Early life

West was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of Leah Catherine (née Launey), a lawyer, and Don Snaith, a drugstore owner. Both his parents were musicians and had their own punk bands. His mother is of Cajun French descent and his father was born in Jamaica, of British and Portuguese origin. 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 years old. 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 and his sister Simone moved to Compton, California with their mother because she was looking for a better job. They later moved to Norwalk, California. When he was fifteen or sixteen, West moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. He struggled for two years and lived at his manager's house, before making his acting debut in 1995, appearing in the CBS drama Picket Fences in the season 4, episode 6 "Heart of Saturday Night", where he played Dave Lattimore.

Career

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

West was 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 the long-running NBC medical drama, ER in the eleventh season premiere, playing resident Ray Barnett. In May 2007, West left ER at the end of the thirteenth season after winning a role in 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 hiatus between seasons of ER, West worked on shooting What We Do Is Secret (an independent film), 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 so impressed by West's performance that they re-formed the band with West taking the deceased Crash's place. West received positive reviews for his portrayal in the movie; 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 starred as Michael Bishop in The CW spy drama Nikita from 2010 to 2013. In 2014, he began starring in the WGN adventure/historical/fantasy drama Salem as John Alden.

In music

West was the lead singer of punk rock band Jonny Was for "seven or eight years". The band was originally known as Average Joe but had to change its name for legal reasons. The band contributed to the A Walk to Remember soundtrack, appearing under the names "West, Gould, and Fitzgerald" because they had not yet decided on a new name. West 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 had less time to play with the band. His last performance was in December 2009.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Get a Clue	Chris Theodorakis	Television movie
1997	The Cider House Rules	Mark Taper
1999	Liberty Heights	Ted
2000	A Time for Dancing	Paul, the DJ
2000	Whatever It Takes	Ryan Woodman
2000	Dracula 2000	JT
2001	Get Over It!	Bentley "Striker" Scrumfeld
2001	Ocean's Eleven	Himself
2002	A Walk to Remember	Landon Carter	Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Chemistry
2003	The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen	Tom Sawyer	Nominated—Saturn Award for Face of the Future Award
2006	The Elder Son	Bo
2007	What We Do Is Secret	Darby Crash
2009	The Lodger	Street Wilkenson
2009	Red Sands	Spc. Jeff Keller	Also co-producer
2009	Echelon Conspiracy	Max Peterson
2010	The Love Affair	Carter Troy	Short film
2010	The Presence	Ghost
2014	Red Sky	Tom Craig

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Picket Fences	Dave Lattimore	Episode: "Heart of Saturday Night"
1995	California Dreams	Doug	Episode: "Community Service"
1996	The Crew	Store Manager	Episode: "Retail Slut"
1996	Boy Meets World	Nick	Episode: "A Kiss Is More Than a Kiss"
1997	Mr. Rhodes	Mick	Episode: "The Valentine Show"
1997	Meego	Guy with Big Hat	Episode: "Morality Bites"
1997	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Sean	Episode: "Go Fish"
1997	Sliders	Kirk	Episode: "California Reich"
1997	To Have & to Hold	Mitch Maloney	Episode: "Tangled Up in You"
1999-2002	Once and Again	Eli Sammler	54 episodes Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actor: Drama
2004-2009	ER	Dr. Ray Barnett	67 episodes
2007	Supreme Courtships	N/A	Unsold TV pilot
2010	The Search for El Dorado	Jack Wilder	2 episodes
2010-2013	Nikita	Michael	73 episodes Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Actor: Action Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actor: Action
2014-present	Salem	John Alden	26 episodes

Awards

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result
2002	A Walk to Remember	Teen Choice Awards, Film - Choice Chemistry A Walk to Remember	Won
2002	Once and Again	Teen Choice Awards, TV - Choice Actor	Nominated
2002		Young Hollywood Awards, Superstar of Tomorrow - Male	Won
2003	The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen	Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Awards, Best Male Performance	Nominated
2004	The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen	Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Awards, Best Male Performance	Nominated
2008	What We Do Is Secret	Philadelphia Film Festival, Rising Star Award	Won
2011	Nikita	Teen Choice Awards, TV - Choice Actor, Action	Won
2012	Nikita	Teen Choice Awards, TV - Choice Actor, Action	Nominated
2013	Nikita	Teen Choice Awards, TV - Choice Actor, Action	Nominated

Charities

Shane West supports the following charitable causes: Underprivileged Children, Children.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]