Biography of Shannon Elizabeth

Shannon Elizabeth was born on September 7th, 1977 in Houston, Texas, a true representative of the American melting pot with a mother of German, French, English and Native American ethnicity and a father of Syrian and Lebanese ancestry. When she was 10, the family moved to Waco Texas where she took up music and dancing lessons at the age of 2. She also enjoyed tossing batons. While she found that growing up in Waco was a bit dull, she enjoyed it and looks back on many happy memories.

Here is a quotation from Shannon on her growing up years in Waco: I remember loving to do two things in particular when I was growing up: making my mom laugh so hard that she couldn’t breathe and arguing until I proved I was right (remember, I was an only child). So, with that in mind, my options seemed to be entertainer or lawyer.

Shannon was a rather shy child and she avoided the active social life until reaching High School when she began to sing in the Waco City Choir even became a cheerleader. She earned National Honor Society status and then ran for and won a Student Council seat. She joined the tennis team and competed in regional and statewide tournaments.

During her senior year in High School, Shannon was introduced to acting when she was asked to appear in a music video being shot by a local rock band. The video's producer advised her to sign up with a modeling agency in New York where she moved after graduation in 1996.

Her modelling career began to take off immediately and she went to photo shoots all over the world. Here is another quotation from Shannon on her early modelling career: Being alone in New York City for the first time was fascinating and a bit terrifying. I was definitely homesick, but it got better quickly seeing as I was living in NYU dorms for the summer. I made friends with most of the building and some of the other young models with my agency. That was the beginning of me working with various magazines and doing a bit of traveling. Amongst my travels I hit such places as Japan, Paris, Milan, Australia, Taiwan and Hong Kong. How lucky was I to get paid to travel and see the world at the same time?! Finally, I made it back to the good ol’ USA. There really is no place like home! After spending an awesome season in South Beach, Miami I made my way out to LA. I loved South Beach, but it was time to move on. I actually was just planning on visiting a friend for a couple of weeks, thinking that I wouldn’t be able to compete in LA quite yet. I had always planned to end up in LA and start my acting career, but I thought it would eat me alive at that point. During my visit, I decided to go ahead and get a modelling agent and have some pictures done, as long as I was there. I started out with the Ford Modelling Agency and have since moved to Elite Model Management.