90210 Nostalgia

Whatever happened to...

I was one of millions of teenagers who were obsessed with Beverly Hills 90210.  Back in the 90s in South Africa, the series was still dubbed into Afrikaans and one had to tune in to a radio station to watch the show with the original English dialogue.  I never missed an episode.  I collected pictures and posters of the cast and stuck them up on my bedroom wall; they were the epitome of cool and I wanted to be their friend.

A couple of years ago I travelled to Los Angeles to see Cher perform.  We took a hop-on hop-off bus from Hollywood to Santa Monica and  I had to pinch myself as the tour bus drove through the palm tree lined boulevards of Beverly Hills.  I was in the realm of 90210!  As if that wasn't exciting enough, at the Cher concert I turned around to see a familiar face: none other than Tori Spelling, who played Donna Martin on the show.  I feigned nonchalance but inwardly, teenage me was freaking out.  I still tell people that I partied with Tori Spelling at a Cher concert.

Tori and Jenni Garth (Kelly) appeared as guest judges on RuPaul's Drag Race recently in which the queens had to star in a hilarious 90210 parody titled 9021-ho and watching the parody made me feel rather nostalgic.  It also made me wonder what happened to the stars of the show after its conclusion.

Shannen Doherty (Brenda Walsh)  
Brenda was the bitch everyone loved to hate.  Despite her tough exterior there was an underlying vulnerability that made her more likeable (not so much on set if rumours are to be believed).After 90210, Shannen had a highly successful role as Prue Halliwell on Charmed, which I also loved, and was saddened when her  character was written out of the show, supposedly because of the tension between her and Alyssa Milano.  She appeared briefly in the 2008 reboot of 90210 as Brenda, now a renowned actress and director, to direct her former high school's musical.  Most recently she has been fighting breast cancer and underwent chemo and radiation until earlier this year.

Jenni Garth (Kelly Taylor)
Kelly was a little too perfect for my liking and had a tendency to whine a lot.

Jenni went on to appear in four seasons of the sitcom What I Like About You as Valerie Tyler in the early 2000s.  Jenni reprised her role as Kelly, now a guidance counsellor at West Beverly High, on the new 90210 and also has a four-year-old son with her former boyfriend, Dylan. Like Shannen, she was also a contestant on Dancing with the Stars.

Tori Spelling (Donna Martin)
Donna came across as a ditzy (and virginal) blonde but she had a very big heart and a love of fashion.

Tori seems to have been a lot busier than other 90210 alumni.  In 2006 She starred as herself in So NoTorious, which was basically a parody of her real life.  She has also written three books:  sTori Telling (an autobiography), Mommywood and terriTori.  In 2014 she starred with Jenni Garth in the series Mystery Girls, which didn't last very long.

Gabrielle Carteris (Andrea Zukerman)
Andrea was the nerd of the group and editor of the school newspaper who got knocked up before graduating.  

Gabrielle was 29 years old when 90210 started playing Andrea (who was meant to be 15).  She went on to star in many made-for-TV films and had guest spots on various shows including Touched by an Angel, NYPD Blue and Criminal Minds.   She was appointed as the executive vice president of an actor’s union, SAG-AFTRA, in 2012.

Jason Priestley (Brandon Walsh)
Brandon was Brenda's heartthrob twin brother, who was typically the voice of reason and morality.  

Jason's post-90210 roles have included the main character in Call Me Fitz and the sci-fi series Haven.  Jason has appeared in two music videos, namely Roy Orbison’s I drove all night and Britney’s Boys. 

Luke Perry (Dylan McKay)
The bad boy with eyebrows that always seemed to say "I don't give a fuck", which is exactly what made all the girls (and some boys) swoon.  

Luke starred in HBO’s Oz as a reverend and then in the TV series Jeremiah.  He has also done some theatre work, starring as Brad Majors in the Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and as Harry in the London production of When Harry Met Sally.  He is currently starring in Riverdale.

Ian Ziering (Steve Sanders)
The spoilt rich boy with curly blonde hair who was all about girls and fun.

Ian has played the recurring role of Fin Shepard in the notoriously bad but inexplicably successful Sharknado films (a Sharknado 5 is coming in 2017!).  In 2013 he also performed with the Chippendales (go Steve!) in Las Vegas.

Brian Austin Green (David Silver)
I don't remember much about David to be honest, other than he and Donna ended up together and he wore oversized shirts and pants.  

Since the conclusion of 90210 Brian has starred in several shows, most notably Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Anger Management, Smallville and Desperate Housewives (remember him as Bree’s hunky contractor and lover?).