Chris Owen, best known as the ‘Sherminator’ from American Pie, has largely stepped away from Hollywood, and fans have since spotted him living a much more ordinary life.
Plenty of performers work everyday jobs before they find success, but for some, that pattern can return even after appearing in hugely recognizable films.
Having played Chuck Sherman in the American Pie series, Owen became a familiar face to an entire generation of movie fans. Even so, the actor, who turned 45 in 2026, ended up choosing a quieter path away from the entertainment spotlight.
Following his final turn as Sherman in 2012’s American Reunion, Owen took a job waiting tables at a sushi restaurant in Santa Monica, helping support himself while still pursuing acting opportunities.
Speaking with New York Daily News in 2014, Owen explained: “Life doesn’t always go the way you planned. I love acting, and this job lets me stay in the fight…I get recognized a lot.
“I walk up to the table and see the look in their eyes…People get excited, and it feels good. I like connecting with people for that brief moment in time.”
Not everyone thought that kind of recognition would be easy to deal with, though. One Reddit user who said they saw Owen at the restaurant wrote: “The worst part is probably having to deal with customers taking pictures and bringing up his work from more than a decade ago every time he goes into work.”
Another added: “Nothing but respect for taking a regular guy job. Hope he’s making the best of it.”
Although the restaurant job offered stability, Owen did continue acting. In recent years, he appeared in Money Game, an Amazon Prime docuseries about college athletes released in 2024, and he also featured in The Epidemic, a 2024 movie centered on a group of people trapped across different states during a zombie outbreak.
His profile has remained relatively low-key, but he has also continued to pop up at fan conventions, including Steel City Con in December 2024.
Despite those projects, Owen has otherwise maintained a fairly private lifestyle and has kept a low profile in recent years.
In his personal life, he married Dayna Cousins in 2018 and shared a number of affectionate photos of them together on Instagram.
He has kept that account relatively quiet in recent years, but his public posts have still occasionally offered fans a glimpse of his life away from Hollywood.
His most recent Instagram update promoted an appearance at Steel City Con, the annual Pennsylvania convention known for celebrity guests and vendor booths.