Shannon Elizabeth
Shannon Elizabeth is famous not only for her notable acting roles, but also for her poker skills.
Like most poker players who excel in the game, Shannon had been introduced to card games at a young age. She was born Shannon Elizabeth Fadal in Houston, Texas on September 7, 1973.
It is interesting to note that her rare beauty comes from a combination of various ancestries - a half Lebanese, half Syrian father, and a German/English/Irish/Cherokee mother. She grew up in Waco, Texas and as a child learned various forms of dancing like jazz, tap dancing, and ballet.
In high school she continued to be active with dancing, cheer leading and tennis. She even considered becoming a professional tennis player but her plans changed sometime during her senior year when she took part in a local music video that was shot in their location. The producer encouraged her to pursue a career in modeling so she moved to New York after graduation.
The year 1991 marked the beginning of her modeling career, which later got her featured in magazines like Maxim and Playboy. In addition to that, she was to travel all over the world to famous cities and exotic destinations, from France all the way to Japan and Australia.
She then moved to Los Angeles, joined Ford Models, and later on Elite Model Management. Elizabeth Shannon has always wanted to act in movies, so she enrolled herself in acting classes. In 1999, she finally landed a role in 'American Pie' which was the turning point that launched her career in the movie industry. It eventually landed her more roles in films and various shows, such as the 'American Pie' series and 'King of the Hill'.
Sometime later, she caught the poker bug and decided she wanted to go pro. She had several friends in the professional poker industry who took it upon them to help her hone her skills. She got tutored by the likes of Jennifer Tilly who was also a fellow actress, Phil Laak, and Antonio Esfandiari.
The training sessions with her friends proved to be effective: Shannon, in her first tournament in 2005, almost made it to the bubble in the World Series of Poker main event. Between 2006 to 2007, she cashed in 4 times in the WSOP.
She also made it in the National Heads Up Poker Championship by NBC where she beat higher ranking opponents before placing in the 3rd spot with a $125,000 prize. Shannon is still focused on her acting and just places poker in as a second priority so her full potential as a player still hasn't quite been achieved. So far, she has accumulated more than $224,000 in tournament winnings.
Another one of the hottest female poker players is Liv Boeree, check her bio.
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