Shane West Biography

Shane West (born Shannon Bruce Snaith; June 10, 1978) is an American actor, punk rock musician and songwriter. West is best known for portraying Eli Sammler in Once and Again, Landon Carter in A Walk to Remember, Darby Crash in What We Do Is Secret, and Dr. Ray Barnett in ER. He is currently portraying the role of Michael in The CW action drama television series Nikita. Aside from acting, West has performed with punk rock band The Germs.

Early life

Shane West was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of Leah Catherine (née Launey) and Don Snaith. His mother is a lawyer; his father, who was born in Jamaica, is a drugstore owner. Both parents were musicians and had their own punk bands. He is of Cajun French descent through his mother. He is the eldest of three children with a sister Simone and a half-sister Marli Ann. His parents divorced in 1982 when he was four. Influenced by his parents, he grew up listening to The Clash, The Jam, Blondie, Elvis Costello, and The Kinks. He revealed: "I always thought I would be doing music rather than acting."

At the age of ten, West moved to Compton, California with Simone and his mother because she was looking for a better job and they then moved to Norwalk, California. When he was 15-16, West moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career where he struggled for two years and lived at his manager's house. West made his acting debut in 1995 with the television series, Picket Fences.

Career

In 1998, West guest-starred in several TV series including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and played Mark Tapper in the stage production of The Cider House Rules before landing his first major role in 1999 in the television series, Once and Again, playing Eli Sammler for three seasons. West's film debut was in Liberty Heights, a film about a Jewish family in Baltimore directed by Barry Levinson's film . He also co-starred in the teen comedies Whatever It Takes (2000) and Get Over It (2001).

West was subsequently cast as Landon Carter opposite singer and actress Mandy Moore in 2002's adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' novel A Walk to Remember, which was a modest box office success, grossing over $41 million in the United States. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times found him "quietly convincing". His performance in the film earned him a Teen Choice Award for Choice Chemistry with Moore. He also appeared in the Mandy Moore music video "Cry". That year, West won the Young Hollywood Award Male Superstar of Tomorrow.

In 2003, West starred as an adult version of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen alongside Sean Connery. The film was a commercial success, earning over $179 million worldwide from a production budget of $78 million. A year later, he joined the cast of NBC's long running medical drama, ER at the eleventh season premiere, playing resident Ray Barnett. In May 2007, West left ER at the end of the thirteenth season for Supreme Courtships, but the series was not picked up by the Fox Network. In October 2008, West returned to ER for three episodes during its fifteenth and final season.

During the hiatus between seasons of ER, West worked on shooting the independent film What We Do Is Secret, which premiered at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival after much delay. West helped to finance it. In the film, he portrays Darby Crash, a member of the 1970s punk band The Germs. Members of the band were impressed by West's performance and re-formed the band with West taking the deceased Crash's place. West received positive reviews for his portrayal; the San Francisco Chronicle stated that he is the one who "lifts the entire film to a whole other level". Similarly, the Seattle Times wrote that his impersonation was "worth saluting" while TV Guide called it "pretty impressive". In 2008, he received the Rising Star Award in Philadelphia Film Festival for his work in What We Do is Secret. West currently stars in the CW series Nikita.

In music

He was the lead singer of the punk rock band Jonny Was for "seven or eight years", which was previously known as Average Joe. The band had to change their name for legal matters. The band contributed to the A Walk to Remember soundtrack but appears under the names of "West, Gould, and Fitzgerald" because they had not decided yet the new name. He described their style as "a pop-punk type band, more Green Day-ish".

In November 2005, while What We Do Is Secret was still in production, it was announced that West would be fronting The Germs on tour. He performed with the band for nearly five years, doing an American tour (including the 2006 Warped Tour) and a European Tour. He described the experience as "more exciting" than acting. However, after booking a leading role in Nikita, West got less time to play with the band. His last performance was in December 2009.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Note
1995	Picket Fences	Dave Lattimore	TV series " "Heart of Saturday Night"
	California Dreams	Doug	TV series " "Community Service" (voice)
1996	The Crew	Store Manager	TV series " "Retail Slut"
	Boy Meets World	Nick	TV series " "A Kiss Is More Than a Kiss"
1997	Mr. Rhodes	Mick	TV series " "The Valentine Show"
	Get a Clue	Chris Theodorakis	TV movie of the book The Westing Game
	Meego	Guy with Big Hat	TV series " "Morality Bites"
	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Sean	TV series " "Go Fish"
	Sliders	Kirk	TV series " "California Reich"
	To Have & to Hold	Mitch Maloney	TV series " "Tangled Up in You"
	The Cider House Rules	Mark Taper
1999	Liberty Heights	Ted
1999"2002	Once and Again	Eli Sammler	Series regular " 54 episodes Nominated"?Teen Choice Awards: TV Choice Actor for Drama
2000	A Time for Dancing	Paul, the DJ
	Whatever It Takes	Ryan Woodman
	Dracula 2000	JT
2001	Get Over It!	Bentley "Striker" Scrumfeld
	Ocean's Eleven	Himself	Cameo
2002	A Walk to Remember	Landon Carter	Teen Choice Awards for Chemistry with Mandy Moore
2003	The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen	Tom Sawyer	Nominated"?Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Award for Best Male Performance
2004	ER	Dr. Ray Barnett	Series regular (2004"2007; 2008, 2009) 70 episodes Main Cast (Seasons 11"13) Special Guest Cast (Season 15)
2006	The Elder Son	Bo
2007	Supreme Courtships		TV pilot
	What We Do Is Secret	Darby Crash	Philadelphia Film Festival Rising Star Award
2009	The Lodger	Street Wilkenson
	Red Sands	Spc. Jeff Keller
	Echelon Conspiracy	Max Peterson
2010	The Love Affair	Carter Troy	Short film
	The Search for El Dorado	Jack Wilder	Miniseries
	The Presence	Ghost
	Kerosene Cowboys	Tom Craig
2010"present	Nikita	Michael	Series regular Teen Choice Awards: TV Choice Actor for Action

Awards

Year	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
Teen Choice Awards
2002	Film " Choice Chemistry	"A Walk to Remember"	Winner
2002	TV " Choice Actor,	"Once and Again"	Nominated
2011	TV " Choice Actor, Action	"Nikita"	Winner
Young Hollywood Awards
2002	Superstar of Tomorrow " Male		Winner
Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Award
2003	Best Male Performance	"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"	Nominated
2004	Best Male Performance	"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"	Nominated
Rising Star Award
2008	Film	"What We Do Is Secret"	Winner