Mena Alexandra Suvari Bio

Suvari was born in Newport, Rhode Island on 13 February 1979. She is the daughter of nurse Candice (nee Chambers) and psychiatrist Ando Suvari. Her mother is Greek and her father is Parnu Estonian. Suvari has three older brothers: AJ, Sulev, and Juri. Suvari started modeling for Millie Lewis Models and Talent in the preteen years and shortly after made an appearance in the Rice-A-Roni commercial. The family later relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, where her brothers attended The Citadel. Suvari was contemplating a career as an astronaut, archaeologist or doctor However, a modeling company stopped at Ashley Hall the all-girls school to give classes. By the time she started acting, she had been modeling for the New York-based Wilhelmina agency for five years. Suvari moved to California and attended Providence High School in Burbank where she graduated in 1997. Suvari began acting when she was fifteen, and was a guest on TV shows Boy Meets World, and ER. She also appeared in several episodes of the series High Incident, and played an infected girl with HIV in a one-episode appearance in Chicago Hope. In the role of Zoe in the 1997 independent drama that focused on an upcoming drama about growing up, Nowhere, which was directed by Gregg Araki, and starring James Duval and Rachel True, Heather Graham and Ryan Phillippe, she was able to make the shift from film to television. In 1997, she appeared as an actress supporting in the film of independent filmmakers Snide and Prejudice. She was also in the suspense film Kiss the Girls opposite Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd. In 1998, she was a part of the independent drama Slums of Beverly Hills, as a teenager's neighbour of an Jewish girl who is struggling to become a woman in the latter part of the 1970s. The film premiered with a limited release and earned a devoted following. Suvari was also a part on the set of Slums as a teen neighbour to a Jewish girl who is struggling to grow up in the late 1970s. In the sequel to The Rage The Rage 2 (1999) she played a teen suicide victim. She also played the daughter of the National Transportation Safety Board in the NBC miniseries Atomic Train (1999). Both productions were criticized by critics.