What 20 Famous Men You Loved as a Teen Look Like Now
We can safely assume that you had a crush on one of the people on this list at some point during your teen years. It's not like you didn't have IRL options at school or soccer practice, but something about a fictional character just hits different. These guys were always up-to-date on the latest trends, and just looked good while doing...everything. Looks aside, pop culture without them would have been pretty dull. So, to honor their achievements in teen cinema and television glory, we decided to take a trip down memory lane and see what some of our favorite celebrity men we loved as teens are up to these days. Overall, most of these men are still acting today, while others have thrown in the towel. Some of them look like they haven't aged a day. Others...not so much, but we still love them. Ahead, reminisce on 20 dreamboats from your teenage years, whether you were an '80s, '90s, or early aughts kid.
In the last, er, 16 years, any sleepover discussion can attest the power of Jonathan Bennett's boy-next-door vibe as Aaron Samuels in Mean Girls. The role was basically his big break in Hollywood!
Since then, Bennett has acted in some of your favorite Christmas romance movies on the Hallmark channel, and reprised his role as Samuels in Ariana Grande's "Thank U, Next" music video.
One glance at this photo, and I already have tears in my eyes. Before A Walk to Remember, Shane West had a bunch of small TV roles, but his role as the bad-boy-turned-good-guy Landon West captured our hearts.
West has since starred in some of your favorite shows like ER, Gotham, and Salem. He and Mandy Moore still have a tight bond too. At Moore's Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony, he gave a cute speech to his former co-star saying, "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."
Chad Michael Murray carried the early aughts on his back. From One Tree Hill to Gilmore Girls to Freaky Friday to A Cinderella Story, I don't know how he did it all, but teen me is forever thankful!
Murray is still acting! He's been in numerous TV shows like Marvel's Agent Carter, FOX's Star, and, most recently, the CW's Riverdale.
Jesse Metcalfe was on the soap opera Passions for five years before taking on the legendary role of John Tucker in the 2006 movie John Tucker Must Die. Once everyone saw him play basketball in a red thong, it was game over.
Since then, Metcalfe has starred on ABC's Desperate Housewives, TNT's Dallas, the Hallmark Channel's Chesapeake Shores, and many other small-screen roles. Has he aged a day? Absolutely not.
Here at Marie Claire, we believe Jesse Bradford's role as Cliff in Bring It On is one of the best teen movie love interests of all time, and low-key someone we wish we could meet now! (When social distancing becomes a thing of the past, of course.)
Since he was Torrance Shipman's number one fan, you've probably seen Bradford on The West Wing, Guys With Kids, or talking about how much he loved playing Cliff. He told Entertainment Weekly in 2015, "Cliff is probably the most accurate version of the real me that I’ve ever portrayed on camera."
Saved by the Bell would be nothing without Mark-Paul Gosselaar as the ever-so-charming Zack Morris. The idea of someone else ending up with Kelly Kapowski sends shivers down my spine.
Don't worry, Gosselaar is still doing the TV thing in shows like Mixed-ish, Franklin & Bash, and most recently, the Saved by the Bell reboot.
TBT to English class when your hardest dilemma was deciding who was the hottest out of the Greasers while watching The Outsiders. Matt Dillion's portrayal of Dallas Winston in the 1983 film was swoon-worthy.
Dillon went on to star in many more acclaimed films...just ones you didn't watch during school hours, such as the comedy There's Something About Mary and the horror flick The House That Jack Built.
Jess Mariano in Gilmore Girls! Peter Petrelli in Heroes! Chris Pierce in American Dreams! Milo Ventimiglia was everywhere in the '00s, and we have zero complaints.
Fast forward to today, and Ventimiglia is still on our screens in hit shows like This Is Us to movies such as Second Act, Creed II, and The Art of Racing In the Rain.
Sure, people were freaking out over Troy Bolton in High School Musical when it dropped, but those with refined taste (me!) knew the real deal was Mr. Chad Danforth.
Post HSM, Bleu starred in other shows and movies you loved like Discovery Channel's Flight 29 Down and the Disney Channel original movie Jump In! Today, he's still acting in minor TV roles.
The idea of a high school rising junior (senior?) who looks like Sean Faris circa 2004 having a crush on you when you were going to be a freshman in high school is next-level insane! But we ate it up in the movie Sleepover.
Faris later starred, and caused some major drama, in Pretty Little Liars as Gabriel Holbrook. He's also been in a ton of holiday Hallmark movies...if you were looking for a reason to watch one.
Avid Nickelodeon watchers might remember Jordan Calloway as one of Emma Roberts' BFFs, Zach Carter-Schwartz, in Unfabulous. When you weren't singing the catchy theme song, you were definitely thinking about him.
Calloway has been busy since his days on Nickelodeon. He played douchebag Chuck Clayton in Riverdale's early seasons and most recently starred as Khalil Payne in Black Lightning.
The British actor did star in some TV shows in the early parts of his career, but everyone came to know and love him as Robbie in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.
Taylor-Johnson is still acting! Since he played Robbie, he's been in big blockbusters like Kick-Ass, Tenet, and Nowhere Boy. He even won a Golden Globe in 2017 for his role in Nocturnal Animals.
You either know him as Superman in Smallville or as the second oldest Baker, Charlie, in the Cheaper By the Dozen franchise. I mean, him wearing that red cap in the majority of the first movie? How could we forget!
Welling may not be playing superheroes anymore, but you can watch him in shows like Lucifer or the action TV show Professionals.
Patrick Dancy first made his appearance on Saved by the Bell, but we got to really know him as Ted Curran on the '90s sitcom Family Matters.
Dancy hasn't acted in anything since 2004, unfortunately, but he does have an Instagram account!
Adrian Grenier's character, Chase Hammond, in Drive Me Crazy was the blueprint for everyone's dream guy today. Also, it helps that he had #hairgoals.
Since the teen flick, you most likely loathed him as Andy's boyfriend in The Devil Wears Prada or maybe wanted to date him (just not his friends) as Vincent Chase in HBO's Entourage.
Maybe Rob Lowe's character, Sodapop Curtis, was your favorite in The Outsiders, or you low-key fell in love with his severely dysfunctional character, Billy Hicks, in St. Elmo's Fire. Either way, no judgment here.
Since then, Lowe has received six Golden Globe nominations for his work in numerous productions like The West Wing, Square Dance, and Behind The Candelabra.
Basketball suddenly became everyone's favorite sport when they first spotted Omar Epps shirtless in the 2000 film, Love & Basketball.
Lucky for us, we still get to see Epps on our screens. He's starred in House, This Is Us, Resurrection, and many more of your favorite shows.
Freddie Prinze Jr. not only gave us She's All That, but he also brought his dreamy self to the horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer. What would the '90s have been like without him? I don't want to think about it.
Besides playing a really good Fred in the live-action Scooby-Doo franchise, he's also an author! Prinze Jr. recently released his cookbook, Back to the Kitchen, and his wife, Sarah Michelle Gellar, wrote the foreword.
You either fawned over Donald Faison as Murray in Clueless or were trying to keep it cool in the theater when you saw him shirtless in Remember the Titans for the first time. Both options sound great to us!
Today, Faison is making us laugh in reruns of Scrubs or The Exes. He also shows off his voicing talents in the animated series, Robot Chicken.
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past couple decades, then you know James Van Der Beek played Dawson on Dawson’s Creek—as in, like *the* teen drama series from the ’90s.
Van Der Beek and his great eyebrows are still making Hollywood moves. He had a role on the hit FX show Pose, and played DJ Diplo in the comedy series What Would Diplo Do? over on Viceland.
What 20 Famous Men You Loved as a Teen Look Like Now
We can safely assume that you had a crush on one of the people on this list at some point during your teen years. It's not like you didn't have IRL options at school or soccer practice, but something about a fictional character just hits different. These guys were always up-to-date on the latest trends, and just looked good while doing...everything. Looks aside, pop culture without them would have been pretty dull. So, to honor their achievements in teen cinema and television glory, we decided to take a trip down memory lane and see what some of our favorite celebrity men we loved as teens are up to these days. Overall, most of these men are still acting today, while others have thrown in the towel. Some of them look like they haven't aged a day. Others...not so much, but we still love them. Ahead, reminisce on 20 dreamboats from your teenage years, whether you were an '80s, '90s, or early aughts kid.
* Pretends to be shocked that they're still hot. *
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