Cast at 17 as Sloane Peterson in the beloved 1986 comedy “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” Mia Sara watched the film gross just over $70 million domestically and launch her into stardom. She’s since been candid about how much of a toll that ride took.
In a Sunday Times interview published June 21, 2026, she said, “Making Ferris Bueller was not that good an experience for me,” noting she “didn’t get along well with John,” a reference to director John Hughes.
Her feelings about co-star Matthew Broderick were the opposite. She’s called her crush on him “massive” and “very much unrequited.”
The June 21, 2026 interview wasn’t the first time she’d opened up. On June 19, 2025, she said she “was not comfortable” with the fame, and that Ferris “was a really bad moment for me.”
Her career before and after that moment covered serious ground. She’d already made her name in 1985 playing Princess Lili in “Legend,” and went on to the 1987 miniseries “Queenie,” then 1994’s “Timecop” alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme, which earned her a 1995 Saturn Award.
She played Harley Quinn on “Birds of Prey” in 2002 and 2003, and after 2013’s “Pretty Pretty,” she stepped away from acting to write.
Her personal life saw its own chapters: she married Jason Connery, son of Sean Connery, in 1996, welcomed son Dashiell in 1997, and the two divorced in 2002. With Brian Henson she had daughter Amelia in 2005, and the couple married in 2010.
Sara, born June 19, 1967, is 59 and recently returned to screens as Sarah Krantz in “The Life of Chuck,” which opened wide June 13, 2025. The quieter life suits her just fine.
She said on June 11, 2025: “I read a lot of crime fiction. I cook a lot.” Her website bio captures it neatly: she “recovered her senses and now she writes.”