Shannyn Sossamon is an American actress, director, and musician, born on October 3, 1978. She is known for her roles in several films, including A Knight’s Tale (2001), 40 Days and 40 Nights, The Rules of Attraction (both 2002), The Order (2003), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), The Holiday (2006), Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006), Road to Nowhere (2009), The End of Love (2012), and Sinister 2 (2015).
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Apart from acting, Sossamon is also a musician. She provided vocals and drums to the band Warpaint from 2004 to 2008. However, she left the group after recording their first EP. Sossamon’s sole recording with the band is the 2009 EP Exquisite Corpse.
In 2009, Sossamon started directing and producing shorts and music videos under her small production company, the Maudegone Theater.
Profile Summary
| Net worth | $3 million |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth: | 1978 October 3 |
| First Name | Shannon Marie Kahololani |
| Last Name | Sossamon |
| Nationality | American |
| Aka | Shannyn Sossamon |
| Age: | 44 years old |
| Birth Nation: | United States |
| Height: | 5 Feet 8 Inch |
Early life
Shannyn Sossamon was born in Hawaii but grew up in Reno, Nevada. Her diverse heritage includes Dutch, English, French, German, Irish, Filipino, and Hawaiian.
After her parents’ divorce when she was five years old, Sossamon and her sister were raised by their mother, who later married Randy Goldman, a car dealership manager, and salesman. Sossamon attended Galena High School in Reno and graduated in 1995.
The day after her high school graduation, Sossamon moved to Los Angeles with two friends to pursue her passion for dance. Reflecting on that time, she recalled the feeling of freedom and excitement that came with waking up in a new place and making coffee. In 1995, she altered the spelling of her first name, changing the “a” to a “y”.
Career
Shannyn Sossamon moved to Los Angeles in 1995 and began working as a DJ while also modeling and appearing in commercials and music videos. She was discovered by casting director Francine Maisler and won the lead female role in A Knight’s Tale, which earned mixed reviews but was a box-office success.
Sossamon also starred in 40 Days and 40 Nights, which was a major box-office success, and received critical acclaim for her performance. She took a hiatus from acting after completing The Order in 2003 due to her pregnancy. She made a guest appearance on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2004.
Shannyn Sossamon played the female lead in the indie romantic black comedy Wristcutters: A Love Story, which was shown at The Sundance Film Festival and The Seattle International Film Festival Awards in early 2006. She also appeared in the major commercial success, The Holiday, and played a ghostly figment in the series Dirt on FX.
Sossamon starred in Moonlight, a vampire drama, but the series was canceled after one season. She played a woman raising her sick child in the indie drama Life Is Hot in Cracktown and made a brief appearance in the romantic comedy Our Family Wedding. Sossamon also appeared in the thriller The Heavy and played a recurring character in the HBO television series How to Make It in America.
Personal life
Besides acting, Sossamon continues to study music and dance. After the birth of her first child, she started to learn how to play the guitar, with lessons about four days a week, as she wanted to create a band with her sister Jenny Lee Lindberg, who knew how to play the bass. Shortly afterward, they formed Warpaint, an indie rock and psychedelic band formed in Los Angeles.
As all the members were playing the guitar at the beginning, she became the drummer of the group. Sossamon explained, “When we all started the band together, no one was playing drums, it was like all of us on guitars, and we needed a drummer. We tried out a pool of drummers and then one day I just decided to sit on the drum kit and it really worked and I had so much fun”.
When asked about her interest in pursuing a musical career as a solo artist following her work with the band Warpaint, Sossamon responded that although she writes a lot of songs by herself, “music requires focus and discipline in a way that I need to have for other things right now”.
Despite her musical work, Sossamon clarified she rarely calls herself a musician, as she does not “practice or play nearly as much as the great ones do. Most of my days and thoughts are taken up by stories, feelings, and pictures. Music is present in them, too, but always having to do with a picture.”
Net worth
In 2017, it was reported that Shannyn Sossamon had a net worth of $3 million and an annual income of $350 thousand, which she earned from her successful career. Recently, she starred in the Mystery/Thriller film “Sinister 2,” which grossed approximately $52.9 million at the box office. Some of her earnings from other movies include:
- “Sinister 2”: $250,000
- “The End of Love”: $187,500
- “The Day”: $171,429
- “The Heavy”: $153,846
- “Catacombs”: $130,435
