‘American Pie’ Star Seann William Scott Recalls Selling Churros at L.A. Zoo After Getting Paid $8K for Hit Comedy

Seann William Scott continued taking odd jobs in Los Angeles even after he filmed the first American Pie movie.

The actor’s alleged $8,000 payday for his feature film debut as Steve Stifler in the original 1999 sex comedy came up during a 2022 interview with radio talk show host Rich Eisen. With the SAG-AFTRA strike still ongoing, Scott’s revelation resurfaced Saturday after the show shared a clip to YouTube of the actor, now 46, saying the sum proved “a lot of money at the time for me.”

“I think so. I think — yeah, because I remember afterwards I bought a used Thunderbird for like five grand, or maybe six,” he said, after host Eisen expressed surprise at his salary. “I was like, ‘Oh yeah, baby!’ “

“I don’t know what happened to the other $2,000, because then I ended up having to work at the L.A. Zoo,” he added. “I was a churro guy. So maybe it was even less than $8,000.” 

A representative for Universal Pictures did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment Monday.

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American Pie earned $102.5 million at the domestic box office and $235 million worldwide following its release in July 1999 and was considered an instant success, given its $11 million budget, per Box Office Mojo. The film franchise that followed spawned three direct sequels that also featured Scott as Stifler, as well as the American Pie Presents spin-off series, which last released Girls’ Rules in 2020.

“It was before [American Pie] came out,” Scott told Eisen of his stint selling churros at the Los Angeles Zoo. “So I shot the movie, we’re waiting for it to come out. I got the Thunderbird – maybe I spent all of it on the Thunderbird, maybe it was like the entire $8,000 or $7,000, and then I had another odd job. And then I worked at the L.A. Zoo waiting for the movie to come out.”

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While it’s unclear how Scott was compensated for American Pie 2 or American Wedding, The Hollywood Reporter reported back in 2011 that both he and castmate Jason Biggs negotiated $5 million paychecks to reprise their roles for 2012’s American Reunion.

Interest in Scott’s comments concerning his pay come as the ongoing actors and writers strikes against major Hollywood productions continue, bringing issues of pay disparity to the forefront of the entertainment industry. Devon Sawa recently recounted that he “never got paid a cent” for making a cameo appearance in 2011’s Final Destination 5.

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“They didn’t even tell me I was in it when they invited me to the premiere,” he wrote in posts to Twitter that have since been deleted. “In the first contract for part one there was a section the stated they owned the footage and could use it in the future. I assumed for press. I was wrong.”

Hollywood actors began striking at midnight on July 14, leaving most major productions at a standstill. Hollywood writers also been on strike since May; a number of independent productions continue to film after they were granted exemptions via SAG-AFTRA’s interim agreement, which allows members to resume filming without violating strike terms.

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Source: HIS Education