Shannon Elizabeth

Forget about the pop song from which the movie draws its title: American Pie is not a lament for lost innocence but the latest entry in a time-honored genre of audience-pleasing films--the coming-of-age comedy. Four randy high schoolers embark on a quest to lose their virginity, whereupon high jinks, foul-ups and a good dose of bedroom shenanigans ensue. Thinks Animal House meets Porky's meets Fast Times at Ridgemont High. These are but three predecessors whose characters rallied around a motto memorably voiced by Sean Penn's character in Ridgemont High : "Hey, bud, let's party."

But as every aficionado of coming-of-age movies knows, the parties are no fun, and the pursuit of one's manhood is doomed, without comely accomplices. And that, as you might have guessed, is where Shannon Elizabeth comes in. Shannon stars in American Pie as the love interest (or should we say lust interest) of Jason Biggs. She's a Czechoslovakian, ballet-dancing exchange student who asks him for help with her studies. They get together, one thing leads to another, and the outcomes is now on display at the local multiplex.

More than that--more of Shannon, at any rate--is displayed on these pages. "I wanted to do something that would promote the movie, allow me to stay in the character I play and generate some heat and emotion," she says. "And I thought Playboy would be a great way to do it."

Offscreen, of course, Shannon is no high schooler: She's an actor with a growing résumé, a (text concluded on page 166)Shanon Elizabeth(continued from page 131) strong work ethic and what looks to be an exceedingly bright future. She was born in Houston and raised in Waco. Texas, lived for a spell in New York City and only recently relocated to Los Angeles. She has already guest-starred on several television shows, including an episode of the critically acclaimed HBO series Arliss (in which she played a sexually precocious Russian tennis star) and the recent television movie Dying to Live with Jonathan Frakes. Shannon has also appeared in several independent movies, among them Dish Dogs with Matthew Lillard and Brian Dennehy and Seamless with Kentaro Seagal.

"I just want to work," Shannon admits. Her look is casual in Adidas gear as she sits in a Sunset Strip coffeehouse not far from the home she shares with her boyfriend, actor Joe Reitman (and a menagerie of dogs she's rescued from various streets and shelters). "It doesn't matter to me whether it's television or film, comedy or drama. I'm just happy being on a set. I get bored easily, so I want to keep working."

Although Shannon definitely had a great time and made her biggest career splash by playing a high schooler, she would rather live in the present than look back on her own teen years. "Now is a much better period in my life than high school was," says Shannon, remembering her school days in Waco. It's not that she didn't enjoy herself: She kept busy as a cheerleader, a member of the dance team and the student council and an avid tennis player. She also dated a popular baseball player.

"Some of high school was fun," she confesses. "But I felt like I was always struggling to be popular. Part of me felt popular, but I never felt fully accepted. My school was way too cliquey, too much about the way you looked, about your hair and makeup, about who you were dating, who your friends were--stupid stuff. It should have been fun, but it wasn't. I'm having much more fun now." She scarcely needs to add this, but she does: "The things my character does in American Pie and the things that happen to her--high school was nothing like that for me."

Besides her acting, Shannon's fun these days includes presiding over her website (shannonelizabeth.com), which by the time you read this may actually include a webcam. (That idea was inspired by some memorable scenes in American Pie.)

And then there's Playboy. With her modeling experience from her stint back in Manhattan, Shannon took quite easily to posing in the nude--even though, she says, "I never thought about my body when I was young. Coming from Texas, I grew up on fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy, and I used to eat cookies-and-cream ice cream twice a day. But I was always active and thin, so I never gave any thought to my weight. I developed late, and I don't remember looking at my body at all."

Shannon still figures she's "not the typical Playboy girl," so she wanted the photographs to be artistic and different. She wanted her pictorial to reflect the strikingly various ways she can appear before the camera. Working with photographer Davis Factor at a mansion in the Hollywood hills, Shannon says the sessions were intentionally free-form: "We did have a couple of setups in mind, but nothing was planned. I think it's always best if you let yourself go wherever the moment takes you."

Now she's waiting to see where the experience takes her. "My manager and boyfriend keep trying to put ideas in my head about what Playboy could do for my career," she admits with a laugh, "and I keep trying to ignore them. I try not to have any expectations. They're just pictures of me. It's really not a big deal, is it?"

Let her keep that innocent outlook for now; no doubt Shannon Elizabeth will soon learn that she is indeed a big deal. Chances are pretty good that we won't be saying bye-bye to this Miss American Pie any time soon.