Laguna Beach: Where is the cast of the breakout reality show now?

The OC was our first introduction to the glitz and glamour of growing up in southern California, but it was MTV's reality show Laguna Beach that showed what life was really like in Orange County.

The show was set at Laguna Beach High School, where seniors Lauren Conrad, Lo Bosworth and Stephen Colletti were getting ready to graduate, while juniors Kristin Cavallari and Talan Torriero were cementing themselves as the soon-to-be popular kids.

The teen drama was just as good as any soap opera on TV at the time, and the romantic entanglements just kept us coming back for more. But what ever happened to those overly privileged and tanned teens that graced our screens back in the mid-naughties?

Lauren Conrad

It was Lauren Conrad who was the centre of the show and narrated each week's events. But as it turns out, it could have been a different show altogether, had Lauren's dad not talked her into taking the role. Lauren, meanwhile, was much more interested in a career in fashion.

"I remember him telling me that it would be a good opportunity just to meet some people knowing that entertainment and fashion are very much entwined," she recalled of her father's foresight. "So that seed was planted early on. It was my main motivation for doing the show."

Her Laguna spin-off series The Hills followed her as she went to study at L.A.'s Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. While she didn't finish her course, the experience and fame she'd garnered along the way were instrumental in helping her launch her first fashion line.

That first brand was a flop, but more lessons were learned and never one to be deterred, she tried again. Her self-titled brand, LC Lauren Conrad, first launched in 2009 and is still thriving today.

Now a mum of two, Lauren has had to learn to balance work with her home life. "Once I became a mother, I learned the importance of delegating because you just can't do everything," she confessed. "So if you surround yourself with people that you trust and get it, you're able to responsibly continue to grow."

Lo Bosworth

Lauren Bosworth, known as Lo on the show, was Lauren Conrad's BFF at high school. While she did join Lauren on the spin-off show The Hills, it was revealed at the start of season one that the two were no longer on speaking terms. They eventually made up, but Lo had realised showbiz was not for her.

"After The Hills wrapped, I was pretty disillusioned with being 'talent'," Lo told Elle last year. "But I was still deeply entrenched in the entertainment industry, so I ended up working for a sports talent agency for about a year.

"It was particularly hard for me," the former reality star added. "Because my experience in Hollywood was that your next paycheck is never guaranteed, and you’re constantly waiting for the phone to ring hoping that somebody wants to hire you."

So Lo took a more traditional route after school, attending THE University of California, Santa Barbara, before transferring to UCLA where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in art history.

Then, she went on to do a culinary degree at the International Culinary Center in New York, before finally finding her calling in 2016, founding her wellness business Love Wellness.

"Eighteen months before I started Love Wellness, I was very unwell — and it happened overnight," she revealed to Elle. "I realized then that there was not an innovative, education-first brand, when it came to women's personal care. "And I felt like, with my experience and my platform and audience, I could share what I had learned."

And she has great advice for other women wanting to be their own bosses and start a business too: "My best advice to anyone starting a company is to be your own biggest believer," she told Distractify. "Along your journey, you’re going to have people tell you no, laugh at your idea, and try to discourage you. If you believe in your vision, ultimately you will succeed."

Stephen Colletti

It was Stephen's supposed relationship love triangle with Lauren and Kristin Cavallari that fuelled all the drama at the start of Laguna Beach, but years later, it became clear the cameras had helped too.

"My take on it is, you and I never really had any beef," Kristin said candidly to Lauren in a podcast. "Really. I mean, obviously there was, like, a little truth to what happened with the three of us. But I felt like MTV coming kept it alive and made it way worse than it ever would have been."

Stephen only appeared in the first two seasons of the show, but after spending a year at college, decided he'd like to go into acting. He landed the role of Chase Adams in One Tree Hill and then, after a remarkable five-year run, played Teddy Reynolds in the sports drama Hit The Floor.

Then, in 2022, Stephen launched a podcast with former Laguna Beach co-star Kristin Cavallari called Back to the Beach with Kristin and Stephen, which finally ended in June this year.

Stephen's latest project, an original comedy called Everyone Is Doing Great with his One Tree Hill co-star James Lafferty, has just aired its second series, and may even be renewed for another. Fingers crossed.

Kristin Cavallari

Kristin may have been a junior and just 17 at Laguna Beach High School, but she sure helped to bring the drama when the reality show first launched. However, she's since realised that the show's producers were out to paint her as the villain.

"I had a strong personality," Kristin told Insider. "I have a strong presence and I think that's way easier to manipulate and edit into this villain role than any other type of personality."

Since then, Kristin has tried her hand at acting, with guest spots in shows such as Veronica Mars, The Middle and CSI: NY; but it is her reality shows (The Hills and Very Cavallari), and her love life, that keep Kristin in the headlines.

The Laguna Beach alum went on to marry American footballer and quarterback, Jay Cutler, with whom she has three children. The couple then split in 2020, after seven years of marriage, but Cavallari doesn't sound like she's looking back.

"The scariest thing that I’ve ever done is get a divorce," she revealed to Cosmopolitan magazine. "But it’s been the best thing that I’ve ever done. That has really jump-started my journey on self-love and figuring out who I am now,"

Now, Cavallari is focussing on her multiple businesses: jewellery and homewares brand, Uncommon James, children's clothing line, Little James, and, last but not least, her activewear company, Feat Clothing.

She even launched her third cookbook Truly Simple in April this year. "To go from a little room in my house with plastic bins to hold all of the jewellery to where it’s at now is incredible," she told Nashville Lifestyles about her businesses. "Truly not a day goes by that I don’t realize that and that I’m not grateful for that."

Talan Torriero

Talan was the other junior at Laguna Beach High School when the show launched and while he has stepped back from the limelight now, the 36-year-old dad recognises his role for what it was.

"[I was a] Z-minus celebrity," he admitted to E! Online recently. But he says now: "It's a fun part of my life that not a lot of people get to experience."

In fact, as it turns out, Talan was very nearly not on the show at all. "'We need you to be on the show,'" Talan recalls the producers telling him. "I was like: 'No, I don't want to be on the show.'"

But it was his wife Danielle, a Nebraska native, who grounded him and helped him walk away from Hollywood. "I easily could have gone in another direction in my life. I could have taken a different path that was maybe more negative.

"Who knows where it would have taken me," the former reality star reflected. "But probably not in the right direction."

He and Danielle now live in Omaha with their three children: Bronson, 5; Hudson, 3; and the newest member of the family, baby Tito. Talan works a "normal" job and he's fine with that.

"I love what I do," the former reality star says. "I'm a normal dude."

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