 1993, the White collar the actress was 19 years old, just a year older than her Saved by the bell counterpart.

Like Gosselaar, the actress also reprized her role in the Peacock revival series at 45making her around the same age as her character, now a mother.

4

Mario Lopez

Played AC Slater

Much like Kelly Kapowski, the Saved by the bell AC Slater’s character was a new addition and did not appear in Good morning, Miss Happiness. In fact, his character is even a new student at school when the show begins. Initially, the showrunners were looking for a young John Travolta-type character who would be Italian-American and an army brat who wore leather jackets.

After unsuccessful experiences casting Slater, the team decided to open the group to other ethnicities, and that’s how Mario Lopez got the role. Mario Lopez was born on October 10, 1973, which makes him just a year older than his character and other castmates (16) when the show began. During the Saved by the bell In the end, Mario Lopez was 20 years old, just two years older than AC Slater.

3

Voorhies Lark

Played Lisa Turtle

The character of Lisa Turtle was completely rewritten for Lark Voorhies’ casting. Initially imagined as a Jewish girl from Long Island to Good morning, Miss HappinessIIsa Turtle was one of the few lucky characters to get in Saved by the bell. Apparently, Voorhies’ performance in her audition inspired developer Peter Engel to rewrite the character Lisa to better suit the actress.

Days of our lives actress Lark Voorhies was born on March 25, 1974, which makes her very close to co-star Mark-Paul Gosselaar. What this means is that Voorhies was essentially the same age as Lisa Turtle, she was 15 when the show premiered on NBC.. Like Gosselaar and Thiessen, Lark Voorhies was 19 at the time. Saved by the bell series finale, just a year older than Lisa.

Also like Gosselaar and Thiessen, Voorhies made an appearance on the revival series before it was canceled. She and Lisa would be around 45 years old for the appearance.

2

Dustin Diamond

Scream Powers Played

Like Zack Morris and Lisa Turtle, Samuel “Screech” Powers was a character who transitioned from Good morning, Miss Happiness. They were the only three teenage characters to remain on the show. When casting the character, it was Mark-Paul Gosselaar who vouched for Dustin Diamond to developer Peter Engel, essentially saying that Diamond was I scream.

After reading for the role, Diamond was cast. However, Engel misinterpreted Diamond’s photo, which revealed he was younger than his co-stars. Screech actor Dustin Diamond was born on January 7, 1977. That means he was just 12 years old when Saved by the bell debuted, three years younger than Screech technically was. When Saved by the bell ended, Dustin Diamond was 16 years old.

Diamond went on to play Screech in the sequel series Saved by the Bell: The New Classbut did not appear in the revival series. He last played Screech at age 23, although he voiced the character in an episode of Robot Chicken eight years later. Unfortunately, Dustin Diamond was diagnosed with small cell carcinoma of the lungs in January 2021 and succumbed to the disease a month later, passing away at the age of 44 on February 1, 2021.

1

Elizabeth Berkley

Played Jessie Spano

The last of Saved by the bell Among the main cast is Elizabeth Berkley, who played feminist activist and straight-A student Jessie Spano. Berkley, like Thiessen, also auditioned for Good morning, Miss Happinessas Zack’s love interest Karen, but was not cast because she was too tall. That being said, the producers didn’t want to lose actress Elizabeth Berkley (who almost played Kelly) as they felt she was one of the strongest actresses to ever audition.

It turns out that the Saved by the bell the team was having difficulty casting Jessie Spano, so Engel decided to hand the role over to Berkley. Elizabeth Berkley was born on July 28, 1974, which means she was 15 years old when Saved by the bell debuted. Like the rest of her co-stars, Elizabeth Berkley grew up and spent her high school years with her Saved by the bell character, being 19 years old during the graduation scene in Saved by the bell end.

It is quite interesting that most Saved by the bell the cast is the same age as the characters they played, just like the sitcom Friends. The actors had to spend their high school years on primetime television, presumably experiencing some of the same things their characters experienced in their personal lives. Dustin Diamond’s age is by far the biggest surprise, as he started Saved by the bell being in high school and finishing the show while still in high school.

In short, being the same age as the characters probably helped the Saved by the bell cast, as the various problems everyone faced on the show probably hit home the young cast the hardest.

What about the reboot cast saved by the Bell?

THE Saved by the bell The reboot/sequel series debuted on Peacock in 2020. The show took place about 26 years after Zack and Kelly got married in a TV special. In the reboot series, their son is a teenager alongside Jessie’s son and several other new characters whose parents did not appear in the original series. The series’ debut season began with most of the new characters as teenagers in their second year of high school, which would have made them 15 or sixteen years old in the first season. Most of the actors, however, were not teenagers.

Haskiri Velázquez played Daisy in the series. She provided the audience’s point of view for the show as a new sophomore whose underfunded school closed, forcing her to transfer to Bayside High. Velázquez was born in 1995, so he turned 25 in the show’s first season.

Mitchell Hoog played Mac Morrisson of Zack and Kelly. Many audience members expected him to be a point of view character like Zack in the original show, but instead he and Daisy started the show as rivals. They became friends on the show building up to the possibility of them sharing a deeper romance like Zack and Kelly, but the series ended after the second season, so there wasn’t much time to explore that. Hoog was born in 1999, so he turned 21 in the show’s first season.

Josie Totah performed double duty Saved by the bell. Not only did she play the popular Lexie Haddad-DeFabrizio, but she also served as a producer on the seriesinvolved in the creative decisions of her character’s stories. Totah only came out as transgender two years before the show’s premiere and played an active role in ensuring Lexie’s stories were authentic. Totah, born in 2001, turned 19 in the show’s first season.

When Daisy transferred to Bayside High after her school closed, she did so alongside her best friend Aisha, who became the football team’s new quarterback. Aisha was played by Alycia Pascual-Pena. Like Hoog, she was born in 1999 and turned 21 during the show’s first season, when she was a sophomore.

While Daisy and Mac are often the focus of the show, part of the fun for longtime fans was seeing how other legacy characters turned out. With Jessie Spano as his guidance counselor, his son also attended the school. Jamie Spano was played by Belmont Cameli. Jamie was sixteen at the end of the series’ first season, but Cameli, who was born in 1998, was six years older than her character.

Daisy and Aisha’s friend Devante also transferred to Bayside High with them. He joined the school’s theater department, following his interest in musicals. Just like his two friends, he was also a sophomore when the show started. Devante was played by Dexter Darden. Darden was born in 1991, making him the oldest of the actors playing teenagers on the series. He turned 29 during the first season.

It’s clear that this time, the producers and casting directors didn’t want to cast young actors under the age of 18. Casting younger actors would make on-set schooling necessary. All the “teenagers” in the series were actually adults. In fact, Totah was closest in age to her character, but everyone else was already a long way from high school in Saved by the bell sequence.