Brat Pack member Andrew McCarthy grows up to be an award-winning travel journalist

 

In "Less Than Zero," Andrew McCarthy played a character with a best friend, played by Robert Downey Jr., who wasn't going anywhere.

This week, the Brat Pack veteran won the 2010 Lowell Thomas award for Travel Journalist of the Year for freelance writing about the places he has gone.

"Word by word, paragraph-by-paragraph, entry-by-entry, McCarthy earns the gold the old-fashioned way — by treating readers to excellent writing and poignant stories," the judges said.

McCarthy's work includes articles about Ireland for the Atlantic and Bon Appetit in 2010, and a National Geographic piece about a hike that had turned deadly. He also was escorted out of a historic underground church at gunpoint -- see the video above -- in Ethiopia in February while on assignment for Afar magazine.

His acting career, of course, didn't stop with "Weekend at Bernie's," "Pretty in Pink," "St. Elmo's Fire" and the like -- recently his TV roles have included a stint on "Lipstick Jungle" and a character arc on "Royal Pains."

Not bad for a kid from Jersey.

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: Andrew McCarthy, left, and Robert Downey Jr. in the 1987 movie "Less Than Zero." Credit: 20th Century Fox

Comments

[Lisa]

"This week, the Brat Pack veteran won the 2010 Lowell Thomas award for Travel Journalist of the Year for freelance writing about the places he has gone."

I could mention all of the places where Little Andy has really gone, but this is a family blog!