THEN AND NOW: The cast of 'Aquamarine' 15 years later
"Aquamarine" premiered 15 years ago, and many of its young stars went on to successful careers.
Emma Roberts is now a prominent actress who's starred on hit TV series like "Scream Queens."
Joanna "JoJo" Levesque is mostly focused on her music career today.
The teen rom-com "Aquamarine" about friendship and mermaids premiered in 2006.
The film, which is loosely based on the book of the same name, centers on best friends Claire (Emma Roberts) and Hailey (Joanna "JoJo" Levesque), who are dreading the end of summer because Hailey is set to move to Australia. But after a major storm, they encounter a mermaid named Aquamarine (Sara Paxton) who might be able to fix everything.
Read on for a look at what the cast has been up to 15 years after the premiere of "Aquamarine."
Emma Roberts played Claire, a shy teen with a fear of water.
Before stepping into the role of Claire, Emma Roberts was best known for starring as Addie Singer on Nickelodeon's middle-school sitcom "Unfabulous."
Roberts is still a successful actress, and she has several upcoming projects in the works.
After "Aquamarine," Roberts continued to star in films geared toward younger audiences, including "Nancy Drew" (2007), "Wild Child" (2008), and "Hotel for Dogs" (2009).
She later upgraded to more mature roles in "Twelve" (2010), "Valentine's Day" (2010), "Scream 4" (2011), and "We're the Millers" (2013).
She returned to television in 2013 to star on FX's horror anthology "American Horror Story" where she played various characters for six years. In between filming "AHS," she also starred on Fox's satirical slasher "Scream Queens."
Most recently, she starred in Netflix's original holiday film "Holidate" (2020).
Joanna "JoJo" Levesque played Hailey, Claire's outgoing best friend.
Before signing on for "Aquamarine," JoJo was already a popular singer with a couple of hit songs under her belt — including her single "Leave (Get Out)."
Her debut, self-titled album dominated radio waves in 2004, and she also found time to appear in guest roles on a few TV shows before the 2006 rom-com.
JoJo is still working on her music career today.
The same year "Aquamarine" was released, JoJo starred alongside Josh Hutcherson and the late Robin Williams in "RV" (2006). She appeared in a few other acting projects but has mostly focused on her music career.
She released her second album, "The High Road," in 2006.
In a previous interview with Insider's Callie Ahlgrim, JoJo said that she wrote hundreds of songs the year after "The High Road" debuted. She said the songs were not released because her production company, Blackground Records, "was no longer a functioning record label" but it would not release her from her contract.
She sued the label when she was 18 years old in 2009. Eventually, after a multi-year legal battle, during which she was unable to release new music commercially, JoJo was released from her contract.
In 2014, Jojo signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records and started making music again.
The singer released her third studio album, "Mad Love," in 2016, rerecorded her first two albums in 2018, and debuted "Good to Know" (stylized in all lowercase) in 2020.
In January, the singer released the single "American Mood," which has a folkier sound than most of her other music.
Sara Paxton played the titular mermaid, Aquamarine.
Sara Paxton already had a steady career going before joining the "Aquamarine" cast.
She made her film debut in "Liar Liar" (1997) before earning a string of TV credits on series like Nickelodeon's "SpongeBob SquarePants," Disney Channel's "Lizzie McGuire," and NBC's "Will and Grace." In 2004, she landed the lead role on Discovery Kids' "Darcy's Wild Life."
Paxton also appeared in the hit teen rom-com "Sleepover" (2004).
Paxton continues to appear on TV and in movies.
Since "Aquamarine," Paxton has continued to work on TV and in movies.
The same year the film was released, she replaced Kimberly J. Brown as the lead in the final installment of the "Halloweentown" film series, "Return to Halloweentown" (2006). Soon after, she appeared in "Sydney White" (2007), "The Last House on the Left" (2009), and "The Innkeepers" (2011).
Throughout the years, she has continued to guest-star on hit series such as ABC's "How to Get Away With Murder," TNT's "Murder in the First," and CBS' "Code Black." She also continued to voice act on "SpongeBob SquarePants" until 2017.
More recently, Paxton starred alongside Hugh Jackman in "The Front Runner" (2018), and her latest TV credit was on NBC's "Good Girls."
Jake McDorman played Raymond, Aquamarine's love interest.
Jake McDorman had a few acting credits under his belt before appearing in "Aquamarine."
Most notably, he was part of the ensemble cast of Fox's "Quintuplets" from 2004 to 2005.
McDorman is still making a name for himself in the industry today.
After "Aquamarine," McDorman joined the cast of ABC Family's "Greek" in 2007.
After the show wrapped in 2011, he landed a lead role on NBC's short-lived comedy, "Are You There, Chelsea?" He also went on to play Mike Pratt on Showtime's "Shameless" and Brian Finch on CBS' "Limitless."
The actor has also appeared on HBO's "Watchmen" and FX's "What We Do in the Shadows."
Outside of TV, McDorman has appeared in "Bring It On: All or Nothing" (2006), "Live Free or Die Hard" (2007), "American Sniper" (2014), and "Lady Bird" (2017).
Most recently, McDorman appeared in Hulu's original holiday film "Happiest Season," starring Kristen Stewart and Daniel Levy, and on Disney Plus' original historical drama "The Right Stuff."
Arielle Kebbel played Cecilia, the popular foe of the three main characters.
Before appearing in "Aquamarine," Arielle Kebbel was on series like CBS's "CSI," HBO's "Entourage," The WB's "Gilmore Girls," and Fox/The WB's "Grounded for Life."
She was also in the popular films "Soul Plane" (2004) and "Be Cool" (2005).
Kebbel continues to work on TV and in movies today.
Kebbel starred in the popular rom-com "John Tucker Must Die" (2006) and the horror movie "The Grudge 2" (2006) after "Aquamarine" premiered.
She also went on to star in "Outlaw Trail: The Treasure of Butch Cassidy" (2006), "Daydreamer" (2007), "Freakdog" (2008), "The Uninvited" (2009), and "Think Like a Man" (2012).
In terms of TV, she appeared on CBS's "90210," FX's "The League," The CW's "The Vampire Diaries," NBC's "Midnight Texas," and HBO's "Ballers."
Kebbel's latest role was starring on NBC's "Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector" before it was canceled in 2020.
Tammin Sursok played Marjorie, one of Cecilia's cronies.
Tammin Sursok starred on the Australian soap opera "Home and Away" and CBS' "The Young and the Restless" before acting in "Aquamarine."
She'd also tried her hand at a music career, releasing a few singles in the early 2000s.
Sursok has continued to find success on TV and in movies.
Sursok starred in a couple of movies and appeared on series like the Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana" before landing a major role on ABC Family/Freeform's "Pretty Little Liars" in 2010.
In between filming the teen drama, she starred in TV movies like "Adventures in Love and Babysitting" (2015), "You May Now Kill the Bride" (2016), and "Girlfriends of Christmas Past" (2016).
Her latest acting role was starring alongside Tom Felton in the 2019 drama she wrote with her husband, "Braking for Whales."
Claudia Karvan played Hailey's mother.
Claudia Karvan was already an established Australian actress before her role in "Aquamarine."
Her first film was "Going Down" (1982), and she continued to stack her acting credits in "The Heartbreak Kid" (1993), "Redheads" (1994), "Dating the Enemy" (1996), and "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" (2005).
Her longest-running TV roles before "Aquamarine" were on Australian's Network 10 drama "The Secret Life of Us" and Fox 8/Showtime's "Love My Way."
Karvan still acts on TV and in movies today.
Karvan continued to land roles in various movies after "Aquamarine" premiered, including the thriller "Long Weekend" (2008) and the crime drama "33 Postcards" (2011).
She also continued her work on Australian television, starring on Foxtel/SoHo's "Spirited," ABC's "The Time of Our Lives," ABC's "Newton's Law," and Stan's "The Other Guy."
Her latest roles were on the Nine Network crime drama "Halifax: Retribution" and the Stan original drama "Bump."
Bruce Spence played Leonard, the somewhat creepy maintenance man.
Bruce Spence had been working as an actor for three decades before appearing in "Aquamarine."
He made his debut in the Australian film "Dead Easy" (1970), before joining the cast of ABC's Australian soap opera "Certain Women" in 1973.
His career continued on the big screen in "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior" (1982), "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" (1985), "The Matrix Revolutions" (2003), "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003), and "Peter Pan" (2003).
He also voiced a character in Pixar's "Finding Nemo" (2003).
In 2005, he joined his soon-to-be "Aquamarine" costar Karvan in "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith."
Spence continues to work in big movie franchises.
After "Aquamarine," Spence joined the cast of ABC's "Legend of the Seeker" and appeared in "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" (2010).
In 2017, he joined another major franchise in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" (2017).
Spence recently appeared in the Dylan O'Brien-led adventure comedy "Love and Monsters" (2020) and the reboot of Stephen King's short story "Children of the Corn" (2020).
He's currently working on the Amazon Prime original series "Back to the Rafters" among other projects.
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