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Born on February 13, 1979 in Newport, Rhode Island as Mena Adrienne Suvari, her father Ando was a psychiatrist, while her mother Candice was a nurse. Mena, which was named after her Egyptian godmother, is the only daughter and has three older brothers. She and her brothers spent most of their growing years in an old mansion in Rhode Island before their family moved to Charleston, South Carolina. Here, Mena’s brothers attended a military college, while she attended the Ashley Hall, all-girls school.

During her stay in Ashley Hall, her dreams of becoming an astronaut, doctor or archeologist ended when a modeling agency offered a few modeling classes. Upon receiving runway pointers, Mena Suvari attended a modeling convention, where Wilhelmina modeling agency noticed her and gave her a shot. At age 12, Suvari started her modeling career and continued her acting career a year later when she won a role in a TV commercial. She continued her studies in California’s Providence High School.

Mena Suvari traveled back and forth the East Coast for two years before her parents decided to move to California. Upon reaching Los Angeles, Mena Suvari landed several TV commercial gigs before she landed a guest appearance in the 1993 series, “Boy Meets World” and a guest role in 1994 in two drama series – “ER” and “Chicago Hope”.

In 1997, Mena Suvari’s movie career started to pick up with small roles in movies, such as the 1997 “Nowhere”, Ashley Judd’s “Kiss the Girls”, the 1998 “Slums of Beverly Hills” and the 1999 thriller movie, “The Rage: Carrie 2”.

Mena Suvari’s career jumped to success when she portrayed a wholesome high school girl who falls for a jock in the 1999 comedy film, “American Pie”. That same year, she played a sexy cheerleader who captures Kevin Spacey’s malicious imagination in the critically acclaimed 1999 movie, “American Beauty”. She earned a British Academy Award nomination and dozens of job offers. Other movie credits of Suvari included the 2000 films “American Virgin” and “Loser”, which both received negative reviews. Keeping a positive attitude, Mena Suvari continued filming two films in 2001 – “Sugar & Spice” and “The Musketeer”.

In between her successful films and continuous job offers, Mena Suvari slipped off with her cinematographer boyfriend, Robert Brinkmann and tied the knot in a secret ceremony on 2000. The marriage led to media frenzy because Brinkmann was 18 years older than Suvari. However, Mena Suvari shrugged off the buzz since her parents are separated by 20+ years. Unfortunately, the couple filed for divorce in May of 2005, citing irreconcilable differences.