American Pie’s Shannon Elizabeth on Why She Moved to South Africa 8 Years Ago to Pursue a Different Passion

Shannon Elizabeth had hearts racing in 1999 as American Pie‘s beautiful exchange student Nadia. But in recent years, the actress has found meaning in another passion project.

Speaking to the crowd at Steel City Con in Pittsburgh on April 5, Elizabeth said she moved to South Africa eight years ago to work on her conservation charity, the Shannon Elizabeth Foundation.

“We’re building a sanctuary,” she revealed. “We have a blind black rhino we’ve been taking care of, and we’re going to bring in more rhinos as soon as we can do an expansion.”

After American Pie, she said, “I started my charity, which was called Animal Avengers at the time. And it’s been going since then, it’s just morphed over the years into conservation and wildlife from dogs and cats.”

Elizabeth, 51, followed American Pie with Scary Movie (2000), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Thirteen Ghosts (2001), Love Actually (2003) and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019).

She also had a recurring role on That ’70s Show, starred on the UPN series Cuts and appeared on season 6 of Dancing with the Stars and Celebrity Big Brother, in addition to returning for American Pie 2 (2001) and American Reunion (2012).

Elsewhere in the panel, which also featured costar Mena Suvari, Elizabeth recalled working on Nadia’s accent in the studio, trying voiceovers both with and without the inflection.

“After that whole exercise, I didn’t know what they were going to choose,” she said. “All of my friends were like, ‘So how was it?’ I was like, ‘This movie is going to suck … they’re messing with the accent.’ I had no idea!”

Suvari, 46, said she believes the magic of the movie came from “capturing those classic moments” from high school.

“I think a lot of people really just connect with those moments of passage,” she added, noting how “green” she was herself when she joined the cast as good girl Heather.

Coming back for American Reunion was “a lot of fun,” Suvari added. “For me personally, because I was just in a completely different space so I was able to really appreciate and really understand the opportunity we had and what this meant coming back together.”

As the original film turned 25 in 2024, star Jason Biggs said that what “time has given me is perspective and real appreciation for the impact that the movie has had around the world. Wherever I travel, people want to talk to me about it. There’s now another one or two generations of people that have seen the movie, identified with the movie, liked the movie. It’s been a really, really special thing for me.”