You remember the oxygen tank. The blue-lit hospital rooms. That "Okay? Okay" that somehow became the most quoted line of 2014. It’s been over a decade since The Fault in Our Stars wrecked our collective emotional stability, and honestly, looking back at the cast now is like looking at a time capsule of Hollywood’s future A-list.
We all saw Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort as the star-crossed Hazel and Gus. But the way their careers—and the careers of their co-stars—spiraled out after that movie is anything but a predictable Hollywood story. Some went the indie route, others hit the blockbuster ceiling, and one literally became a video game villain.
The Fault in Our Stars Movie Actors and the Post-YA Curse
Most actors who blow up in a Young Adult (YA) adaptation usually get stuck there. They become "that kid from the book movie." But the the fault in our stars movie actors managed to dodge that bullet with varying degrees of success.
Shailene Woodley was already the "it girl" when she took the role of Hazel Grace Lancaster. She’d just finished The Descendants with George Clooney and was mid-franchise with Divergent. Fun fact: she and Ansel Elgort played siblings in Divergent while playing lovers in TFIOS. It was weird for us; it was probably weirder for them.
Shailene didn't just stay a teen idol. She pivoted hard. She went from Hazel to playing a corporate whistleblower’s girlfriend in Snowden and then anchored Big Little Lies on HBO. By 2026, she’s become more of a selective artist than a box-office chaser. She’s heavily into environmental activism now—she even got arrested in 2016 for protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. She isn't just an actress; she's someone who uses her platform to actually do something.
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Ansel Elgort: From Heartthrob to Tokyo Noir
Ansel’s trajectory was a bit more chaotic. Augustus Waters was the "perfect" boyfriend, but Ansel didn't want to be the "perfect" actor.
He went from the cigarette-metaphor guy to the high-speed driver in Baby Driver. That was his peak "cool" moment. Then came Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, where he played Tony. It should have been his crowning achievement. However, personal controversies and allegations that surfaced in 2020 definitely cast a shadow over his public image.
Lately, he’s been more visible in the prestige TV space. If you haven't seen Tokyo Vice, you’re missing out. He plays Jake Adelstein, a real-life journalist who embedded himself with the Yakuza. He actually learned Japanese for the role. Like, real, fluent Japanese. That’s the kind of intensity he’s brought to his post-YA career.
The Supporting Cast That Actually Stole the Show
We need to talk about Nat Wolff. He played Isaac, the best friend who loses his sight. Nat was basically the soul of the movie.
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Most people don't realize Nat Wolff is a bit of a polymath. He’s a musician first, alongside his brother Alex Wolff. By 2026, they’re still touring and releasing music that’s actually good—not just "actor music." Nat stayed in the John Green universe for a bit, starring in Paper Towns, but he’s since moved into much darker, weirder territory. Roles in The Kill Team and Mainstream showed he wasn't afraid to look unlikable on screen.
Then there are the legends.
- Laura Dern: She played Hazel’s mom. Before she was an Oscar winner for Marriage Story or a meme-able icon in Big Little Lies, she was the grounded heart of this movie.
- Willem Dafoe: He played the reclusive, alcoholic author Peter Van Houten. Seeing a four-time Oscar nominee play a guy who yells at teenagers about Swedish hip-hop was a choice. A great one.
- Sam Trammell: Best known for True Blood, he played Hazel’s dad. He brought a quiet, devastating realism to the role of a father watching his daughter die.
Why the Casting Still Works Today
A lot of movies from 2014 feel dated now. The fashion is off, the slang is cringe. But The Fault in Our Stars holds up because the acting wasn't "teen acting." It was just acting.
Director Josh Boone didn't want the actors to play "sick kids." He wanted them to play kids who happened to be sick. That nuance is why people still watch it. It’s why the movie made over $300 million on a tiny $12 million budget. It wasn't just the book's popularity; it was the chemistry.
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You can't fake the way Shailene and Ansel looked at each other in the Amsterdam scenes. Even if you find the "metaphor" scene with the cigarette a bit much now, you can't deny they sold the hell out of it.
What You Can Do Next
If you’re feeling nostalgic for this era of cinema, there are a few ways to dive deeper into what these actors are doing now:
- Watch Tokyo Vice: If you want to see Ansel Elgort completely shed the Augustus Waters persona, this is the way to do it. It’s gritty, beautifully shot, and 100% not a romance.
- Listen to Nat & Alex Wolff: Their 2023 album Table for Two and their 2025/2026 singles are genuinely great indie-pop. It’s the best way to see the "real" Isaac.
- Check out Three Women: This is Shailene Woodley’s more recent prestige series. It deals with female desire and sexuality in a way that’s a million miles away from Hazel Grace, showing just how much she’s grown as a performer.
The legacy of the the fault in our stars movie actors isn't just one sad movie. It’s a roadmap of how a group of young talents survived the "teen movie" era and came out the other side as serious, complex artists.