Shane West

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".

Shannon Bruce Snaith (born June 10, 1978), better known as Shane West, is an American actor, singer and songwriter.

He is known for his portrayal of Eli Sammler in the ABC family drama Once and Again, Landon Carter in A Walk to Remember, Dr. Ray Barnett in the NBC medical drama ER, Michael Bishop in The CW spy drama Nikita and in the WGN fantasy adventure historical drama Salem as John Alden.

West received critical acclaim for his performance portraying Darby Crash in the biopic What We Do Is Secret.

As well as acting, West has performed with punk rock band the Germs, Jonny Was, and the Twilight Creeps.

West was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of Leah Catherine ( 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-Jewish 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 said: "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.

Embarrassed by his feminine first name, West went by his middle name Bruce but changed his name to Shane West in high school when he took up acting.

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.

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.

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.

A year later, he joined the cast of the 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.

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 October 2008, West returned to ER for three episodes during its fifteenth and final season.

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 America adventure/historical/fantasy drama Salem as John Alden for three seasons before the show ended in 2017.

The film received the Audience Award at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival

West starred in post-apocalyptic film, Here Alone which premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival and was released theatrically on March 30, 2017.

In 2018, West was cast as Eduardo Dorrance in the fifth and final season of Gotham.