Our bad. We’ve discovered that Shannon Elizabeth was born on 1973. We’ve had 1976 listed on her profile for quite some time.
A little backstory: Some other sources say September 7, 1976 as well. The confusion may stem from a January 2000 interview in Maxim, where she stated (or let it be stated) that she was 23 years old.
Of Syrian, Irish, English, German, and Cherokee heritage and raised in Waco, Texas (home of both David Koresh and Dr. Pepper!), 23-year-old Shannon is both enticingly exotic and the fresh-faced girl next door (for instance, she can say several dirty phrases in Syrian, though doing so makes her blush).
That was right after the release of American Pie, where she played a high school exchange student, so 23 seemed believable enough. Possibly it was even more believable than 26, which is a stretch for playing a high schooler even in Hollywood.
Here she is (left) at a Maxim party in 1999 — judge for yourself. (Larger version.)
At the time, Elizabeth’s own website played it coy, saying only “I was born on September 7th in Houston, Texas.” (Thanks, archive.org!)
But at some point the tide turned for 1973. We can’t find an exact moment when it happened, but it could be a result of Elizabeth’s divorce filing in 2005 and a subsequent palimony-type civil suit by her husband, both of which presumably generated various public documents with her actual birthdate attached.
Other stories started noting that Elizabeth graduated from Waco High School in 1991, which would be the usual match for a 1973 birth. (If she was a genius 15-year-old graduate, we’d hear about it from her publicist.) Hometown station KHOU, for instance, says 1991 and interviews her middle school principal — seems like they ought to know.
The clincher: now even Elizabeth herself proudly embraces 1973 on her official site. Which seals it for us. And that still makes her just a lass of 35, after all.
We regret the error. Thanks to our friends at Answers.com for asking us to double-check this.
(Photo credit: Marcus Hoffman / WENN)