Mena Alexandra Suvari Bio

Suvari was born in Newport on February 13, 1979. Suvari is the daughter of Candice (nee Chambers), and Ando Suvari, a psychiatrist. The mother of the child is Greek origin, and her father was an Estonian from Parnu. Three of her older brothers are AJ, Sulev and Juri. As a preteen, Suvari started modeling for Millie Lewis Models & Talent. Soon after she was in an Rice-A-Roni commercial. The family later relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, where her brothers attended The Citadel. Suvari was considering being an archaeologist, astronaut, or a doctor when a modeling agency visited her all-girls school, Ashley Hall, to offer classes. She had already been acting for five years, while modeling for Wilhelmina, a New York-based modeling agency. Suvari relocated to California in 1997 and graduated from Providence High School in Burbank. Suvari started acting at age 15 with guest appearances on television shows such as Boy Meets World, and ER. In addition to her appearances in several episodes of High Incident, she also was an individual with HIV in Chicago Hope's single-episode show. With the role of Zoe, a 1997 independent drama that focused on a coming-of age drama, Nowhere, which was directed by Gregg Araki, and starring James Duval and Rachel True, Heather Graham and Ryan Phillippe, she made the transition from television to film. Also in 1997, she played an supporting role in the independent film Snide and Prejudice, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, and played a short part in the thriller Kiss the Girls, opposite Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd. Then, she appeared in the drama for independent filmmakers Slums in Beverly Hills as the teenage neighbor of an Jewish girl who is trying to get by in the world of the late 1970s. The film was released in a limited run and gained a loyal following. Suvari was also a part on the set of Slums as a teen neighbor of a Jewish girl who is trying to make her way in the late 1970s. She later played a teenage girl who takes her own life in the sequel to The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999), and appeared as the daughter of a National Transportation Safety Board investigator in the thriller about disasters NBC miniseries Atomic Train (1999), however both were criticised by critics.