Shannon Bruce Snaith (born June 10, 1978), better known as Shane West, is an American actor, singer and songwriter. He is known for his portrayal of Eli Sammler in the ABC family drama Once and Again, Landon Carter in A Walk to Remember, Dr. Ray Barnett in the NBC medical drama ER, Michael Bishop in The CW spy drama Nikita and in the WGN fantasy adventure historical drama Salem as John Alden. West received critical acclaim for his performance portraying Darby Crash in the biopic What We Do Is Secret.

As well as acting, West has performed with punk rock bands the Germs, Jonny Was, and the Twilight Creeps.

West was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of Leah Catherine (née Launey), a lawyer, and Don Snaith, a drugstore owner. Both his parents were musicians and had their own punk rock bands. His mother is of Cajun French descent. His father was born in Jamaica, of English and Portuguese-Jewish origin. He is the eldest of three children, with a sister Simone and a half-sister Marli Ann. His parents divorced in 1982 when he was four years old. Influenced by his parents, he grew up listening to the Clash, the Jam, Blondie, Elvis Costello, and the Kinks. He said, "I always thought I would be doing music rather than acting."

At age ten, West, his mother and his sister Simone relocated to Compton, California, as his mother was pursuing job opportunities. They later moved to Norwalk, California. Embarrassed by his feminine first name, West went by his middle name Bruce but changed his name to Shane West in high school when he took up acting.

West struggled to land acting work for two years and resided at his manager's house before making his acting debut in 1995, playing Dave Lattimore in the CBS drama Picket Fences (season 4, episode 6, "Heart of Saturday Night")

In 1998, West guest-starred in several television series, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and played Mark Tapper in the stage production of The Cider House Rules. He landed his first major role in 1999 in the ABC family drama Once and Again, playing Eli Sammler for three seasons. West's feature film debut was in Liberty Heights, a film about a Jewish family in Baltimore, directed by Barry Levinson. He also co-starred in teen comedies Whatever It Takes (2000) and Get Over It (2001).

West was cast as Landon Carter opposite singer and actress Mandy Moore in 2002's adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' novel A Walk to Remember. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times found him "quietly convincing". His performance in the film earned him a Teen Choice Award for Choice Chemistry with Moore. He also appeared in the Mandy Moore music video "Cry". That year, West won the Young Hollywood Award Male Superstar of Tomorrow.

In 2003, West starred as an adult version of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen alongside Sean Connery. A year later, he joined the cast of the NBC medical drama, ER in the eleventh-season premiere, playing resident Ray Barnett. In May 2007, West left ER at the end of the thirteenth season after winning a role in Supreme Courtships, but the series was not picked up by the Fox Network. In October 2008, West returned to ER for three episodes during its fifteenth and final season.