Mena Suvari

Mena Suvari had a very American year in 1999, appearing in both American Beauty and American Pie. The two films also showed the young performer’s range as the first is darkly comedic and the second full of comedy so broad it needs red flags and a police escort when it rolls down the highway.

Mena Suvari was born in Newport, Rhode Island on February 9th, 1979. She got into modeling at the age of 12, when her family was living in South Carolina. She was noticed by the Wilhelmina agency and lied that she was 13 so that they would sign her.

She worked as a model for five years, frequently commuting from her home in Charleston to her work in New York. She eventually landed an ad for Rice-a-Roni and Mena and her parents headed off to Los Angeles.

Her first TV appearance was in 1995, when she worked on an episode of the ABC show Boy Meets World. She also landed roles on ER and Chicago Hope. The latter won her critical praise for her work portraying an HIV-infected teen.

Her first film gig was in Gregg Araki’s Nowhere, which also featured Denise Richards. Unfortunately the film was declared dead on arrival, but Mena’s next film appearance was in the better received Kiss the Girls, which starred Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. Roles in Slums of Beverly Hills and The Rage: Carrie 2 followed.

1999 started off with a whimper as Suvari appeared as Rob Lowe’s daughter in the awful NBC mini-series Atomic Train. She followed that with American Pie, a perfect melding of the typical summer teen flick with the gross-out comedy genre. She could have easily settled into the carbon-copy teen film world, but her next role showed her maturity when it came to her career. She chose the Kevin Spacey vehicle American Beauty. The film’s critical success and Oscars® ensured that Mena was in the minds of directors. Though some felt all the awards attention went to the older cast members, the British didn’t make that mistake and Mena and her co-stars Thora Birch and Wes Bentley all received supporting BAFTA nominations.

Mena did do a couple of lighter flicks after American Beauty. She filmed Sugar and Spice and Loser, which also co-starred American Pie’s Jason Biggs. It was on the set of Sugar and Spice that Mena met cinematographer Robert Brinkmann. It was just before the 2000 Oscars® that the world discovered that the 21-year-old had married the 38-year-old.

In 2001, Mena appeared in The Musketeer and American Pie II.

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