Seann William Scott was born on Oct. 3, 1976. He was the youngest of seven kids in his small Minnesota town, but set his sights on Hollywood after taking a part time job at a movie theater turned him into a film fanatic. He moved to Los Angeles following his high school graduation and immediately hit the audition circuit, where his buff bod and chiseled features got him cast in an Aerosmith video and in sitcom guest roles like "Unhappily Ever After" (WB, 1995-99).
But the 21-year-old actor’s youthful looks proved to be his ticket to stardom during the era’s teen film boom, with Scott making his big screen breakthrough in the popular teen sex comedy "American Pie” (1999). He played a crass, loutish senior whose luck with the ladies and constant taunting of his less fortunate peers leads the group to resolve to lose their virginity before graduation. He excelled as the bad guy, playing the despicable part with aplomb, skillfully handling his character's overconfidence and the appropriately graceless ways he reacted to his comeuppance. Scott followed up with a sweetly awkward, much more likable high school class clown in "Final Destination" (2000) a harrowing tale of plane crash survival.
Graduating on to college roles, Scott co-starred as one of a group of college friends who embark on a "Road Trip" (2000) to Texas in an attempt to retrieve an incriminating videotape before it falls into the wrong hands. In a sort of a handsome version of Beavis & Butthead or Cheech & Chong, he joined Ashton Kutcher in the comedy "Dude, Where's My Car" (2000) — a film as un-ambitious as its heroes but consistently amusing enough to develop a cult following. Scott was given a much-expanded role in the not-as-funny sequel "American Pie 2" (2001) and built on his college humor reputation by goofing his way through writer-director Kevin Smith's "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" (2001). He showed considerable leading man charm as an "Alfie"esque scoundrel in producer Lawrence Bender's otherwise unimpressive indie, "Stark Raving Mad” (2002) before wrapping up the “American Pie” franchise with "American Wedding" (2003), which chronicled his character’s final maturation. The film did not do his talent justice and tanked with viewers.
Scott’s popularity with the 18-34 demographic was confirmed when he and Justin Timberlake co-hosted the 2003 MTV Movie Awards, the pair of handsome goofballs parodying the year’s films in a wildly popular broadcast. Scott tried on the mantle of action hero when he joined Chow Yun Fat in "Bulletproof Monk” (2003), one-half of a comic odd couple whose mission is to protect a powerful ancient scroll that holds the key to unlimited power. But Scott's star power outside the "American Pie" franchise was finally proven when he co-starred opposite Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the hit action-comedy-buddy flick "The Rundown" (2003) as the irritating but innocent quarry of the bounty hunter muscleman. Scott teamed with Johnny Knoxville to play a modern day incarnation of Bo and Luke Duke in the occasionally amusing big screen version of "The Dukes of Hazzard" (2005), though both actors were overshadowed by the hype surrounding the acting debut of singer Jessica Simpson in her “Daisy Duke” shorts.
In a successful crossover to milder family entertainment, Scott voiced Crash, a cocky, loudmouthed possum in “Ice Age: The Meltdown” (2006), the successful sequel to the animated family hit “Ice Age” (2002). He also starred in the comic drama “Train Wreck: My Life as an Idiot” (2007) based on the memoir of a barely functional comedian battling ADD, dyslexia, Tourette’s syndrome and alcoholism. Scott skillfully painted a funny, self-deprecating and desperately lost character, but his promising performance was only seen by festival crowds. He was back to the low-brow comedies with “Mr. Woodcock” (2007), starring as a twenty-something author returning to his home town to find his widowed mother (Susan Sarandon) is engaged to marry the gym teacher (Billy Bob Thornton) whose sadistic exploits where the bane of his adolescent existence. Naturally, he tries to stop the pending nuptials only to have his plans go awry.
But unlike many of his now virtually forgotten “American Pie” castmates, Scott was exploring new and truly experimental territory with “Southland Tales," where he did double duty portraying twins – one police officer; one radical – in Richard Kelly’s satirical, futuristic tale of urban chaos. In 2008, Scott had a steady stream of comedies slated for release, co-starring opposite John C. Reilly as competing executives in “The Promotion;” opposite Paul Rudd as a pair of unfit youth mentors in “Little Big Men;” and alongside Randy Quaid in “Ball’s Out: The Gary Houseman Story” about a ragtag high school tennis team.