Her other notable lead film roles include Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), Loser (2000), Sugar & Spice (2001), The Musketeer (2001), Spun (2003), Stuck (2007), Day of the Dead (2008), and You May Not Kiss the Bride (2010).

In television, Suvari played main roles as Maria Abascal on the We TV supernatural horror series South of Hell (2015) and Kathleen Callahan on the Paramount sitcom American Woman (2018).

[7] Suvari was considering becoming an archaeologist, astronaut, or doctor when a modeling agency stopped by her all-girls school, Ashley Hall, to offer classes.

She made the transition to film with the role of Zoe in the 1997 independent coming-of-age drama Nowhere, directed by Gregg Araki and co-starring James Duval, Rachel True, Heather Graham, and Ryan Phillippe.

She subsequently played a teenager who commits suicide in the horror sequel The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999), and appeared as the daughter of an NTSB investigator in the disaster thriller NBC miniseries Atomic Train (1999),[16] although both productions were panned by critics.

In American Pie, she starred with Jason Biggs, Shannon Elizabeth, Chris Klein, and Natasha Lyonne, portraying a virgin and innocent choir girl named Heather.

[18] In American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes and co-starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Wes Bentley and Thora Birch, Suvari took on the role of Angela Hayes, a vain teenage girl who becomes the object of infatuation of a man experiencing a midlife crisis.

[24] Suvari subsequently reunited with Jason Biggs in the romantic comedy Loser (2000), playing the love interest of a small-town, intelligent man.

A lukewarm critical and commercial reception greeted the film,[25] but The New York Times found Suvari to be "well matched with the handsome, unassuming Mr. Biggs.

[27] In the teen crime comedy Sugar & Spice, Suvari portrayed one member of a group of cheerleaders who conspire and commit armed robbery.

She subsequently appeared as a prostitute working in a New Orleans brothel in the small-scale drama Sonny (2002), the directorial debut of Nicolas Cage co-starring James Franco and Brenda Blethyn, and also starred opposite Colin Firth in the psychological thriller Trauma (2004), as the neighbour of a man who awakens from a coma.

[30][31] In the fourth season of the acclaimed HBO serial Six Feet Under, which aired in 2004, Suvari obtained the recurring role of a lesbian performance poet and artist named Edie.

The film was released for selected theaters and received mixed reviews, but Variety remarked that Suvari, "who might have played [her part] as a cliché, gives a real performance".

[37] Austin Chronicle found the film to be "buoyed by queasy, easy performances" from Suvari and Rea,[38] who were considered "well-matched in uneasy roles" by Empire.

Day of the Dead, a remake of George A. Romero's horror film of the same name, saw her portray what was described as a "butch military leader capable of fending off a zombie holocaust", by DVD Talk.

[41] In The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, a film adaptation of writer Michael Chabon's novel,[42] Suvari played a strange girl who works at a book shop and becomes romantically involved with the well-mannered, intelligent son of a Jewish gangster.

[46] The Garden of Eden, the film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel, featured Suvari as a sexually confused and restless woman and one half of a couple who travel across Europe amid a deteriorating marriage.

[49] Her last 2008 film was the Lifetime production Sex and Lies in Sin City, about the events leading to the death of Las Vegas casino owner Ted Binion.

[51] In the independent romantic comedy You May Not Kiss the Bride (2010), opposite Dave Annable, Katharine McPhee and Rob Schneider, Suvari starred as the psychotic assistant of a pet photographer.

[61] The New York Times felt that the film "exemplifies how small judgments in pace, performance and soundtrack can transcend modest trappings",[62] while The Washington Post remarked: "[Lena] Hall and Suvari have a palpable chemistry, both musically and in their relationship".

The sitcom American Woman features Suvari in a main role as one of three women discovering their own brand of independence amid the rise of second-wave feminism in the 1970s.

Suvari has been featured in several fashion blogs and magazines such as Seventeen, Elle, Cosmopolitan (Hungary, Estonia and the US), Details, Rolling Stone,[82] Vogue, Marie Claire,[83] Nylon,[84] Vanity Fair,[85] Glamour, Tatler and Lucky.

[citation needed] Suvari has worked several times with the Natural Resources Defense Council, designing with the group a scarf line called ECHO, which was unveiled at Bloomingdales in Manhattan.

[92] Suvari is a long-time supporter and activist for the African Medical and Research Foundation, and has visited Africa to work on "small-income-generating and water-and-sanitation projects" with the organization.

In 2007, Suvari began dating Italian Canadian concert promoter Simone Sestito, whom she met at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.