Vera Farmiga

Vera Ann Farmiga was born on August 6, 1973 in Passaic County, New Jersey, in the United States. She was the second of seven children, in a Catholic home with Ukrainian roots, and in fact little Vera did not start speaking English until she was six years old. Apparently as a young girl the future actress was very shy, and she wore huge glasses when she played the piano; She would change her look when she started practicing the dance, because then she put on contact lenses. With this new formation, she joined a company that performed musical numbers from Ukrainian folklore.

Glasses and contact lenses must have marked him, because he came to think of becoming an optometrist, but changed his mind and enrolled in Fine Arts at Syracuse University. Thus, she began to prepare for acting, and made her Broadway theater debut in 1996 with the play “Taking Sides” by Ronald Harwood , which would be followed by prestigious plays such as “The Tempest” by William Shakespeare or “The Glass Zoo by Tennessee Williams . ” .

In 1997 he made his debut on the small screen, in the Roar series , where he coincided with the then also unknown Heath Ledger ; she also met the one who would be her husband until 2005, Sebastian Roché ; Divorced, she would remarry in 2008 Renn Hawkey with whom she has had a son. Other television roles would follow, but Farmiga was made for movies, and in 1998 she made her first film,Return to Paradise , a story of tourists caught using drugs in Malaysia. From that moment on, she was adding secondary roles in titles such asAutumn in New York (2000), opposite Richard Gere ,Snow White (2001), the westernAshes and Gunpowder (2001), the comedyDummy, the doll (2002)… They weren’t jobs to get excited about, but Vera was gaining experience, and she made the most of her limited characters.

In 2004 he not only had a secondary presence in the feministIron Jawed Angels , but scored her first starring role in the ‘indie’ title Down to the Bone , and her portrayal of a working woman, drug addict, and mother, earned her an award at Sundance. Things were going from strength to strength, but the actress did not give up taking part in studio films, such as the political thrillerThe messenger of fear .

Two great directors worked with Farmiga in 2006. They were small roles, but she shone with her own light, whether it was under the orders of Martin Scorsese inDeparted , or those of Anthony Minghella inBreaking and Entering , with a prostitute role in which she was radically transformed.

After undertaking a thriller with Paul Walker inThe proof of the crime (2006), and the fear inThe son of evil (2007) – would return to this field inThe Orphan (2009), was the wife of a Nazi officer inThe boy in the striped pajamas (2008), adaptation of the popular best-seller about a boy who does not grasp the tragedy that unfolds in a concentration camp, until he himself becomes an innocent victim.

Farmigo has shown his dramatic power inQuid pro quo (2008), and in his best film to date,Up in the Air , where she is a high-flying executive, having a fling with a guy she bumps into at airports. She deserves the actress her Oscar nomination. Among her new projects, Henry’s Crime stands out , a comedy where she is accompanied by Keanu Reeves .