What Ever Happened to NYC Prep's Sebastian Oppenheim?
These days the well-coiffed heartthrob is developing a TV pilot and getting his real estate license.
Looking back at our shows, we often wonder about the people who've left. Where did they go when their moment in the Bravo spotlight was over? What are they up to now? Each week, we'll be looking into the lives of one of these familiar faces. Today, it's Sebastian Oppenheim from NYC Prep.
The hair flip. The fluent French. The silly love triangle. These are just a few of the reasons fans of Bravo's NYC Prep — like so many Manhattan teenagers before them — fell for the the Gossip Girl-inspired series' resident heartthrob, high-school sophomore Sebastian Oppenheim, during the show's eight-episode run in the summer of 2009.
Six years later, Sebastian is all grown up — and a college graduate. After prep school, he enrolled at the College of Charleston in South Carolina where he majored in International Relations with a concentration in Africa. He graduated in the spring of 2015. "I've always had a high level of interest in history and world politics and affairs and, of course, being bi-cultural, [it] led me to pursue this degree," Sebastian tells The Daily Dish.
While in college, he worked as an on-camera reporter for his campus' broadcast news team doing everything from man-on-the-street interviews and coverage of local concerts to pieces on water issues and local elections. "My main interest was broadcast journalism," explains Sebastian, who briefly returned to Bravo in the summer of 2013 to work behind the scenes as a production assistant on Watch What Happens Live. "I felt that International Relations would be complimentary to my post-grad plans."
Right now, those plans include real estate and TV work. "I'm currently working on getting my real estate license all while working on a few new passion projects," he shares.
"For example, I recently produced [and] developed a pilot for a talk show concept revolving around the [idea] that food dissolves cultural walls and societal differences," he adds, explaining that the show involves "using a dinner party to provoke meaningful discussions within the Millennial generation." Sebastian says his time on TV taught him a lot about the business and things he's discovered will help him as he moves forward with his career. The best part of the NYC Prep experience, he says, "was being brought into the Bravo family and being given the opportunity to come to understand the way the network develops brands and markets a show. This was such a vital thing to learn at such a young age because it can be applied in every aspect of my life."
Sebastian hasn't stayed in touch with his old NYC Prep co-stars, but there's no drama. "At this point, we've all grown up and gone our separate ways as is often the case in big-city life, but I wish them the best of luck," he says. He has, however, gotten to know a new Bravolebrity: R. Cooper Ray, the stylist and Social Primer brand designer who appears on Southern Charm. The two met at a Charleston Fashion Week event a few years ago where they "hit it off," Sebastian explains, "and quickly became friends." They've also worked together: Sebastian, who's a fan of what he describes as Cooper's "classic preppy look with a dash of Southern flair," has been styled by the designer for a few events as well as a Paper magazine photo shoot.
These days, Sebastian's love life is far less dramatic than it was during his NYC Prep days. "I'm currently in a steady relationship with a girl I met in college, and have been for some time now," he tells The Daily Dish. (Sorry, ladies!) Was she ever a fan of the show? "She actually claims to have never watched one episode to this day," he adds. "Hmmm…"
