Whatever happened to the actors from Bon Jovi’s crazy “Always” music video?
It’s somewhat crazy to think that in 1994, Bon Jovi managed to cast four relatively unknown actors who would go on to achieve some notoriety in their respective acting careers.
It’s even crazier to think that they brought to life the bat-shit crazy narrative that accompanied Bon Jovi’s “Always” video.
About the “Always” Music Video
First, let’s recap this power ballad video from MTV’s heyday.
It starts with a young couple played by actor Jack Noseworthy and actress Carla Gugino. They’re seemingly so in love with each other that the outside world doesn’t matter, especially not a car swerving to miss them while they’re enjoying their happy antics.
He films a risqué bedroom scene, she grinds on a chair and they twist their hair into light dreadlocks during a drunken night out. It concludes with them wearing ridiculous hats (Dr. Seuss, really?). Her roommate, played by a then unknown Keri Russell, unsuspectingly watches their sexual antics.
The male lead has a wandering eye and her roomie apparently wants in on the action. All it takes is a trip to the grocery store before he’s ready to cheat on his lady love, who catches them in the act as he prepares to film another romp.
The lead woman runs out, rebounds with an artist friend played by Jason Wiles, who has a ridiculous loft. When he agrees to paint her, the seduction is on. But upon seeing her new portrait, she can only think of her old boyfriend, whom she calls to reconnect with.
After he spots the portrait, he proceeds to slash it to pieces in a fit of jealousy, causing the woman’s reunion happiness to fade with only broken hearts remaining. Since it’s all blown to hell, the lead man decides to blow the artist’s loft to hell, as well emerging from the building just as the firefighters arrive on the scene and the artist returns.
It’s pretty intense stuff for what’s supposed to be a romantic power ballad. But being as this was the start of some successful acting careers, it’s an interesting video to revisit.
So what happened to the four stars after the Bon Jovi “Always” video? Read on below.
Bon Jovi, “Always”
Whatever Happened to Jack Noseworthy?
Noseworthy starred in MTV’s first-ever scripted series in 1994, Dead at 21.
The 13-episode series ran one season and centered on a 20-year-old genius who learned that in his youth, he was experimented on with a microchip implanted in his brain. It not only enhanced his intelligence, but would also kill him by his 21st birthday.
The series lasted one year, but Noseworthy’s star-turn made him one of the more famous faces in the Bon Jovi “Always” video.
Noseworthy had a pretty solid run in the ’90s, making appearances in The Brady Bunch Movie, the Pamela Anderson-starring Barb Wire, The Trigger Effect, Event Horizon and Idle Hands.
The early 2000s brought about appearances in U-571 (which also starred Jon Bon Jovi), Cecil B. Demented and Undercover Brother, but the high profile roles started to fade by the mid-2000s. His most recent credit came in a Law & Order episode that aired in 2022.
Dead at 21 Trailer
Whatever Happened to Carla Gugino?
Noseworthy’s initially wronged love interest in Bon Jovi’s “Always” video was none other than actress Carla Gugino.
Of the four central characters in the video, Gugino has amassed the most film and TV credits. In fact, she had turned heads as Pauly Shore’s romantic interest in the comedy Son-In-Law a year prior to the Bon Jovi video.
Her first big break came with an 11-episode arc on TV’s Falcon Crest in 1989 and 1990. Her small role in the Leonardo DiCaprio / Robert De Niro film This Boy’s Life also came in 1993 just ahead of the Bon Jovi video.
Her acting career started to pick up by the late ’90s with the film Snake Eyes and a role as Michael J. Fox’s love interest on the TV series Spin City. By the 2000s, she was working heavily with roles on TV’s Chicago Hope and Karen Cisco as well as film work in the Spy Kids franchise, Sin City, Night at the Museum, American Gangster and Watchmen.
Recent years have seen Gugino star in Elektra Luxx, San Andreas and the TV series’ Californication, Wayward Pines, Roadies and most recently The Fall of the House of Usher.
Spy Kids Trailer
Whatever Happened to Keri Russell?
Who broke up Jack Noseworthy and Carla Gugino in the Bon Jovi “Always” video? That would be the roommate / temptress, Keri Russell, the actress who would in a few years become known as the title character in The WB’s Felicity.
At the time of the Bon Jovi “Always” video, Russell was a relative unknown.
Her first credit came two years prior in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids sequel, Honey I Blew Up the Kid. She was also part of the short-lived Disney Channel series Emerald Cove.
It would be a few years before Russell found her footing, with her most prominent role coming in the NBC teen soap Malibu Shores before Felicity catapulted her to stardom with its four-season run between 1998-2002.
The remainder of the 2000s saw her appear in such films as We Were Soldiers, The Upside of Anger, Mission: Impossible III and Waitress.
Russell returned to TV in 2013 for the well-received spy series The Americans that paired her with her now husband Matthew Rhys.
Other more recent Keri Russell credits include Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, Cocaine Bear and the 2023 TV series The Diplomat.
Felicity Season 1 Trailer
READ MORE: Richie Sambora Says It’s Time for a Bon Jovi Reunion
Whatever Happened to Jason Wiles?
Everyone needs a fallback after a bad split, and Carla Gugino turns to an artist friend played by actor Jason Wiles in the Bon Jovi “Always” video.
At the time of the video shoot, Wiles had four credits to his name, none that would be instantly recognizable. But his face would get increasingly familiar on the big and small screen shortly after his music video appearance for Bon Jovi.
A year after the “Always” video, Wiles was part of an ensemble cast in John Singleton’s college-set film Higher Learning.
His big break proved to be on TV where he appeared in 32 episodes on Beverly Hills 90210, oddly enough portraying an artist much like in the Bon Jovi video.
After 90210, Wiles enjoyed a lengthy stint over six seasons the NBC first responders series Third Watch.
Much of his acting work has come through TV, with extended runs on the TV series Persons Unknown and Scream: The TV Series.
He’s still acting with four credits listed in 2023.
Third Watch Promo
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Gallery Credit: Chad Childers, Loudwire
