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A Walk to Remember strolled its way into the hearts of many when it hit theaters 20 years ago.
The film follows Mandy Moore’s shy Jamie Sullivan and Shane West’s cool kid Landon Carter, who are thrown together after Landon gets in trouble for hazing a new student and is sentenced to perform community service.
Though Jamie and Landon have known each other most of their lives, he never befriended her due to the status quo. She’s a minister’s daughter who gets involved in school and sings in the church choir; and he’s part of the “popular” crew, who pranks new kids at school by encouraging them to jump into mysterious bodies of water from 40-feet up.
When the school principal gives Landon the choice between being expelled or completing multiple service projects, which includes performing in the school play, he chooses the latter and seeks out Jamie’s help. She agrees to help him on one condition: “You have to promise you won’t fall in love with me,” she tells him, which, of course, he does.
A Walk to Remember marked one of the first Nicholas Sparks books to be turned into a film and made $47.5 million at the box office worldwide. Peter Coyote, Daryl Hannah, Lauren German, Clayne Crawford and Al Thompson also star.
In honor of A Walk to Remember’s 20th anniversary, The Hollywood Reporter takes a look at what the film’s stars have done since the Warner Bros. project hit theaters on Jan. 25, 2002.
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Mandy Moore (Jamie Sullivan)
Aside from being the good, involved student at Beaufort High, Moore’s Jamie has a secret: She’s undergoing treatment for leukemia — and it’s not working. She reveals to Landon that she’s not making any plans for the future because she’s accepted that she may not have one, but she does have a list of things she wants to do before she dies. Her biggest ambitions are to witness a miracle and get married in the church her parents’ got married in.
Over the course of her career, Moore has become a household name. Since A Walk to Remember, she has starred in countless popular films. Some of her most notable big-screen projects include License to Wed, Tangled and 47 Meters Down.
Currently, Moore plays Rebecca Pearson in NBC’s award-winning drama series, This Is Us. Moore has also made appearances in various TV shows, like Entourage, Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother and Grey’s Anatomy.
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Shane West (Landon Carter)
West’s Landon transforms over the course of the film from someone who only cared about being popular to someone who would do anything to make one person happy, including taking Jamie’s side over all of his friends. Before even learning about Jamie’s condition, Landon helps Jamie start checking things off of her bucket list. One of the final things he’s able to help her do is get married in the church her parents got married in, shortly before she dies.
Since taking on the role of Landon, West has appeared in several films, with some of his most notable being The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, What We do Is Secret and Echelon Conspiracy.
On the small screen, West played recurring character Dr. Ray Barnett in ER from 2004 to 2009, starred alongside Maggie Q in The CW’s Nikita, took on the role of John Alden on Salem and played Eduardo Dorrance/Bane in Gotham.
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Peter Coyote (Reverend Sullivan)
Coyote plays Jamie’s loving and, at times, overprotective father and the local church’s minister, who wants the best for his daughter and holds her accountable when it comes to telling Landon about her illness.
Coyote had a long list of major projects under his belt before he starred in the 2002 romantic comedy — E.T., Bitter Moon, Patch Adams and Erin Brockovich, to name a few.
Since then, Coyote has starred in Northfork, All Roads Lead Home, 1 Mile To You, The Inside, The 4400 and more.
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Daryl Hannah (Cynthia Carter)
Hannah plays Landon’s mother, Cynthia, who urges him to be better, encouraging him to reconnect with his father and warning him not to treat Jamie like any of his past relationships.
Before taking on the role of Cynthia, Hannah had already become a household name from her roles in major films like Steel Magnolias, Blade Runner, The Little Rascals and more.
After A Walk to Remember, she landed one of her most notable parts playing Elle Driver in the Kill Bill franchise. She’s also starred in Keeping Up With the Steins and Sense8, and made a guest appearance on Hawaii Five-0.
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Lauren German (Belinda)
German’s Belinda is part of the popular kids and Landon’s ex-girlfriend, who comes up with a plot to embarrass Jamie after she and Landon start getting too close, which pushes Landon even further away from her. When she finds out that Jamie is dying, she apologizes to Landon and tells him he’s with exactly who he needs to be with.
German has had recurring roles in several TV shows since A Walk to Remember, from Hawaii Five-0 to Chicago Fire. Most recently, she starred as Detective Chloe Decker in Lucifer, alongside Tom Ellis.
She’s also played a part in films like Hostel: Part II, The Divide and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
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Clayne Crawford (Dean)
Crawford’s Dean is, arguably, the film’s main antagonist. He mistreats his girlfriend, peer pressures his friends into doing dangerous things and makes it a purpose to make Jamie’s life especially difficult, now that she’s dating Landon. Eventually, he comes around, as they all do, but it takes learning about Jamie’s diagnosis for him to realize he may have been too hard on her and Landon.
Since A Walk to Remember, Crawford has made appearances in TV shows such as 24, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Jericho and The Glades, among others. He’s also starred in Rectify and Lethal Weapon.
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Al Thompson (Eric)
Thompson plays Landon’s best friend Eric, who’s there for him more than some of the other people in their circle. Instead of pranking Jamie or exiling Landon from his life, Eric talks to him about how he’s changed and is the first one to be there for him when he finds about Jamie.
After A Walk to Remember, Thompson tried his hand at another beloved romantic comedy, Love Don’t Cost a Thing. Over the last 20 years, he’s had roles in The Cleveland Show, Lenox Avenue (the series and the movie), Entangled with You and more. Thompson also starred in Song One and Chronically Metropolitan, just to name a few.
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