Shannon Elizabeth Biography
Summary
"Shannon Elizabeth" (born September 7, 1973) is an American actress, poker player, and former fashion model. Elizabeth came to prominence in the 1999 comedy film "American Pie".
Biography
Early life
Elizabeth was born "Shannon Elizabeth Fadal" in Houston, Texas, the only child of Patricia Dianne (née Abbott) and Gerald Edward Fadal. Her father is of Syrian descent and her mother has English, Irish, German, and Cherokee ancestry. She was raised in Waco, Texas. In high school, she was very much interested in tennis and at one point even considered a professional tennis career. She worked as a model before she began a career in film.
Career
Elizabeth appeared in several films, including the notorious "Jack Frost" and "Dish Dogs", before being cast in 1999's "American Pie", which was a major box office success. Elizabeth subsequently appeared in several major Hollywood films, including "Scary Movie" (2000) and "Tomcats". Elizabeth starred in the UPN series "Cuts" until the show was canceled in May of 2006. Cuts and its parent show One on One were one of the many shows not to be picked up by The CW.
In August 1999, she posed for a nude pictorial in "Playboy" magazine. In 2000 and 2003, she was (featured) in "Maxim magazine".
She also provided the likeness and voice for Serena St. Germaine in the 2004 video game, "James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing".
Personal life
Elizabeth was in a relationship with actor Joseph D. Reitman for ten years, including three years of marriage. The couple separated in March 2005, and Elizabeth filed for divorce in late June 2005. Some media outlets speculated that the cause of their breakup was Reitman assisting in a practical joke on Elizabeth for Ashton Kutcher's MTV television series "Punk'd", a year before their divorce, which involved leading Elizabeth to think that she was caught on a sex tape.
(Animal Avengers) , a non-profit animal rescue organization founded by Elizabeth and her then husband Reitman, is dedicated to rescuing and finding a home for homeless pets, reducing pet overpopulation, promoting responsible pet guardianship and preventing animal cruelty. Among the many fund raising events, Team Bodog raised over $50,000 for Animal Avengers in a celebrity poker night on October 8, 2005. The event was hosted by noted tournament director Matt Savage. Over the past year Shannon Elizabeth has participated in numerous other Bodog-sponsored charity events as well. After the attacks of September 11, which drew a lot of racism toward Middle Easterns across the U.S, Shannon quoted in a Press conference 'I'm half Arabic, but I am one hundred per cent American. What is going on affects me the same as everyone else.'
Poker
Elizabeth, who describes poker as her 'second career' has been called 'one of the leading celebrity poker players.' She visits Las Vegas up to three times each month to participate in poker games with the top players of the United States. Elizabeth played in the Main Event of the 2005 World Series of Poker and won a special tournament celebrating the opening of a new poker room at Caesars Palace hotel in January 2006, beating out 83 celebrities and poker professionals to win $55,000. She has also cashed four times in the World Series of Poker in 2006 and 2007, but again busted out of the Main Event early. In 2007, she advanced to the semi-finals of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship in a field consisting of the top poker professionals before losing to eventual champion Paul Wasicka. Among the four opponents she defeated were three World Series of Poker multiple bracelet winners: Jeff Madsen, Barry Greenstein, and Humberto Brenes.
The online poker-room Full Tilt Poker has entered into a sponsorship agreement with Elizabeth.
Filmography
"Jack Frost" (1997)
"American Pie" (1999)
"Scary Movie" (2000)
"Tomcats" (2001)
"Thir13en Ghosts" (2001)
"Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" (2001)
"American Pie 2" (2001)
"Love Actually" (2003)
"Johnson Family Vacation" (2004)
"Cursed" (2005)
"Confessions of an American Bride" (2005)
Television
"That '70s Show" (2003–2004)
"Cuts" (2005)
"Thank God You're Here" (2007)
"One on One
External links
("Shannon Elizabeth Feature Story")
(Shannon Elizabeth GBK gifting suite for MTV Movie Awards)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Shannon Elizabeth.
