Vera Ann Farmiga (born August 6, 1973) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the 2006 films Running Scared and The Departed.
Biography
Early life
Vera Farmiga (pronounced [fɑɹˈmiːgə]), the second oldest of seven children, was born in Essex County, New Jersey and grew up in Irvington, New Jersey, the daughter of Michael (a computer-systems analyst) and Luba Farmiga (a schoolteacher), Ukrainian immigrants. She was raised in an insular Ukrainian American community, not speaking English until the age of six.[1] She attended a Ukrainian Catholic school in Newark and toured with a Ukrainian folk-dancing ensemble.[2] In 1991, Farmiga graduated from Hunterdon Central Regional High School.
Career
Although she originally intended to become an optometrist, Farmiga attended Syracuse University's School of Visual and Performing Arts. She made her Broadway debut in 1996 as an understudy in the play Taking Sides. The same year, she starred as Miranda in the American Conservatory Theater production of The Tempest. Throughout the late 1990s, she continued appearing in stage, television and film roles, including a part in the 1998 film Return to Paradise.
Farmiga appeared in several high profile films in the early 2000s, including Autumn in New York and 15 Minutes. She also appeared in the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate. Her lead performance in the 2005 film Down to the Bone received a "Best Actress" award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. In 2006 she appeared in Running Scared, and as a police psychiatrist in Martin Scorsese's The Departed.
Personal life
Farmiga was formerly married to actor Sebastian Roché, who co-starred with her in the television series Roar. The two eloped to the Bahamas after the series' end in 1997. The marriage ended in divorce in 2005.
Filmography
TV work
References
- ^ Hirschberg, Lynn. "A Film of One’s Own", The New York Times, September 3, 2006. Accessed October 29, 2007. "The oldest girl in a family of seven children, Farmiga grew up in Irvington, N.J., a blue-collar town not far from Newark. She spoke only Ukrainian until she went to kindergarten."
- ^ Fun Fact from Syzokryli website, accessed October 14, 2006
External links
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