October 3: Actress, dancer & musician Shannyn Sossamon of Warpaint and Maudegone, is 35-years-old today.

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Shannon Marie Kahololani Sossamon was born October 3, 1978 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and grew up in Reno, Nevada. The day after her high school graduation, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in dance.


In LA, Sossamon began to work as a DJ, booking gigs in local clubs. Her dancing soon led to commercial work and appearances in music videos for Cher, Korn and Mick Jagger.

Sossamon was discovered while attending a birthday party for Gwyneth Paltrow, where a friend of Shannyn’s was deejaying. There the director of 2001's  A Knight’s Tale spotted her in the crowd and asked her to audition. She did and landed the starring role of Jocelyn opposite Heath Ledger. With the film providing her with nationwide exposure, she soon landed other starring roles in features such as 40 Days And 40 Nights and The Rules of Attraction.

In 2003 She was cast again with Ledger in the film The Order. In 2006, Sossamon was cast as the female lead in the independent film Wristcutters: A Love Story. Sossamon was next cast in Courteney Cox’s dark drama series Dirt on FX.

She then starred in the horror film Catacombs alongside singer Pink. Next, Sossamon signed on as a series regular on CBS’s vampire drama Moonlight in 2007, then starred as Beth Raymond in the horror remake One Missed Call a remake of the Japanese horror film.  For her performance in the film, she received a Teen Choice Award nomination for "Choice Film Actress: Horror.”

In 2008, Sossamon appeared with George Clooney in the commercial “A Beautiful Race” for the company Martini. Her next two films were The Heavy and Life Is Hot in Cracktown.


Sossamon continues to appear in many TV shows and films,

including the TV series Mistresses, and movies including The Cyclist, The End of Love, Man Without a Head and The Jesuit.  but while her career focus continues to be on acting, she has also been interested in music.

In 2003 she started to learn how to play guitar very seriously. When her friend When her friends Theresa Wayman, Emily Kokal and sister Jenny Lee Lindberg started the band Warpaint in 2004, all of then played guitar, so Sossamon switched to drums.

Eventually she decided to leave the band to focus on acting. Her sole recording with the band is the 2009 EP, Exquisite Corpse and the video for "Undertow."

Sossamon has never stopped writing songs. Recently, she and her sister formed a new group named. Maudegone. As much theater as music the trio has filmed a handful of videos.


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