Whatever happened to... Kip Pardue?

I remember the first time I saw, no, consciously noted Kip Pardue's existence. It was March 16, 2001 (I have the movie stub to prove it). My friend Stitch and I were still in high school and the Young Hollywood craze was slowly cooling down. We went to the cinema to watch Remember the Titans, which looked like a nice movie and it co-starred Donald Faison and Ryan Gosling, two actors I'm still really fond of.

Kip as Sunshine appeared onscreen. Stitch leaned over to me to comment on his hotness. I don't really like blond dudes, so I just shrugged it off. But there was something about him. The locker room scene was great! Watch it here!

Next up was the lead in Stallone's Driven opposite the luminous Estella Warren. This was supposed to be his big break. But the movie tanked, unfortunately. Hey, I liked it! He went on to win the Young Hollywood Award for New Stylemaker (I never understood why) and followed Driven up with roles in two other high profile (okay, no blockbusters but you had to be living under a rock if you hadn't heard about these) movies, The Rules of Attraction and Thirteen. Pardue was also good in the little seen 2003 movie Heaven's Pond opposite Tara Reid (if you say she can't act, watch this movie). I have not seen Pardue in anything since. IMDB tells me he's done 23 projects since then, yet most are things I've never even heard of. And I read my daily movie blogs. Only Stag Night rings a bell and that's because Breckin Meyer is in it.

I do appreciate indie pics and I'm sure most of those 23 projects are indies. I'm sure he's doing fine. I'm not criticizing the guy in any shape, way or form (except his New Stylemaker award). All I'm saying, Hollywood, hello, use him.

Whatever happened to... Shannyn Sossamon?

New feature time! 'Whatever happened to...' will focus on the actors that were popular during the Young Hollywood craze between 1997-2002. They may have quit acting, or now appear on TV instead of hit movies.. they may have had babies, or just don't get roles in big movies anymore. It's sad, cause I quite miss some of these people around!

pic credit: shannyn-sossamon.com

The first ever 'Whatever happened to...' focuses on pretty actress Shannyn Sossamon. The TV series "Dirt" premiered here in The Netherlands this week, and I was surprised to see Shannyn. Maybe even more so to see her not being credited as a 'Special Guest Star,' or giving her the 'and' credit. I swear I remember an episode of "Law & Order: SVU" where she was billed as a 'Special Guest Star' along with Billy Campbell. I refuse to believe I'm imagining things!

I know a couple of random things about Shannyn.. I know she was born in Hawaii. She has a son named Audio Science (insert joke here). She was a DJ and apparently she was discovered at Gwyneth Paltrow's brother's birthday party (or something like that). And she has a new movie coming out this Friday called One Missed Call. Hmmm...

Shannyn first grabbed our attention in 2001 in the movie A Knight's Tale, stealing not only Heath Ledger's heart as Lady Jocelyn, but that of the audience as well. She followed it up with starring roles in 40 Days & 40 Nights, and The Rules of Attraction, and was quite popular around this time. I even have a Movieline magazine laying around somewhere which featured her in a 6-page fashion spread.

So why the hell does IMDB inform me that she's now on some kind of vampire show that sounds like "Angel" but is called "Moonlight"? The only thing I knew about that show is that Jason Dohring (aka Logan Echolls!) is on it, and it's not doing very well. Why isn't she is more movies? Why isn't this girl a bigger star?

I know in the meantime, The Order flopped, and she had a baby (that would be Audio Science, yes) and took some time off. Bad movies followed, and the first time I actually heard about her again was concerning Wristcutters: A Love Story (which looks awesome, btw). IMDB reminds me that she was in The Holiday, though if memory serves me right she was only briefly seen as Jack Black's girlfriend.

I'm happy to see her climbing her way back up with "Dirt" and "Moonlight" and that she has a starring role in the new movie One Missed Call (a remake of a J-horror, which looks pretty bad, btw), but I hope to see her in better quality films in the future. Shannyn is talented and has an unique look that sets her apart from all the average looking blondes. We need her in Hollywood!