Shannon Elizabeth is an American actress and former fashion model. Elizabeth came to prominence in the 1999 comedy film American Pie.
Elizabeth is Syrian and Lebanese from her father and her mother is Irish, English, German and Cherokee. She was born in Houston, Texas and 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.
Elizabeth was in a relationship with actor Joseph D. Reitman for 10 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 (who played her on-screen boyfriend Michael Kelso in That '70s Show) 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 fundraising 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 September 11 attacks, Shannon recorded a public service announcement in which she said, "I'm half Arabic, but I am 100 percent American. What is going on affects me the same as everyone else.
Elizabeth is currently dating her former Dancing with the Stars partner Derek Hough. Elizabeth denied rumours of a marriage proposal from Hough, or that the couple was engaged.
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,[12] 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.