Milo Ventimiglia – Jess Mariano
The natural follow-up to Padalecki is of course Mile Ventimiglia, AKA Jess Mariano – the man who swooped in and stole Rory’s heart right in front of Dean. Ventimiglia didn’t make as many appearances on Gilmore Girls, only showing up in 37 episodes with his final appearance coming in season 6. Much like Padalecki, Ventimiglia will be back in the mini-series, and if we get the ending we deserve he’ll be marrying Rory.
Ventimiglia’s Jess was supposed to get his own spin-off but that never quite panned out (a travesty!) and as a result horror fans were able to get acquainted with Rory’s second (and if we’re being honest her true) love. Technically Ventimiglia had already introduced himself to the world of horror before his time on Gilmore Girls came to an end having played a supporting role in Wes Craven’s Cursed. It was after he left Stars Hollow, however, that things really took off. First there was Pathology, a medical thriller that gets pretty dark. That was followed up with Xavier Gens’ The Divide, a fun movie that pits him against the likes of Michael Biehn.
But the one post-Gilmore Girls horror entry starring Ventimiglia that every horror fan should see is Kiss of the Damned. Directed by Xan Cassavetes, Kiss of the Damned is a slick, stylish vampire story that channels the likes of Jess Franco and Jean Rollin. In this writer’s opinion, it’s one of the best vampire films of the last decade.
Ventimiglia has played in quite a few other genre projects as well. Things like Breaking at the Edge, Madtown and Static. Currently he has a sci-fi/thriller entitled Devil’s Gate in post. Keep up the good work, Milo!
