Why American Pie’s Shannon Elizabeth Left Hollywood

The American Pie star appeared at Steel City Con in Pittsburgh on April 5, where she opened up about living in South Africa since the coming of age franchise.

“We’re building a sanctuary,” she revealed, per PEOPLE. “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 her success in American Pie, Elizabeth began her charity, Animal Avengers.

“And it’s been going since then, it’s just morphed over the years into conservation and wildlife from dogs and cats,” she added.

She also recalled her time on American Pie alongside former costar Mena Suvari on the panel, and how she thought the film was going to be a flop because of her character Nadia’s accent.

The 51-year-old actress said she was going in and out of the studio trying different inflections and accents.

“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!”

She has also been thankful for her start in American Pie, as it gave her the resources and platform to “start giving back.”

“I started looking at dog and cat rescues in LA because dogs were what I knew,” she shared on the Life Outside Poker podcast in July 2024.

The last time most people saw Elizabeth in front of the camera was in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot in 2019, as well as her Celebrity Big Brother appearance in 2018.