One of the strengths of 1999 horror movie The Blair Witch Project was that the three lead cast members were relatively unknown and so the plausibility of the story being true had more credibility. You’d think that the success of the movie would catapult the stars into the Hollywood stratosphere but the opposite seems to have happened, with the three lead characters having disappeared from our screens after their Found Footage debut.
Except they haven’t. The three actors have been in many different shows and movies since the 1999 hit but you just may not have noticed. Here we take a look at the varied careers of the three stars;
Heather Donahue
Heather Donahue’s career hasn’t been very prolific but she has strayed into the mainstream shows occasionally. Her biggest role since Blair Witch has been in Sci-Fi show Taken, when she played Mary Crawford but she has also had single episode appearances on both Without a Trace and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Joshua Leonard
The doomed camera-man disappears halfway through The Blair Witch Project but hasn’t disappeared from the screen and has been consistently on TV since 1999. These have included plenty of forgettable films and one-episode appearances but more notable shows include CSI:NY, Numb3rs, True Detective, Bates Motel and a recurring role in current series Scorpion.
Michael C Williams
Michael Williams made the least appearances since The Blair Witch Project out of the three cast members. If you are looking for recognisable roles, you may struggle as just Without a Trace and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit make the list. Rumour is he is now training to become a Guidance Councillor but did find time to make movie short Four Corners of Fear.
Overall, for the cast of The Blair Witch Project, the question to “what happened next” is that they continued working but under the radar. Only Joshua Leonard is making notable TV appearances, while Heather Donahue’s last appearance seems to be back in 2008. It seems that not all cult, horror-hits can make you a star.
Distinct Chatter 
Very interesting. Its probably why they were chosen for the Blair Witch film in the first place, they weren’t striving actors (therefore they didn’t have to act, just react).
That is definitely one of the reasons this works so well.