American Pie Star Says Her Nude Scene Helped Launch Her Career

Shannon Elizabeth looks back on her time making American Pie with a specific mindset. During an interview for a documentary called Skin: A History of Nudity In The Movies, the actress – who played the character of Nadia – said that she might have never gotten her acting career off the ground had she not agreed to go topless.

“If I hadn’t done American Pie and I hadn’t done the role of Nadia and the nudity that came along with it,” she said. “I might not have a career today.” Although Elizabeth appears to her time on set rather fondly, her words do touch upon an unfortunate dilemma faced by young actresses in the film industry: that showing skin – even if they really do not want to – might help boost their careers.

Of course, Elizabeth isn’t the only performer who’s been reminiscing about American Pie recently. Her co-star, Jason Biggs, reflected on one particular scene not too long ago in which his character attempted to record himself as he was having sex with a girl. During an interview, Biggs said that such a scene would never fly today, but the writers were able to get away with it at the time due to the novelty of the internet.

“It was a very specific time,” he said. “It was right as the internet was starting. You know, we had that whole scene with the internet camera — which, by the way, would never get made now… It wouldn’t get made now and it couldn’t get made now. It would be unacceptable what that represents, but at the time I reading the script and reading that part and being shocked that there was cameras on computers! That’s what I took away from it originally.”

While Elizabeth may not appear to regret going nude for American Pie, other actresses working on different projects have. Not so long ago, Carice van Houten discussed her run as sensual seductress Melisandre on the HBO show Game of Thrones. While she didn’t explicitly say that she regretted doing nude scenes, she did wonder why so many of her scenes had to involve sex.

Of course, things might be a bit different for films like American Pie, in which sex is not just a marketing ploy but a key part of the plot. But in any case, it’s nice to hear that Elizabeth doesn’t have any regrets about it.