Whatever Happened To The Cast Of Laguna Beach?

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A lot has changed since "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County" aired on MTV. The reality television show introduced us to the world of eight glamorous teens in California, all nearing the end of high school and planning the next chapter of their lives in adulthood. According to series creator Liz Gateley, the true draw of the show was its reliability.

"There are millions and millions of girls that grew up in high school during that time and they think of [Lauren Conrad] as a friend," Gateley told TVGuide.com. "I think it was very powerful because the audience understood that this was a coming-of-age story and a whole generation of girls identified with all the struggles Lauren went through."

The show debuted on September 28, 2004, and fans immediately fell in love with the stories (and drama) of this beautiful, fun, and flirty group of friends. So where is the cast of "Laguna Beach" now?

Stephen Colletti has stayed in Hollywood, most notably starring as Chase Adams on The CW drama series "One Tree Hill" from 2007 to 2012. On the show's ending, Colletti told Assignment X, "It's been nice to join it for the ride, to come in the middle, meet such an incredible fan base, meet such incredible people in Wilmington, North Carolina, where it shoots, and have the privilege of working under Mark Schwahn."

Colletti also received attention when he portrayed Taylor Swift's love interest in her music video for "White Horse" in 2009. "I watched ["Laguna Beach"] on and off, but I saw him on "One Tree Hill" and thought he was really awesome on that," Swift told MTV News about Colletti's casting. "He had sort of the look we were going for... because the guy in the video is supposed to look really sweet and someone who just looks like he would never lie to you."

Most recently, he co-created, wrote, and starred in "Everybody Is Doing Great" alongside his "One Tree Hill" co-star James Lafferty, which debuted on Hulu in January 2021. As for what's next, Colletti confirmed in an interview with Mashable that future seasons of the show are coming. 

"There's a lot of growth left for these characters, and we're going to continue to explore that," he said.

Lo Bosworth starred in "The Hills" from 2007 to 2010, but after that, she left show business and reality TV behind. 

"Working in television was not my strong suit," she told Hollywood Life in 2021. "I would much prefer to have a normal, every day job with reliability and security and stability. I am much more comfortable in that space. I was 17 when I was first on television, and I wasn't ready to deal with all the negativity and pressure."

Bosworth launched a website called The Lo Down by Lo Bosworth in 2010 and later released a book by the same name. She started her own successful beauty channel on YouTube in 2013. Most recently, Bosworth founded Love Wellness, a natural beauty store, in 2016. 

"We create total body care for women, so my focus is on women's wellness," she said. "If you were to ever see me on television again, it would be in a wellness space."

Bosworth now lives in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. In 2020, Bosworth told ET Online, "I have really created my own path that I'm just so happy to be on and I think I'm getting close to succeeding in building the life I always dreamt of for myself."

After devastatingly being rejected from Brigham Young University at the end of "Laguna Beach" season one, Morgan Olsen, now Morgan Smith, reapplied and graduated with a degree in humanities and journalism. She started her career at Elle Magazine in fashion journalism and worked in product marketing before eventually founding the children's swim and resort label Minnow Swim in 2016.

When asked by Forbes if she had seen herself becoming a fashion designer when she was younger, Olsen responded, "Not a designer, per se, but definitely working in fashion. I grew up working in boutiques in high school and college. I once said that owning my own boutique was a goal of mine." 

In fact, the idea to move into swimwear design came to Olsen on vacation. "Disappointed with the lack of options I found in a city with a large children's clothing offering, I started thinking about where I found [my son's] swim trunks back home in California," Olsen said. "There wasn't a consistent brand that I knew of, dedicating themselves to children's swim."

After moving back and forth between New York and California, Olsen now lives on the coast in Charleston, South Carolina with her husband, Joel Smith, and three children.

Unlike the majority of his castmates, Trey Phillips has stayed out of the spotlight since the show's conclusion. In fact, his Instagram and other social media accounts are set to private, making it difficult for any "Laguna Beach" fans to find out what he's been up to. 

However, there are some kernels of information that we know about Phillips after his retirement from reality television. Following the dreams he expressed on "Laguna Beach", he moved to New York to study fashion at Parsons School of Design. According to his LinkedIn, he has worked as an associate designer for Vera Wang for over ten years.

Although his personal social media accounts are set to private, Phillips still appears to be friends with members of the "Laguna Beach" cast. He will occasionally pop up on Instagram with Stephen Colletti, Lauren Conrad, and Dieter Schmitz. He even attended Schmitz's wedding in 2016.

After wrapping on "Laguna Beach", Alex Murrel launched a singing career. Her debut single "Hello" was featured on the show and she performed the song at the Fight the Slide Benefit Auction. Her follow-up songs "Now" and "What's It To You" were only released on her MySpace page.

Outside of music, Murrel graduated from Chapman University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies and a minor in English. In 2014, she launched Mox Agency, a boutique social media marketing agency that creates customized brand solutions for companies, which appears to be where her true passion lies.

Otherwise, Murrel has focused on starting a family — according to her Instagram, she married Kyle Johnson in 2014 and they share three boys named Levi, Kase, and Rome. The family still lives in California and Murrel has largely turned her back on show business. 

"I really had some issues when the show was airing," she told TooFab in 2014. "We wouldn't get the episodes until the night before it aired and editing completely changes the way that you think it's going to come off. I think that for me, I came off a lot meaner and mean spirited."

Lexie Contursi has predominantly focused her public career on dancing, appearing as a contestant on "So You Think You Can Dance" in 2010 and in the concert movie "Katy Perry: Part of Me" in 2012.

Contursi filmed an appearance for "The Big Bang Theory" in 2014, but the scene was cut from the aired broadcast. As a result, the show's director Chuck Lorre commended Contursi's acting talent on the vanity card at the end of the episode. 

"I wanted to take this opportunity to tell Lexie, and all her friends and relatives, that she nailed the part," he wrote. "Just nailed it. The fact that it did not appear in tonight's episode had absolutely nothing to do with her performance."

Most recently, Contursi launched a vintage fine jewelry line called Chat Noir Jewels alongside her sister in April 2021. "Sister duo Lexie and Nicolette's admiration for jewelry began at a very young age, inspired by their mother's talent to create looks expressing her personal style with antique jewelry passed down through generations," the website reads. "Lexie and Nicolette's biggest aspiration for Chat Noir is to help others transition their extravagant pieces into everyday essentials."