Seeing what little stability exists in show business already, the term “Indie Queen” makes sense to Mena Suvari. Code word mostly for “involved in smaller, eclectic projects”, it was how the film industry and press felt to define her when she first found acclaim, before her 20th birthday even arrived. But the actress quickly, and wisely, saw the term as an extension of the game and nothing more.

“I think it’s done to everyone, but for me it didn’t matter,” Suvari explains to me this spring in Los Angeles, where she currently resides. “It was just really about projects as a whole and how I could challenge myself with a story or character. I never put any kind of boundaries on those things.”

Suvariís career of left turns is example of that mindset: her film debut in Gregg Araki’s stylish black comedy Nowhere; a bank-robbing cheerleader in Sugar and Spice, a recent grisly stint as The Black Dahlia on American Horror Story. But then of course, thereís the unavoidable, perfect one-two punch of suburbia and high school in 1999 that launched Suvariís career worldwide: American Pie and American Beauty.

The former gross-out teen comedy would mark Suvari’s first studio experience—as choirgirl Heather who would fall in and out of love with Chris Klein’s Oz over the four-film series—but Suvari claims her role in Sam Mendes’ directorial debut American Beauty at age 19 proved a more seminal experience.

“I was so green in the industry. I was just happy to have a job and to be working with such amazing people,” she says about the Oscar-winning film, which saw her playing a high school Lolita to Kevin Spacey’s isolated suburban dad, Lester Burnham. “They were so sweet and nurturing. But I didn’t have this perspective of, ‘Oh, this is going to be an award-winning film with massive box office.’”At that age I honestly thought that every movie made $100 million. It was very simple.”

Simplicity and a fluid way of life has always appealed to Suvari, who was born in Newport, Rhode Island with three older brothers, hopped around the Virgin Islands and South Carolina shortly after, and came out to Los Angeles with her parents at 14 once her modeling career with Wilhelmina Talent Agency started gaining traction. That traction was, of all things, a Rice-a-Roni commercial, but that gig soon led to print work and guest spots on shows like Boy Meets World and ER.

ìIt was work, but at that point I was so used to kind of moving around,î she says. “It’s hard to describe, but I felt like there were moments in my life that were pushing me on this path.î

She certainly encountered the more ruthless side of the business early on. Before she was signed, she came out to LA for a talent convention to learn the basics of modeling—walking a runway, taking headshots, running auditions. I was walking down the runway, just practicing,”she recounts, “And I remember a kid from my modeling school came and told me afterwards that another girl watched me and said, ‘That girl shakes her ass too much. I’m gonna wipe the floor with her.’”

Pre-teen taunts aside, that style of surface-level negativity has only increased since in Suvari’s opinion; the day that she and I meet, CNN is abuzz with reports of royal sweetheart Kate Middleton and an ill-timed wardrobe malfunction.

Suvari’s expression turns to frustration. “Why is this headline news?” she exclaims. “We don’t honor the things that people do, or any of their positive qualities or accomplishments. It’s all about what you haven’t done.” Later, she outlines the type of defense she and fellow actors have taken against such actions.

“You’re really given two options: you either crush under the pressure or you work really hard to maintain the right perspective and develop this thick skin. I’ve seen that with people with whom I’ve worked, they’re just always guarded. You have your people around you because you trust them, and it’s hard to live like that-being consciously aware of how someone could backstab you.”

Fortunately Suvari’s professional instincts have proved fruitful, although unpredictability remains—a fact most recently experienced when her Amazon Studios pilot Hysteria, created by Sean Cassidy, failed to go to series this past fall.

“It was devastating to think I might never have another experience like that,” she says, referring to her close bond with Hysteria’s cast and crew. ìBut then it wasn’t ten days later that I was on a plane to South Carolina.” The reason for the sudden turnaround? WeTV’sSouth of Hell, another series lead role and a rare foray for Suvari’s into horror, a genre that she counts among her loves (Jennifer Kent’s film The Babadook is a recent favorite).

Produced by Jason Blumhouse and featuring a slew of directors including Eli Roth, Ti West, and Jennifer Lynch, the eight-episode show also boasts serious showrunner cred in James Manos Jr. of Dexter fame. The story follows a pair of siblings (Suvari and Zachary Booth) as they return to their hometown of Charleston, only for Suvariís demon hunter occupation (and her own internal demon) to conjure up the more supernatural aspects of the city.

On a break from filming in South Carolina, Suvari tells me over the phone about her new project, starting with her showrunner. “James is one of the most fascinating men I’ve ever met,” she says. “He brings such a vibrancy and passion to the set, and at any moment you can ask him a question about the show’s mythology since it’s all in his head. There’s also this connection between my character productively using this demon part of herself to what James did with Dexter and his ‘dark passenger.’”

I want to use all of my energy on being the best person that I can be, and learning more about who I am. Everything else is just relative.

As in Hysteria, where Suvari played a neurologist psychiatrist (an occupation once filled by her father, Ando), South of Hell sees an even larger step into the depths of her personal history.

“I actually lived in Charleston when I was younger,” she says. “I went to middle school at [all-girls school] Ashley Hall, first auditioned for Wilhelmina out here. It’s been such a gift coming back and revisiting the places that I lived in and hung out at when I was younger, in the sense of my character Maria doing the exact same thing.”

On the topic of the past, I ask her whether there were times where she wanted to step away from acting ñ it being a career path decided upon early in her teenage years.

ìThere was a moment after American Beauty. I worked on a film with [Clueless director] Amy Heckerling called Loser and I felt that I was still trying to figure out who I was. For anyone, as youíre growing up, it’s not easy. I didnít study with any particular person or any particular method either, so that was kind of challengingóeveryone kind of wants to know what makes acting work and why, and itís hard when youíre still trying to figure all of that out.î

She continues, ìI was frustrated at that point in my life, feeling like since I didnít go to college, I should just stop everything and pursue that. I felt like I wasn’t really being true to who I was or what I wanted to be. I realized that there’s the “Mena Suvari” that I’m still figuring out even to this day—I’m 35—and then there’s this persona that’s part of the job.”

Still, with a packed slate of projects, including dramas Badge of Honor and Opposite Sex, and her continued work with charities like Amref (African Medical and Research Foundation), Suvari’s still invigorated—just don’t ask her to assess public opinion of her work.

“I was affected for many, many years, being the person thinking of fitting in with one particular crowd or person,” she says. “It’s all a choice. People have to understand you’re never going to please anyone, nothing’s perfect, not everyone’s going to like you—all of that is a possibility. For me, I want to use all of my energy on being the best person that I can be, and learning more about who I am. Everything else is just relative.