Mena Suvari

Biography

Mena Alexandra Suvari (born February 13, 1979) is an American actress, producer, fashion designer, and model. After beginning her career as a model and guest-starring on several television shows, she made her film debut in the 1997 drama Nowhere.

Suvari rose to international prominence with her appearances in the critically acclaimed comedy-drama American Beauty (1999), for which she received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and in three of the American Pie films (1999–2001, 2012). 

Her other notable film credits include Kiss the Girls (1997), Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999), Loser (2000), Sugar & Spice, The Musketeer (both 2001), Sonny (2002), Spun (2003), 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 (2010).

Suvari played recurring roles on the fourth season of the HBO drama series Six Feet Under (2004), for which she earned a Screen Actors Guild nomination, and on the second season of Chicago Fire (2013). 

She also portrayed Elizabeth Short in the anthology series American Horror Story: Murder House (2011) and reprised the part in American Horror Story: Apocalypse (2018). Her other television credits include the supernatural horror series South of Hell (2015) and the short-lived Paramount sitcom American Woman (2018).

Suvari has been a model for Lancôme cosmetics and print ads for Lancôme Paris Adaptîve, as well as a long-time supporter and activist for the Starlight Children's Foundation and the African Medical and Research Foundation. She is married and has one child.

Suvari was born in Newport, Rhode Island on February 13, 1979, the daughter of nurse Candice (née Chambers) and psychiatrist Ando Ivar Süvari. Her mother is of Greek descent, while her father was an Estonian from Pärnu. 

She has five brothers Agu, Madis, Ando Junior, Sulev, and Yuri (Jüri), and a sister Mari-Ann. Suvari began modeling with Millie Lewis Models and Talent as a preteen and soon after appeared in a Rice-A-Roni commercial.

 The family later relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, where her brothers attended The Citadel. When Suvari was twelve, she was raped by her 16-year-old boyfriend. Suvari was considering 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. Suvari relocated to California and attended Providence High School in Burbank, graduating in 1997.