The Cast Of Desperate Housewives What They Looked Like Their First Season vs. Now

It's been over a decade since the first episode of Desperate Housewives aired back in 2004. A lot has happened in our own lives since the completion of the show's eight-season run, but that doesn't mean we've forgotten all the juicy secrets of Wisteria Lane.

Between the show's beginning and its end, the four main characters went through a lot of transformations. We saw Susan Mayer finally learn to be independent and happy within herself, Bree van de Kamp loosen up and emerge from her homemaker's shell, Gabrielle Solis learn to put her family before herself, and Lynette Scavo fight through the many challenges life threw at her. In addition to the main four, the various other characters on the show did lots of growing before their time was up too!

Too often do we catch ourselves wondering where the actors who played these roles are now, and so we finally decided to do some detective work and find out. Some of the talented stars of the show have changed so much since their DH days that we hardly recognize them now, while others are have hardly changed at all.

Read on to find out what the world's best neighbors are up to nearly fifteen years on from the show's beginning!

15 Gabrielle Never Wanted Kids, But Eva Longoria Is About To Have Her First

If you asked many viewers who their favorite housewife was when the show aired, they would have answered, “Gabrielle Solis.” The youngest of the women on Wisteria Lane, Gabby was known for her selfish, conniving and materialistic nature. That may not sound like a very endearing character, but there was still something about Gabby that we all loved. Though she schemed day and night, she made sacrifices, fought for those she loved and defeated her own demons.

After the show, Eva Longoria-now a household name-appeared in many films and TV shows, including Crazy Kind of Love, Frontera, Visions, Telenovela and Empire. After wedding the love of her life, José Antonio Bastón, in Mexico in 2016, Eva is now expecting a baby boy due later in 2018. We can't wait to see him!

14 Teri Hatcher Still Looks Flawless All These Years Later

You could say that Susan Mayer was the central housewife of the series. Sweet and clumsy (to the point of accidentally setting fire to people's houses), Susan juggled being a mom to Julie with pursuing love interest Mike Delfino, which took her on all sorts of adventures. Susan began the series alone in search of love and ended it alone with a new grandchild to look after.

Susan was played by Teri Hatcher, who at that point was most famous for portraying Lois Lane in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. She's appeared in many projects since finishing up with Desperate Housewives, and even became a best-selling author for her book Burnt Toast: And Other Philosophies of Life which was published in 2006.

13 Marcia Cross Is Still A Stunner

It took many viewers a while to warm up to Bree Van de Kamp, the seemingly perfect housewife who, as her first husband put it, was living “in a detergent commercial”. While she began with many flaws, Bree found her true self through loss and struggle and ended up getting her priorities straight and finding true love again. Marcia Cross won two Screen Actor Guild Awards and three Golden Globe nominations for her phenomenal portrayal of the neurotic character.

Marcia appeared in a few more TV shows after her final episode of Desperate Housewives. In 2015, she had a role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and between 2015 and 2017, she was also part of the drama series Quantico. In 2014, she also appeared in the movie Fatrick.

12 Lynette Was Always A Boss, And Felicity Huffman Is Killing It In 2018

When we first met Lynette Scavo, she was a mother of four struggling to keep up with her duties whose husband was always away on business. We learned that she gave up a successful career to be a housewife and soon saw her returning to the corporate world to satisfy her old urges. Throughout the series, Lynette faced many challenges to do with work, her marriage, her children and her health but came out on top as an admirably strong character.

During her time as Lynette, Felicity Huffman won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in addition to two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Afterwards, she wrote, directed and acted in a short film entitled Lesster, and appeared in many other acting projects, including American Crime between 2015 and 2017.

11 Nicollette Sheridan Didn't Have A Happy Ending As Edie, But Her Life Is Happy In 2018

At times, Edie Britt was the resident villain on the lane. She didn't blackmail anyone, hide anyone in her basement or end any lives like other residents did, but she did often come between the four other housewives and the men in their lives. Despite that, Edie was a misunderstood and insecure character who covered her pain with a bold attitude. Nicollette Sheridan won the Glamour Women of the Year Award for Best U.S. TV Actress in 2006 for her role on the show.

After Edie was killed off the show in 2009, Nicollette Sheridan had a role in the TV movie The Christmas Spirit in 2013. She also appeared in Let's Kill Ward's Wife in 2014 and All Yours in 2016. She currently stars in the TV show Dynasty as a regular cast-member.

10 Andrea Bowen Looks Nothing Like The Young Julie Mayer We Met All Those Years Ago

One actress who changed quite dramatically between the start and end of the series was Julie Mayer. A naïve teenager in the first season, Julie often had to deal with her mother's crazy escapades before moving out a few years later. She gave Susan her first grandchild in the series finale and was often the perfect daughter coming to her mother's rescue.

The change of hair color makes Andrea Bowen look totally different to Julie nowadays! The actress has seen much success in her acting career since the show ended and even did voiceover work for the video game Final Fantasy Explorers. In 2016 she appeared in the TV movies Pretty Little Addict and Who Killed My Husband and was even seen in an episode of Scandal, the hit TV series, in 2013.

9 Cody Kasch Doesn't Resemble The Creepy Zach Young One Bit

Cody Kasch did a fantastic job of playing the troubled teenager Zach Young throughout the series. Zach was the adopted son of Paul and Mary Alice Young, who spent most of the first season trying to come to terms with the loss of his mother. His constant pursuing of Julie led Susan to try her best to pry them apart, until she decided to secretly give him money to run away to Utah, briefly destroying her relationship with Mike Delfino.

A testament to Cody's acting skills, Zach managed to be creepy while at the same time drawing out sympathy from the audience. Cody acted in Asylum in 2008, Chain Letter in 2009 and was last seen in the movie Powder and Gold in 2015. He's obviously done a lot of growing up over the years since today he looks like a totally different person to Zach Young!

8 Ricardo Chavira Has Actually Become Even More Handsome With Age

Many viewers had a love-hate relationship with Carlos Solis. In the first season, he was obsessed with money, chauvinistic and even violent, sometimes towards Gabby. But the series threw a lot of challenges his way, including his wife's affair with the teenage gardener, a stint in prison and even blindness. At the end, Carlos emerged as a much more affectionate, loving and vulnerable character.

Ricardo Chavira has seen quite a bit of success with his acting career since the show ended, and guest-starred on series like Burn Notice in 2013, Castle in 2015 and Scandal and Jane the Virgin between 2016 and 2017. In 2017, the actor also appeared in the Netflix film Santa Clarita Diet. It's been more than five years since the series ended, but Ricardo doesn't look like he's aged that much at all!

7 Mike Delfino Didn't Make It, But James Denton Is Thriving

Mike Delfino served as the primary love interest of Susan Mayer for the majority of the series. When they first met, he was on the lane posing as an innocent plumber while really looking for his missing girlfriend. Mike and Susan had their share of problems, breaking up and reuniting again until the last season when they finally got back together and intended to stay that way. For hard-core fans of the show, it's still difficult to talk about, but Mike lost his life in the last season and had the most tear-jerking funeral of all time.

James Denton kept acting after the show finished, appearing in Grace Unplugged, a musical drama, in 2013. He then guest-starred on other TV series, including For Love & Honor and Devious Maids in 2016, and Good Witch between 2015 and 2017.

6 You Might Have Thought That Jesse Metcalfe Couldn't Get Any More Irresistible, But That's Incorrect

It was hard not to notice Jesse Metcalfe's character, John Rowland. We first met him in the first season, when he starred as Gabrielle's buff and often topless gardener, with whom she was having an affair. John had the best intentions for Gabrielle and was ready to give up the rest of his life to make her happy, but she knew that she ultimately belonged with Carlos. And besides, John's mom Helen really didn't like Gabby too much!

Out of the male stars of the show, you could argue that Jesse was the one actor who was launched to global stardom. After appearing as John, he starred in John Tucker Must Die in 2006, opposite stars like Brittany Snow and Ashanti. In August of 2016, he became engaged to his long-time girlfriend Cara Santana.

5 Shawn Pyfrom Still Looks Like Andrew, Though He Has Changed A Lot

No kid on Wisteria lane was perfect, but Andrew Van de Kamp was probably one of the brattier ones. Filled with hate and resentment for his mom in the first part of the series, Andrew spent his time being a delinquent and finding ways to terrorize Bree, despite her covering up his accidental killing of Carlos's mother, Juanita Solis. Eventually, Andrew cleaned up his act and resolved his long-standing issues with Bree.

Shawn Pyfrom had a couple of TV appearances after the show ended, including in the series Rizzoli & Isles and the movie Killing Lincoln. In 2017, he appeared in The Moleskin Diary and is due to appear in the film Randy's Canvas. Though he's all grown up now, he doesn't look that different to Andrew!

4 Joy Jorgensen Is Hard To Track Down In 2018

Andrew's sister Danielle Van de Kamp shared her brother's resentment for their mother, though not nearly to the same extent. A typical teenage girl, Danielle often dealt with insecurity as she navigated through the world of romance, often trusting the wrong people. When she fell pregnant, the traditionalist Bree wore a fake baby bump to help her hide her secret from the world.

Danielle was played by Joy Jorgensen, who sometimes goes by Joy Lauren. After finishing up on Desperate Housewives, Joy had a notable role in The Assignment in 2010. In 2013, she appeared in the supernatural thriller, House of Dust, but has been pretty hard to keep up with ever since! In 2012, she graduated from Columbia where she earned a degree in American history.

3 Paul Young Was Always Troubled, But Mark Moses Is All Smiles

There were quite a few despised neighbors on the lane throughout the series' eight-year run, but none so much as Paul Young. The husband of the deceased narrator of the show, Paul was always full of secrets, and when it became common knowledge that he was behind the death of the local gossip Martha Huber, he forever lost the trust of his neighbors. In season seven, Paul was shot by his own adopted son Zach.

Between 2007 and 2015, Mark Moses guest-starred in several episodes of Mad Men. He had a role in the movie Fear, Inc. in 2016 and most recently, has appeared in the TV series Law & Order True Crime. He's also had roles on Grey's Anatomy, Homeland, Mr. Robot and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

2 Doug Savant Will Always Be The Loveable Tom Scavo To Us

Lynette Scavo's kind-hearted husband Tom was played by Dough Savant and appeared frequently throughout the series. Though he began as the breadwinner of the family, he was happy to take a backseat role and look after the house and the children while Lynette went back to work. Tom and Lynette often competed at work and when it came to who was more popular with their kids but were a favorite couple for many viewers due to their persistent love and acceptance of one another.

Doug has been seen in quite a few TV projects since the end of the show. In 2013 he appeared on Criminal Minds and Vegas, and on Hawaii Five-0 in 2015. In 2016 he had roles on The X-Files and Notorious and also appeared on SEAL Team in 2017.

1 Brenda Strong Has Changed A Lot Since Playing Mary Alice Young

Mary Alice Young was rarely seen on screen, but her voice appeared in every episode of the series, narrating the introduction and end to each with wise words. Before her life came to an end, Mary Alice was the perfect wife and mother, and nobody around her knew that she harbored a terrible secret concerning her son. Even after her death, the other housewives remembered Mary Alice fondly and often looked up to her.

Brenda Strong was a regular on Dallas from 2012 to 2014, and served as the narrator on the documentary TV series Blood Relatives between 2012 and 2015 (we're guessing because she was such an incredible narrator on Desperate Housewives!). She's appeared in many other TV shows and movies, including Supergirl, Fear the Walking Dead and Love By Chance.

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