Mena Suvari, an American actress, producer, fashion designer, and model, was born on February 13, 1979. She began her career as a model, appeared as a guest star on various television programs, and then made her feature film debut in the drama Nowhere in 1997.
Mena Suvari gained international notoriety for her roles in three American Pie movies (1999-2001, 2012), as well as the highly acclaimed comedy-drama American Beauty (1999), for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Kiss the Girls (1997), Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999), Loser (2000), Sugar & Spice, The Musketeer (both 2001), Trauma (2004), Beauty Shop, Domino, Rumor Has It (all 2005), Factory Girl (2006), Brooklyn Rules, Stuck (both 2007), Day of the Dead (2008), and You May Not Kiss the Bride are some of her other well-known film credits.
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Early Life
On February 13, 1979, Mena Suvari in Newport, Rhode Island, to a psychiatrist named Ando and a nurse named Candice. She has Greek ancestry on her mother’s side and Estonian ancestry on her father’s. Three older brothers exist for Suvari. She started her modeling career as a young girl with Millie Lewis Models and Talent. She then made an appearance in a Rice-A-Roni commercial. Suvari attended the exclusive girls’ school Ashley Hall after moving with her family to Charleston, South Carolina. After spending five years modeling for the Wilhelmina agency in New York, she moved to Southern California and enrolled at Providence High School in Burbank.
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Career
Suvari made her acting debut in a “Boy Meets World” episode when she was 15 years old in 1995. She had appearances on “ER” and “Minor Adjustments” the following year. Suvari appeared in five episodes of the ABC police drama “High Incident” from 1996 to 1997.
Suvari appeared in Gregg Araki’s independent coming-of-age drama “Nowhere” in 1997, playing the part of Zoe. She appeared in “Snide and Prejudice” as a supporting character the same year and appeared briefly in the psychological suspense film “Kiss the Girls.” Following that, Suvari appeared in the independent comedy “Slums of Beverly Hills,” in which she portrayed the teenage neighbor of a Jewish girl growing up in the late 1970s. Suvari then appeared in “The Rage: Carrie 2,” a supernatural horror sequel.
Suvari made her big-screen debut in 1999 when she played pivotal roles in two wildly popular movies. She portrayed Heather, a virginal choir girl, in the teen sex comedy “American Pie,” which was the first. In the second, she portrayed a teenage girl who becomes the target of an older man’s adoration in the satirical dramedy “American Beauty.” Suvari’s performance garnered her a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress. A total of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, were given to “American Beauty.”
In the teen rom-com “Loser” in 2000, Suvari reconnected with her “American Pie” co-star Jason Biggs. She appeared in the satirical comedy “American Virgin” that same year. Suvari kept up her acting career in 2001, appearing in three movies: “The Musketeer,” a comedy sequel, “American Pie 2,” and “Sugar & Spice,” a criminal comedy. Suvari had two additional appearances in crime movies in 2002, “Sonny” and “Spun.” The actress had one of her biggest years in 2005, when she appeared in the movies “Standing Still,” “Edmond,” “Rumor Has It,” “Domino,” and “Beauty Shop” following a part in the psychological thriller “Trauma.” She appeared in “Factory Girl,” “Caffeine,” and “The Dog Problem” the following year. Brooklyn Rules, Stuck, and The Garden of Eden are some of Suvari’s other 2010 credits.
Suvari has a part in the romantic comedy “You May Not Kiss the Bride” to kick off the decade of 2010. The 2012 follow-up, “American Reunion,” saw her repeat her “American Pie” role. Suvari’s subsequent credits all had their world premieres either at festivals or via digital platforms, making this movie the sole wide release feature she had in the previous ten years. The musical drama “Becks,” the criminal drama “The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson,” the thriller “Don’t Tell a Soul,” and the horror movie “What Lies Below” are among the movies with which she has worked. Suvari provided the voice of B-Bot in the science fiction comedy “Ron’s Gone Wrong” in 2021.
Television Career
Suvari’s most celebrated television performance to date was on the HBO drama series “Six Feet Under,” which came after a cameo on “Chicago Hope” and a part in the television movie “Atomic Train.” She played the recurring part of Edie, a lesbian performance poet, and artist, in the fourth season of the show in 2004. The television movies “Orpheus” and “Sex and Lies in Sin City” featured Suvari after that. She appeared as Allison Cowley in a 2010 guest appearance on the detective comedy “Psych.”
In the 2010s, Suvari started playing more significant roles. She appeared in a two-episode storyline as the Black Dahlia in the “Murder House” season of the horror anthology series “American Horror Story” at the beginning of the decade. She portrayed Isabelle Thomas for seven episodes in the second season of “Chicago Fire” in 2013. A few years later, Suvari was cast as Maria Abascal, the lead demon hunter in the short-lived supernatural horror series “South of Hell.” Then came cameos in “Inside Amy Schumer” and “Justice League Action” episodes.
Suvari returned to the television movie “Psych: The Movie” in 2017 as Allison Cowley. She returned to her “American Horror Story” role the following year for the eighth season of the program, “Apocalypse.” On the short-lived television series “American Woman,” she also originated the part of Kathleen Callahan.
Modeling Career
Suvari appeared in print advertisements for Lancôme Paris Adaptîve and for Lancôme cosmetics. She has additionally appeared in print advertisements for the designer accessory firm Coach. She has appeared in ads for Rice-A-Roni, Orange, and Continental Sauces. Numerous fashion blogs and publications, including Seventeen, Elle, Cosmopolitan (Hungary, Estonia, and the US), Details, Rolling Stone, Vogue, Marie Claire, Nylon, Vanity Fair, Glamour, Tatler, and Lucky, have highlighted Suvari. She frequently appears as a guest star at fashion shows like New York Fashion Week.
In 1999, “All-American Girl,” a story from People magazine, featured her. She was named by Entertainment Weekly as the most “patriotic” artist of 2000 in reference to her three films that have the term “American” in their titles: American Virgin (2000), American Pie (1999), and American Beauty (1999).
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Philanthropy
Suvari has collaborated with the Natural Resources Defense Council on multiple occasions. Together, they created the ECHO scarf line, which was unveiled at Bloomingdales in Manhattan. “I’ve always been into fashion and I wanted to design something to give to charity”, she said.
She has also participated in the Hollywood Home games on the World Poker Tour for the Starlight Children’s Foundation. She is also involved in the “End Violence Against Women” campaign and several breast cancer charities, and she travels to high schools as a “Circle Of Friends” spokesperson to motivate students to give up smoking.
Suvari has long been an advocate for the African Medical and Research Foundation and has traveled to the continent to engage with them on “small-income-generating and water-and-sanitation projects.”
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Personal Life
On March 4, 2000, Suvari wed director of photography Robert Brinkmann, who was born in Germany. She was 17 years older than Brinkmann. She requested a legal separation on April 24, 2005, citing irreconcilable differences; the divorce was granted in May of that year.
Suvari met Simone Sestito, an Italian Canadian concert organizer, at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, where they first started dating. During a trip to Jamaica in July 2008, Suvari and Sestito got engaged. On June 26, 2010, they exchanged vows in a secret chapel in Rome. Suvari filed for divorce from him in Los Angeles on January 13, 2012, citing irreconcilable differences and specifying November 1, 2011, as the separation date. In October 2012, the divorce was legally finalized.
Suvari switched to a vegan diet in late 2017. Since then, she has only worn ethically produced apparel and used things that are kind to the earth.
In October 2018, Suvari wed set decorator Michael Hope. They announced they were expecting their first child on October 16, 2020. It was revealed that she had given birth to a baby called Christopher in April 2021.
