Brian Bonsall

Brian Bonsall is a former child star born in 1981 and best known for his roles as "Andy Keaton" on the mid-1980s TV show Family Ties and as “Preston Waters” in the 1994 Disney movie Blank Check. I’ve never seen Blank Check, but I looked it up and discovered that it actually performed fairly well, taking in $30 million in theatre ticket sales. What I remember Bonsall from was his role on Family Ties:

Family Ties was originally on the air from 1982-1989. It was a big hit up through the mid-1980s until its viewership started to fall off near the late 1980s as the show lost its edge. In an effort to shake things up, the producers added Bonsall to play Andy, the child in the Keaton family. As I recall, Andy was born in one episode in 1987 and then magically morphed into a 5-year-old during the subsequent episode. Unfortunately, Andy was an annoying little brat and his addition basically killed Family Ties, leading it to its cancellation in 1989.

Bonsall later achieved success with Blank Check and had bit roles in other TV shows and movies up until 1994 at which point he and his parents moved away from the Los Angeles area and his acting career ended. Bonsall has recently attempted to break back into the entertainment industry, this time as a musician. Bonsall joined a band called Late Bloomers in 1998 and is currently in a punk band called Thruster. There is a MySpace page for Thruster and as far as I can tell, the band has adopted a gay theme, as shown in the pictures below (Bonsall is the guy in the middle):

Bonsall has also gotten a several piercing and tattoos in an apparent effort to achieve a “punk look.” There are rumors of some turmoil in Bonsall’s life – according to the Internet Movie Database message board threads, Bonsall is addicted to crack cocaine. Bonsall was also arrested for drunk driving in 2004. All of this makes Brian Bonsall one washed-up celebrity!


UPDATE - April 1, 2007
Bonsall was arrested on March 28, 2007 on charges of assaulting his girlfriend. According to authorities, his girlfriend told police he poured an alcoholic drink on her face while she slept, put her in a choke hold and threw her onto a bed when she tried to leave. Bonsall told investigators he pushed the woman down in self-defense after she cut his arm and face with a steak knife, but she denied that, police said.

I also discovered a very unusual Brian Bonsall MySpace page that refers to Bonsall as "The Bonz." I initally thought that this must be a fake or parody MySpace page because it seems pretty odd and the login name is surprisingly "imthegayestmale," but as far as I can tell it is legit.

UPDATE - April 3, 2007
TMZ.com posted the 911 call from Bonsall's girlfriend.

UPDATE - September 1, 2007
According to TMZ.com, Brian Bonsall was sentenced to two years of probation on August 31, 2007 for his role in the alleged March 2007 assualt on his girlfriend. Bonsall has gone through a 30-day rehab program and claims to have been sober for five months. He and his girlfriend are back together and are currently in couples counseling.

UPDATE - December 8, 2009
Brian Bonsall was arrested on Monday, December 7, 2009 for an incident that supposedly took place during the previous Saturday. Bonsall is accused of hitting his best friend in the face with a broken stool. Bonsall claims that he had been drinking and didn't remember what happened. Bonsall has been charged with third-degree assault in connection with the Saturday incident and has also been charged for previously failing to appear in court in connection with his 2007 assault on his girlfriend as discussed above. Bonsall's newest mugshot is shown below.

Bonsall may not be the most washed-up former child star of his era (Dustin Diamond has laid claim to that title), but he may be the most "white trash" former child star of the past 25 years or so. I noticed that he has gotten a huge new tattoo on his neck since the last time he had a mugshot taken in 2007. He also looks like he could pass for someone in his late 30s. It's hard to believe that people used to think he was a cute kid!

Here are some additional photos of Bonsall that were linked in the comments below. Bonsall apparently enjoys wearing makeup/war paint on his face for some unknown reason. Also, it appears as though Bonsall may have a curly mullet in the photo on the right-hand side below.