The character in the film was eventually replaced by Baby for the big summer dance, and she and Swayze (I know his name is Johnny Castle but he's Swayze, all right?) live/frolic happily ever after.

But what about the actress who portrayed Penny Johnson, Cynthia Rhodes. What did she go on to do?

Being a dancer on-screen opened up other opportunities of similar roles for the performer. She was in Xanadu and Flashdance, other cult classics, and played the apple of John Travolta's eye in the maligned sequel to Saturday Night Fever, the Frank Stallone directed bomb, Staying Alive. Her last on-screen role was in the 1991 Curse of Crystal Eve. After marrying songwriter Richard Marx, however, she left Hollywood and acting behind.

Cynthia, instead, focused on raising their three children, and was with Richard Marx until 2014, when the couple divorced. She had nothing but good things to say about her Dirty Dancing co-stars Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey: "First of all, Patrick is a trained dancer, and I think, for a long time because he’s such a fabulous actor I don’t know if people ever really took him seriously… He floored me. And Jennifer… she’s such a natural. And such a hard worker."