Often fans of a classic television series get nostalgic for the actors that graced their childhood or teenage bedroom walls or televisions on Saturday morning. We thought it would be nice to do a cast update to let everyone know what’s going on with each of the gang of Bayside High.
Up First…. Lark Voorhies
Everyone loved the forever single fashionista that Lisa Turtle was during the classic seasons of Saved By The Bell, but did you ever stop to wonder where Lisa or Lark came from prior to getting the role on the series?
Lark Voorhies was born in Nashville, Tennessee in March of 1974. Her name given to her by her mother who saw actress Margaret Avery playing a character with the same name in the 1972 movie, Cool Breeze. Lark first began her acting career at the age of two, but her mother insisted on postponing it until Lark reached the age of 11. Lark’s big break came with her appearance on the girl robot sitcom “Small Wonder” in 1985. Later in the same year, Lark landed the role of Lisa Turtle in the original version of Saved By The Bell, “Good Morning, Miss Bliss”. Working alongside former child actress Hayley Mills and newcomer child actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Lark would stay on the NBC series segwaying onto it’s spin-off series, Saved By The Bell in 1989.
Lark too, would start a romantic relationship with Gosselaar in the early days of Bell and it would last until the show eventually went off the air in 1992.
She would also reprise her role of Lisa Turtle in five different variations in the Saved By The Bell franchise. She would come back as Lisa Turtle in 1993 for Saved By The Bell: The College Years, Saved By The Bell: The New Class (1994) and then again in a fun parody of the series on the successful Cartoon Network animated series, Robot Chicken in 2005.
Between Saved By The Bell apperances Lark stayed busy by taking on the role of Wendy Reardon on the hugly popular long running NBC soap opera, Days Of The Lives. It was in this time that Lark met and fell in love with comedian Martin Lawrence and the two became engaged to marry. However, things went sour shortly after and it proved to be surprising when Lark learned that her engagement to Lawrence was over by seeing him discuss their relationship openly on a episode of the late night Fox talk show The Arsenio Hall Show.
However, Lark moved forward as Lisa Turtle would. She took wonderful parts such as that of Leanne on the sci-fi television series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as well as the role of Jasmine Malone on the long running CBS soap opera The Bold And The Beautiful.
Lark also stayed busy by appearing in many music videos of the ’90s. She appeared in popular television commercials of the era all the while managing her own production company. Changing names over the last two decades, her production company would eventually finalize itself in name as Yo Soy Productions in recent years.
Great roles for Lark followed throughout the late ’90s and into the 2000′s. Lark would be cast in the role of Lisa in the 1997 Bill Bellamy movie, How To Be A Player. Lark would also return to television in the same year in the role of Mercedes Langford in the series In The House which ran from 1997 to 1999 respectively.
Most recently, Lark has been seen in a bevy of low-budget movies and cult comedies such as, How High, Fire & Ice and The Next Hit.
Controversy struck Lark in late 2012 when her mother, in an interview with People Magazine, informed the world that Lark was suffering from severe biopolar disorder. Videos footage of Lark in interviews leaked all over YouTube allowing many to speculate on Lark’s mental health status.
In 2013, Lark defended her mental health in a rare interview with TMZ insisting that her mother’s claims about her were outlandish and that she was just fine. As of 2012, she has acted in two movies, Little Creeps and Closer To God: Jessica’s Journey.
