Mena Suvari

At 45 years old, Mena Suvari has this physical status:

Mena Alexandra Suvari (born February 13, 1979) is an American actress, fashion designer, and model.

She made her film debut in the drama Nowhere (1997), beginning her modeling career and appearing in many television series. Suvari rose to international prominence in 2000's American Beauty, for which she received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and in three of the American Pie original films (1999–2002).

Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), Loser (2000), Sugar & Spice (2001), Rumor Has It (2005), Stuck (2007), and You May Not Kiss the Bride (2010) were among her other notable films. Suvari appeared in the fourth season of HBO drama series Six Feet Under (2004), winning a Screen Actor Guild Award for Outstanding Achievement by an Ensemble in a Drama Series and the second season of Chicago Fire (2013).

Elizabeth Short appeared in American Horror Story: Murder House and reprised her role in American Horror Story: Apocalypse and South of Hell (2015). Suvari has worked for Lancôme cosmetics and print ads, as well as a long-time supporter and advocate for the Starlight Children's Foundation and the African Medical and Research Foundation.

Early life

Suvari was born in Newport, Rhode Island, on February 13, 1979, the niece of nurse Candice (née Chambers) and psychiatrist Ando Ivar Suvari. Her mother is of Greek origins, while her father, who is an Estonian from Pärnu, was of Turkish descent. She has three older brothers, A J, Sulev, and Üryi. Suvari began modeling with Millie Lewis Models and Talent as a child and soon after, he appeared in a Rice-A-Roni commercial. The family later moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where her brothers attended The Citadel. Suvari was assaulted by her 16-year-old boyfriend when she was twelve years old. When a modeling firm declined to enroll Suvari in classes, she was considering becoming an archaeologist, explorer, or doctor. She had been modeling for the Wilhelmina company in New York for five years by the time she took on her first duties. Suvari escaped to California and attended Providence High School in Burbank, graduating in 1997.

Personal life

On March 4, 2000, Suvari married German-born cinematographer Robert Brinkmann. Brinkmann was 17 years old when she was born. She applied for divorce on April 24, 2005, citing irreconcilable inconsistencies; the split was finalized in May 2005.

Suvari began dating Italian concert promoter Simone Sestito, who appeared at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. Suvari and Sestito were engaged on July 2008 during a holiday to Jamaica. They were married in Rome's private chapel on June 26, 2010. Suvari filed for divorce from him in Los Angeles on January 13, 2012, citing irreconcilable contradictions as the cause of separation and a date of separation that occurred on November 1, 2011. In October 2012, the divorce was announced.

Suvari went vegan in late 2017. Since then, she has only used cruelty-free and environmentally friendly clothes as well as sustainable clothing.

In October 2018, Suvari married set decorator Michael Hope. They announced on October 16, 2020, that they were expecting their first child. In April 2021, it was announced that she had given birth to a child named Christopher.

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Career

Suvari debuted in television series such as Boy Meets World and ER at the ages of 15, 16, respectively. In a one-episode appearance in Chicago Hope, she appeared in many episodes of the show High Incident and played a girl infected with HIV. With the role of Zoe in Gregg Araki's 1997 independent coming-of-age drama Nowhere, she made the leap to film, starring James Duval, Rachel True, Heather Graham, and Ryan Phillippe. She appeared in the independent film Snide and Prejudice, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and she appeared in the drama Kiss the Girls starring Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd. She appeared in Beverly Hills' independent dramedy Slums as a teen neighbor of a Jewish girl who was struggling to grow up in the late 1970s. The film was limited in theaters and has spawned a cult following. On the set of Slums, Suvari met Natasha Lyonne, with whom she would later appear in the American Pie films. She appeared as the daughter of an NTSB investigator in the disaster thriller NBC miniseries Atomic Train (1999), but critics soon condemned her.

Her breakthrough came in 1999 when she appeared in two of Hollywood's most well-known films, the teen sex comedy American Pie and the drama American Beauty. She appeared in American Pie alongside Jason Biggs, Shannon Elizabeth, Chris Klein, and Natasha Lyonne, portraying a virgin and innocent choir girl named Heather. Although critical reactions were mixed, the film was a commercial hit, grossing $235 million worldwide.

Suvari played Angela Hayes, a vain teenage girl who becomes the object of a man's midlife crisis in American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes and co-starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Wes Bentley, and Thora Birch. According to the New York Times, her character was "stimulus sufficient for [Spacey's character] to wake up from a marriage-long depression and begin considering life's more exciting possibilities." The film received widespread critical acclaim, and it was named recipient of the Academy Award for Best Picture. American Beauty earned Suvari a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress, earning Suvari a BAFTA Award nomination. The 2000 Academy Award for Best Documentary short subject was given to Suvari and her American Beauty co-star Wes Bentley and Thora Birch.

Suvari was reunited with Jason Biggs in the romantic comedy Loser (2000), portraying a small-town, intelligent man with a small-town, thoughtful man. A lukewarm critical and commercial reception welcomed the film, but the New York Times discovered Suvari to be "fully matched with the handsome, unassuming Mr. Biggs." They're cute without being offensively cute, and their characters manage to be extremely charming without being dull or phony." She and Biggs appeared in the music video for Wheatus' song "Teenage Dirtbag." The film was heavily based on their appearances in Loser. She appeared on American Virgin, as the daughter of an adult film producer who promises to lose her virginity on screen to please her father. Live Virgin was the film's original working title, but Suvari's Suvari's subsequent success in American Pie and American Beauty was boosted.

Suvari continued to act in three 2001 feature films: The Musketeer, American Pie 2 and Sugar & Spice. She portrayed a chambermaid and the titular character's love interest, as well as American Pie 2's return to the first film. The sequel, which was similar to the original, was a commercial hit, with sales of $285 million worldwide. Suvari portrayed one of a group of cheerleaders who conspire and commit armed robbery in the teen crime comedy Sugar & Spice. Despite receiving critical reviews and only grossed $16.9 million in the United States, it has since become a cult favorite on home video.

Suvari played an addict and the girlfriend of a drug dealer in Spun (2002), an independent dramatization of Brittany Murphy and John Leguizamo about opioid use. She continued as a prostitute in a New Orleans brothel in Sonny (2002), Nicolas Cage's directorial debut, James Franco and Brenda Blethyn's debut in the psychological thriller Trauma (2004) as the neighbor of a man who awakens from a coma. Trauma premiered on the film festival circuit, receiving poor feedback from critics who compared it favorably to Jacob's Ladder and Mimi. Suvari performed in the recurring role of a lesbian performance poet and artist named Edie in the fourth season of the acclaimed HBO series Six Feet Under, which aired in 2004. In a Drama Series, she and the cast were nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble. She appeared in five feature films the following year—Standing Still, Edmond, Rumor Has It, Domino, and the Beauty Shop.

Suvari portrayed Aerith Gainsborough in the Square Enix-Disney video game Kingdom Hearts II and the English-language version of Square Enix's film Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, which was released straight-to-DVD in North America and became one of the country's best-selling animated films. Katherine Heigl, Suvari appeared in Caffeine (2006), as the employee of a London coffeehouse, and in the biographical drama Factory Girl (2006), she played a friend and roommate of 1960s underground film star and socialite Edie Sedgwick (played by Sienna Miller). Although Caffeine went unnoticed, Factory Girl received a limited theatrical debut in the midst of a general public reaction.

Suvari played a society girl and the girlfriend of a man associated with the Brooklyn mafia in the 1980s in the crime drama Brooklyn Rules (2004), directed by Michael Corrente and co-starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Alec Baldwin, and Scott Caan. Suvari, "who may have played [her part] as a cliché," was released for selected theaters and received mixed feedback, but Variety remarked that it gives a realistic portrayal. Her next film was the psychological thriller Stuck, in which she played the role of a woman who commits a hit-and-run and leaves the perpetrator clinging to his car's windshield. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Market inspired by Gregory Glenn Biggs' true story, and although Stuck found a limited theatrical release, critics and audiences alike applauded it. Suvari and Rea's roles, who had been described as "well-matched in uncomfortable roles" by Empire, were "buoyed by queasy, straightforward performances" in Austin.

Suvari began acting in smaller-scale films in the late 2000s, including one made-for-television film. By DVD Talk, Day of the Dead, a reimagining of George A. Romero's horror film of the same name, saw her play what was described as a "butch military leader capable of triggering a zombie holocaust." Critics also slammed the film for going straight to DVD, which was panned. Suvari played Suvari, a film adaptation of writer Michael Chabon's book, as a strange girl who works at a bookstore and becomes intimately involved with the well-mannered, intelligent son of a Jewish gangster. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was limited to the public. Suvari did a "decent job" in her "small" role, according to this website, while Roger Ebert called her "pitch-perfect" in a "finally thankless role" in a mixed critical reception.

Suvari appeared in The Garden of Eden, Ernest Hemingway's film adaptation, as a sexually insecure and restless woman and one half of a couple traveling across Europe amid a deteriorating marriage. She shaved her head for the role but used three wigs for the in-between stages; on which she remarked: "It was a little strange." It was also very liberating at the same time. [...] I am grateful for the opportunity, and I am grateful that I was able to do it at least once in my life. It was like an internal psychological experiment. It was very encouraging to go through and it was also a challenging to see how others perceive you. The film premiered at the Rome Film Festival and at a small audience's screening in the United Kingdom. The film's critics were critical, with the Los Angeles Times describing it as a "literary B-side" that was "turned into something not bad, but just forgettable." Sex and Lies, a Lifetime film about the events leading to the death of Las Vegas casino owner Ted Binion, was the last film she saw in 2008.

Suvari made one-episode appearances in Psych and The Cape in 2011, as the Black Dahlia in Murder House, the first season of the American Horror Story, as the nepisode. Suvari played the psychotic assistant of a pet photographer in the independent romantic comedy You May Not Kiss the Bride (2010), starring Dave Annable, Katharine McPhee, and Rob Schneider. The film premiered at Sonoma International Film Festival and was released for selected theaters and VOD, attracting mainly critical feedback. The film was described as "a tumultuous, unlikable distraction" by the filmmakers, who "depends on Suvari and Schneider to carry the comedy load, which is about as popular as it reads." In 2011, she appeared in the made-for-television film No Surrender as a writer with a deranged stalker and a writer in the B movie Restitution, opposite Tom Arnold.

When Suvari returned to the American Pie franchise for the third time since her role as Heather in American Reunion (2012), the original protagonists were revolving around the original characters as they approach middle age and plan for a summer reunion. The film was a "sweetly nostalgic comfort food" for fans of the franchise, and with a worldwide gross of $235 million, American Reunion emerged as Suvari's most seen film since 2001's American Pie 2. As all of her latest and subsequent film productions, The Knot (2012), Don't Blink (2014), Badge of Honor (2015), and Becks (2017) premiered on festival circuits or digital markets, this film was also her first wide release in the 2010s.

Suvari starred in the romantic comedy The Knot, and in the mystery thriller Don't Blink, Suvari played one of a group of friends who were visiting an empty remote resort and trying to find out what happened to the other guests. "[...] Suvari is wasted and not given a lot of screen time considering that her character is the one we're obviously supposed to latch onto." In the romantic comedy The Opposite Sex, Suvari starred Geoff Stults and Kristin Chenoweth as a young divorcee who meets a savvy, driven attorney and womanizer. Badge of Honor, a small-scale drama, had her character as a detective caught up in the aftermath of a horrific drug bust.

Suvari appeared on Becks' independent romantic comedy as the friend of a lesbian singer who is returning to St. Louis. Despite receiving a small audience, critics gave the film a rave review. The New York Times said that the film "exemplifies how small decisions in time, appearance, and soundtrack can transcend humble trappings," while the Washington Post observed: "Lena] Hall and Suvari have a palpable chemistry both musically and in their personal relationship."

Suvari continued to work on television between films and the decade; in the second season of the series Chicago Fire (2013), she played a political consultant for a firefighter and took on the leading role as a demon hunter for hire in the eight-episode supernatural series South of Hell (2015). Both episodes of the show aired back-to-back, while an eighth episode was only available on iTunes. The series received mostly critical feedback and attracted an average of 122,000 viewers. The Hollywood Reporter, a Hollywood writer, wrote a Suvari essay, said, "[W]hile the possibility of playing [her role] seems to be enticing for Suvari, her more realistic interpretation tends to be closer to miserable discomfort," she wrote about "the contact lenses or the bizarreness" in her portrayal.

Suvari appeared in the television series Inside Amy Schumer, Justice League Action, and American Ninja Warrior, as well as acting in the made-for-television films I'll Be Home For Christmas and Psych: The Movie, where she reprised her guest-starring role from the series and base of the film between 2016 and 2017. Suvari is one of three people finding their own brand of liberation in the 1970s during the rise of second-wave feminism. On Paramount Network, the series premiered on June 8, 2018. After one season, the show was cancelled.

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