Yahoo News Whatever happened to Shannon Elizabeth?
Readers in the US may have noticed American Pie star Shannon Elizabeth back on their screens in Big Brother: Celebrity Edition (on CBS) earlier this year. In 1999, the actress ensured her place in pop culture history by taking off her clothes in American Pie. So where has she been since?
She capitalised on her newfound fame in the early 2000s, but has faded from view in recent years. Where did she go? And what other surprising occupation has been keeping her busy?
After a stint as a model, Texas-born Shannon Elizabeth Fadal made her movie debut in the schlocky 1997 horror Jack Frost as a woman who is murdered by an evil snowman while naked in the bath. This is what they call 'starting as you mean to go on'.
(The following video is moderately NSFW.)
Some minor roles followed before her breakout as Slovakian exchange student Nadia in American Pie. In a moment unlikely to be repeated in a big-budget Hollywood comedy in this day and age, Jason Biggs's Jim arranges for her to be unknowingly recorded and broadcast from his webcam while she is getting changed.
2000 saw her star in horror spoof Scary Movie as a cheerleader and beauty pageant contestant (complete with bathing-suit scene). This was her most successful acting period, with roles in American Pie 2, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Thirteen Ghosts, Cursed and a nine-episode recurring role in That '70s Show. Like fellow where-are-they-nower Denise Richards, she played one of Kris Marshall's nubile American love slaves in Love Actually.
She starred in UPN sitcom Cuts for the two seasons it ran between 2005 and 2006, provided a guest voice in King of the Hill, and made an obligatory appearance in the 2008 season of Dancing with the Stars (she came sixth).
But beyond her return as Nadia in 2012's American Reunion (she kept her clothes on this time), the projects have been consistently low-profile. Night of the Demons, anyone? Catch a Christmas Star? The Outsider? Although, to her credit, she is top billed in these minor movies.
A post shared by SHANNON ELIZABETH (@shannonelizabeth) on Sep 21, 2017 at 10:48am PDT
But there's more to Elizabeth than B-movies and taking her clothes off. She's heavily involved in animal rights campaigning, having founded the charity Animal Avengers with her then-husband, actor Joseph Reitman.
But most unexpectedly, Elizabeth is best known outside of acting as a leading celebrity poker player.
She has competed professionally, and from the looks of it won a few huge payouts (although we suspect that much of her winnings go to charity, which is lucky because dogs can't play poker IRL). We like to think that she lulls her opponents into a false sense of security by making them think of her late '90s film work while she's busy bluffing them.
Not too bad for an objectified exchange student who just wanted help with her history homework.
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