Mena Suvari
Mena Suvari
Mena Suvari
Mena Suvari
Mena Suvari
Mena Suvari Biography
Mena Alexandra Suvari (born February 13, 1979) is an American actress, fashion designer, and model. Shortly after beginning her career as a model, she appeared in guest roles on 1990's television shows such as Boy Meets World and High Incident. She made her film debut in the 1997 drama film Nowhere.
Her first major film roles were in American Beauty, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Award, and American Pie both released in 1999. Since then she has appeared in Loser 2000, with her American Pie co-star, Jason Biggs, and later played the main character in the comedy film Sugar & Spice 2001 She had appearances in the 2002 independent drama Spun, and the 2004 thriller feature Trauma. She also appeared in the HBO's drama series Six Feet Under in 2004, she received a nomination as a member of the Outstanding Cast at the 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2008, she was cast in a string of films, including Day of the Dead, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, and the film adaptation of The Garden of Eden.
Mena Suvari is a model for Lancome cosmetics and print ads for Lancôme Paris Adaptive, and has been featured in several fashion blogs and magazines such as Vogue. She is a long-time supporter and activist for the African relief organization, the African Medical and Research Foundation. She is also active in feminist issues, and is involved with charities whose cause is breast cancer, and "End Violence Against Women"
Mena Suvari was born in Newport, Rhode Island, the daughter of Candice, a nurse, and Ando Suvari, a psychiatrist. Her mother is of Greek descent and her father is Estonian American. She has three older brothers. She began modeling as a preteen and soon after starred in a Rice-A-Roni commercial. The family later relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, where her brothers attended The Citadel. Mena considered becoming an archaeologist, astronaut or doctor, when a modeling agency stopped by her all-girls school, Ashley Hall, to offer classes. By the time she started acting, she had been modeling for the New York-based Wilhelmina agency for five years. After moving to the Los Angeles area, Mena attended Providence High School in Burbank, graduating in 1997.
Mena Suvari made appearances in television shows such as Boy Meets World and ER at the age of fifteen and sixteen respectively. She also appeared in a number of episodes of the television series High Incident. She played a girl named Ivy infected with HIV in the Chicago Hope episode "Sympathy for the Devil".
She gained early notice for her performance as Zoe in Gregg Araki's low-budget drama feature Nowhere, alongside James Duval, Rachel True, Heather Graham, and Ryan Phillippe. She had a supporting part in the indie drama film Snide and Prejudice, which opened at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. She played a small role as Coty Pierce in the 1997 thriller Kiss the Girls, where she appeared opposite Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd. She next was cast in a supporting role in the independent dramedy Slums of Beverly Hills, which was released in 1998. It was on the set of this film that she met Natasha Lyonne, who would later join the cast of American Pie.
