Shane West: What Happened To The A Walk To Remember Star

Throughout the 2000s, Shane West cemented his status as a true teen heartthrob thanks to his performances in popular movies and TV shows. Those in the know will still get teary-eyed when they think of "A Walk to Remember," the sweet teen tearjerker in which he played the bad-boy boyfriend of Mandy Moore's terminally ill character. In the years that followed this breakout hit coupled with his time on the TV show "Once and Again", West continued working; however, he never reached the level of superstardom some thought he was destined for. Admittedly, West is no George Clooney or Brad Pitt, but does that mean that he disappeared from the Hollywood map after his early days, never to be seen again? Absolutely not.

West has been busy with a variety of projects. He may not be making headlines for his private life or causing controversy with his views like some stars, but don't let his lack of media coverage fool you. Shane West is far from done, and he doesn't need paparazzi plastering his face over the front page to keep making money moves. Let's take a look at what he's been up to over the years. 

Spy dramas can be hit and miss in terms of ratings, but Shane West was on to a good thing when "Nikita" debuted in 2010. He played the part of Michael in the series, which also saw Maggie Q star as a convict-turned-government agent. The CW may have had high hopes for the fast-paced drama, but the second season wasn't living up to its potential in terms of ratings, meaning "Nikita" headed to the chopping block, much to the dismay of fans. It did, however, manage to survive for a third and fourth season before finally coming to an end. The final season wasn't the elaborate thrill ride some thought it might be, though, with only six episodes. 

For his part, West remained remarkably positive about the situation. He told IGN at the time, "We're very blessed to be able to get this season, even if it's a half-season because we do get to tell this story." He went on to say that the people who had the most difficult job were the writers. "I think we were expecting 13 [episodes] at some point, so to get it in six has been very difficult." Little did West know at the time that it wouldn't be the only one of his projects to get cut off in its prime. 

If our teen selves knew that fresh-faced Shane West would one day play a main character in a raunchy fantasy series based on real witches in Salem, we may not have been able to contain ourselves. In 2014, West landed the role of John Alden in "Salem", a regular man who falls in love with Janet Montgomery's Mary Sibley. Backed by some strong actors, including Seth Gabel and Ashley Madekwe, the show was WGN America's first-ever scripted series. Though its debut was strong, "Salem" didn't remain the network's golden child for very long, falling under the weight of its competition. The show was canceled after just three seasons. 

Even though the project was short-lived, it was still worthwhile to West. He told Harper's Bazaar in 2016 that the series presented him with a chance to do something different. "I'm a big horror fan — thrillers, scary movies, scary TV shows — and this was the first opportunity that had fallen into my lap that had given me that chance," he explained. Even so, West later lamented that "Salem" never got the chance to fully wrap up all of the loose ends. "We never got to get that ending," he told Us Weekly six years after the show ended. "'Salem' would be fun to go back and do maybe a one-off fourth final season to show what happened to all these characters."

Sometimes, actors fall hard for their on-screen love interests — it's just part of the game. While fans hoped that Shane West would go on to date Mandy Moore in real life, it never happened. Moore later found love with hubby Taylor Goldsmith, with whom she shares three kids. As for West, he's never been settled down long enough to tie the knot or have children. That's not to say that he hasn't had relationships, though. In the late '90s, West dated fellow actor Rachael Leigh Cook, who became a teen star herself thanks to roles in movies like "She's All That." The pair were together for two years before calling it off in 1999, breaking hearts across the globe. 

In 2014, West talked to Glamour about the difficulties of being a single man about town in Hollywood. "You're naturally predisposed to date an actress, as generic as that sounds, but the good thing about that is that she understands what you're going through and what the business requires," he told the publication. "At the same time, actors are crazy. ... We're all a group of insecure people, really — at least in front of the camera." West has managed to keep his private life pretty low-key throughout his career, which may be one of the reasons that the paparazzi and tabloids largely leave him alone. Stars who have been quite open about their dating history, like Taylor Swift, haven't been quite so lucky. 

Sure, there are tons of '90s teen stars who are unrecognizable now — some of whom who've moved away from the spotlight — but Shane West will always be an entertainer at heart. He isn't just an actor, but a singer, too. In 2007, West played the part of Darby Crash, the lead singer of Los Angeles punk band the Germs, in the biopic "What We Do Is Secret." Crash died by suicide in 1980 at the tender age of 22. The rest of the band members were so taken with West's performance as Crash that they invited him to join the outfit in real life. West embarked on several tours as the band's new lead singer in the naughties, and his passion for music didn't die when that came to an end. 

In 2015, he announced a new musical project: the Twilight Creeps. In 2021, when asked by KTLA how the band formed, he explained, "Well, these have been friends of mine for years now. We wanted to do something fun. It's very horror movie based ... it's for fun. It's melodic. It's catchy." At the time of this writing, the band's website is inactive and they haven't released new music since 2021. However, the band posted a tribute to West for his birthday in June 2024, sharing a photograph of the star performer sitting on an amp playing a guitar. 

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Shane West is a self-confessed horror stan, so maybe it's not surprising that his career ended up going in that direction. Ever since "Salem" gave him the opportunity to work in the genre, he hasn't slowed down. In 2022, West starred alongside Sarah Hay and Chelsea Gilligan in "Mid-Century." The horror sees West's character take a vacation with his wife, only to find out that the rental property owner is hiding some deep and disturbing secrets. The actor also helped to produce the caper, although it wasn't exactly a breakout hit.  

That didn't dampen the actor's penchant for scary roles, though. In April 2024, Deadline announced that West would be co-starring in "Theater is Dead" alongside Decker Sadowski of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" fame. West also produced this project, alongside Sadowski and Katherine Dudas, who was behind the camera.

Talking to Kelly Clarkson in 2022, West further detailed his love of the horror genre, telling her, ""I love scary movies. ... I saw Nightmare on Elm Street when I was 6 years old."

There are few comic book characters as iconic as Batman, but not every actor who is a fan gets to play the Dark Knight himself. Sometimes, you have to play the villain — and Shane West was more than willing when "Gotham" came knocking in 2019. West joined the final season of the show as everyone's favorite mask-wearing bad guy, Bane. He appeared on ET Live at the time and spoke candidly about how he approached this particular opportunity. "I would assume that every actor and actress would like to play a superhero or a supervillain at some point in their career. It's just like being a kid again. It's a lot of fun. For me, villains are a little bit more exciting," he revealed.

The "Gotham" crew made West feel more than welcome, even though he was in the project for a short time. Showrunner John Stephens announced the news during the "Gotham" panel at New York Comic Con, explaining that he had wanted to use Bane as a character since the beginning but hadn't been given the green light until the show was coming to an end. This opportunity also gave West the chance to star alongside a fellow former teen heartthrob, Ben McKenzie, who rose to fame in the hit show "The O.C." in the 2000s. 

Kelly Clarkson's star-studded TV show sees her interview all of the biggest names in show business. In 2022, it was Shane West's turn to turn on the charm and have a chat with the singer-turned-talk show host. He took to the sofa alongside "The Office" alum Rainn Wilson. The audience was thrilled to see West, with Clarkson even noticing how vocal the guests were when West appeared. The actor stopped by to talk about his band, the Twilight Creeps, and his recent projects, including the movie "Mid-Century." But besides his Hollywood dealings, Clarkson unearthed a part of West's life that fans may not have known. 

In addition to working as an actor and musician, he became a restaurateur. The star opened a Tex-Mex eatery called Justin Queso's on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles in 2021. Clarkson revealed she'd been to the restaurant, enthusing, "There's all of this memorabilia, Willie Nelson, it's all so cool." West admitted that taking a step into this particular type of food was a learning curve for him. Explaining that he's from Louisiana, he didn't really have an opinion on what made good or bad queso. However, the other people behind the scenes were Texans and were able to help him see the light. Clarkson ended up serving some of the restaurant's signature dish for West, Wilson, and herself to enjoy. 

Unfortunately for West and fans of the restaurant, though, Justin Queso's ultimately closed its doors in 2023. "Thank you to everyone who came and enjoyed or were a part of bringing a taste of Texas to the Sunset Strip!" the restaurant's Instagram page reads.

The biggest untold truth of "A Walk to Remember" is perhaps that both Mandy Moore and Shane West managed to avoid a very common pitfall for teen stars. They never dated and instead managed to maintain a strong friendship that has endured over the decades — even if they thought about romance a little.

In 2022, 20 years after the movie's debut, Moore took to Instagram to pay homage to the project that changed her life forever. The actor admitted that it had been over 10 years since she had seen "A Walk to Remember," so she settled down to watch it. Despite Moore's conflicted thoughts about her early music, she sang along to the movie's songs. She also playfully admitted that she did once have a crush on her co-star West, and of course, fans loved it. As it happens, West himself found it pretty entertaining, too. 

"Mandy, this is the best thing ever! Hahaha," the actor wrote in the comments. The pair's friendship is so deeply rooted that when Moore was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2019, West was right there beside her to celebrate the day, dressed in a sharp gray suit and white collared shirt. In a speech he gave at the ceremony, he said, "Mandy, you are an absolute gem. Your smile is ridiculous, seriously it's ridiculous, it lights up a room when you walk in. Your energy is irresistible and your heart is second to none." He went on to joke that he hopes "no one pees" on her star, ending his speech with, "Love you."

Shane West certainly isn't the most tattooed celeb out there (think of the many tattoos HGTV's David Bromstadt has), but he's certainly partial to some well-placed ink. He has a couple of tattoos on his chest, including one that reads "Wanna go to London" in fun script. Elsewhere, he has a tattoo of the late Germs frontman Darby Crash, whom he played in the movie "What We Do Is Secret" in 2007. The project, coupled with West's joining the band on tour for five years afterward, inspired West to permanently pay homage to Crash. 

He told Us Weekly in 2023, "I got [a] tattoo of Darby because I became close with his family and friends and fans." The following year, West found himself back in a tattooist's chair at Squid Ink. Though it's not clear if West is going to be getting any more body art, habits like this often die hard — especially among celebrities who have a little extra cash to splash!

Fans of the long-running medical drama "ER" may remember that Shane West joined the cast in 2004, playing resident Ray Barnett from the show's 11th season. He appeared in 70 episodes of the series, alongside another actor, Goran Višnjić. Though he joined the show earlier than West in 1999, the two ended up bonding when they were given the opportunity to work together. In 2024, fans were delighted when Višnjić posted a photograph to Instagram of the pair together in sunny Dubrovnik, Croatia. 

West's co-star captioned the July post, "Always nice when my ER family stops by Croatia!" alongside a slew of emojis. West playfully replied in the comments, "I always said if I ever came to Croatia, I was gonna hunt you down!" Naturally, the post was a hit with fans.

Shane West keeps his dating history fairly under wraps, indicating that he likes to keep his private life, well, private when he can. That's not to say that fans aren't keen to know who West likes to spend his time with, so when he was spotted with a woman in London in August 2024, it piqued some interest. 

The woman turned out to be British model and actor Sophie Porley, who is best known for her role in the soap "Hollyoaks." While their interaction wasn't intimate in any way, it certainly got fans wondering if romance could be on the cards for their favorite heartthrob of the aughts. Given West's M.O. of keeping things on the down low, something tells us that if this is, or was, a love match, we may never know! On the plus side, it does mean the title of "Mrs. Shane West" is still up for grabs.