Lindsay Lohan’s wild ride from teen star to comeback queen: from Herbie to Freakier Friday

Aug 9 , 2025

Earlier in her career, Lindsay Lohan starred in The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday. Photo: Nexus

She moved to Dubai for a reset, reappeared in 2022 with Netflix’s Falling for Christmas; now she’s hitting her stride with Freakier Friday

Freakier Friday hits theatres this weekend, marking a triumphant big-screen comeback for Lindsay Lohan, the irrepressible star of Mean Girls who has endured more than her fair share of tabloid scrutiny and infamy.

Her charming and spunky screen presence made her a child and teenage star, but she stumbled through a rocky patch in her 20s with misguided life and career choices. But since moving to Dubai, marrying and becoming a mum, she’s rediscovered her creative spirit and re-emerged on-screen in compelling form, beginning with a trifecta of Christmas-themed Netflix films: Falling for Christmas, Our Little Secret and Irish Wish.

Now, the former teen star is crowning her resurgence with the sequel to her hit 2003 film Freaky Friday, alongside co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Chad Michael Murray.

Lindsay Lohan was doing press events in London this week for her new film Freakier Friday. Photo: @lindsaylohan/Instagram

With Freakier Friday in theatres, it’s the perfect time to trace her career through her filmography, including all the ups and downs.

The Parent Trap

Audiences first fell in love with Lohan in Nancy Meyers’ 1998 film The Parent Trap, playing long-lost twins Annie and Hallie, who meet at summer camp and swap places to get their parents back together. The film is a remake of the 1961 original starring Hayley Mills.

Freaky Friday

Lohan went on to find huge success in another Disney movie, Freaky Friday (2003), another remake (of a 1976 film), opposite Jamie Lee Curtis. This film, coupled with the 2004 film Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, set the stage for her mainstream breakout performance in Mean Girls, written by Tina Fey and directed by Mark Waters (who also directed Freaky Friday).

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