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Overview (3) |
Mini Bio (1) |
Family (4) |
Trade Mark (2) |
Trivia (76) |
Personal Quotes (34) |
Salary (1)
Overview (3)
| Born | in Clifton, New Jersey, USA |
| Birth Name | Vera Ann Farmiga |
| Height | 5' 7" (1.7 m) |
Mini Bio (1)
Vera Farmiga is an American actress who has received an Academy Award nomination for her role in Up in the Air (2009) and Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her roles in Bates Motel (2013) and When They See Us (2019).
She was born Vera Ann Farmiga, the second of seven children, on August 6, 1973, in Clifton, New Jersey, USA, to Ukrainian parents. She did not speak English until the age of six, and was raised in the Ukrainian Catholic home of her mother, Luba (Spas), a schoolteacher, and her father, Michael Farmiga, a computer systems analyst. Her younger sister is actress Taissa Farmiga, who is 21 years her junior. Young Vera was a shy, nearsighted girl, who played piano and folk danced with a Ukrainian touring company in her teens.
In 1991, she graduated from Hunterdon Central Regional High School. Farmiga initially dreamed of becoming an optometrist, but she later changed her mind and studied acting at Syracuse University's School of Performing Arts, graduating in 1995. The following year, she began her professional acting career, making her Broadway debut as an understudy in the play "Taking Sides". Her stage credits included performances in "The Tempest", "Good", "The Seagull", and in a well-reviewed off-Broadway production of "Second-Hand Smoke" (1997). That same year, she made her television debut as the female lead, opposite a then-unknown Heath Ledger, in Fox's adventure series Roar (1997).
In 1998, Farmiga made her big screen debut in the drama Return to Paradise (1998), then played the daughters of Christopher Walken in The Opportunists (1999) and Richard Gere in Autumn in New York (2000). She starred as a working-class mother struggling to keep her life and marriage together while hiding her drug addiction in Down to the Bone (2004), for which she was awarded Best Actress from the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Farmiga's acting talent shone in a range of characters, from her role as a senator's daughter in The Manchurian Candidate (2004), the wife of a mobster in Running Scared (2006), a humorous prostitute in Breaking and Entering (2006), and a police psychiatrist in The Departed (2006).
In 2010, Farmiga received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in Up in the Air (2009). In 2011, she made her directorial debut with the drama Higher Ground (2011), in which she also appeared in the leading role. Although the film had a limited release, Farmiga's direction and performance received attention at several festivals. In 2013, she began starring in the drama thriller series Bates Motel (2013), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in the first season. In 2019, she received a second Primetime Emmy Award nomination, this time in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie category, for her role in the drama miniseries When They See Us (2019).
Farmiga was formerly married to actor Sebastian Roché, whom she met during production of Roar (1997). The two eloped to the Bahamas after the series ended in 1997. They separated and subsequently divorced in 2004. On September 13, 2008, she married musician Renn Hawkey, with whom she has two children, son Fynn McDonnell (b. 2009) and daughter Gytta Lubov Hawkey (b. 2010). Farmiga lives with her family in Hudson Valley, New York. Her other activities, outside her acting profession, include reading, playing piano, boxing, jujitsu, and spending time with her pet angora goats.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
Family (4)
| Spouse |
Renn Hawkey (13 September 2008 -
present) (2 children)
Sebastian Roché (1997 - 2004) (divorced) |
| Children |
Gytta Hawkey Fynn Hawkey |
| Parents |
Farmiga (Spas), Luba
Farmiga, Michael |
| Relatives |
Taissa Farmiga (sibling)
Farmiga, Victor (sibling) Farmiga, Stephan (sibling) Farmiga, Nadia (sibling) Farmiga, Alexander (sibling) Farmiga, Laryssa (sibling) |
Trade Mark (2)
Expressive, piercing blue eyes
Frequently plays the mother of disturbed children
Trivia (76)
Grew up in a Ukrainian-speaking enclave in New Jersey.
On Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993) (July 19, 2007), Vera stated that she has had Lasik eye surgery.
Graduated from Syracuse University, class of 1995.
Did not learn English until she was six.
Daughter of Ukrainian immigrants, and the second of seven children.
Last name is pronounced far-MEE-guh.
Graduated from Hunterdon Central Regional High School, class of 1991.
Was member of the dramatic jury at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005.
Gave birth to her 1st child at age 35, son Fynn Hawkey (Fynn McDonnell Hawkey) on January 13, 2009. Child's father is her 2nd husband, Renn Hawkey.
Returned to work two months after giving birth to her son Fynn in order to begin filming Up in the Air (2009).
Used a body double for her nude scene in Up in the Air (2009) as she had just recently given birth. However, she has appeared nude herself in Down to the Bone (2004), Iron Jawed Angels (2004), Never Forever (2007), In Transit (2008), and A Heavenly Vintage (2009).
Was originally cast as Wallis Simpson in W.E. (2011). She met with Madonna for tea to discuss the role, but ultimately dropped out due to her second pregnancy. Andrea Riseborough was then cast instead.
Gave birth to her 2nd child at age 37, daughter Gytta Hawkey (Gytta Lubov Hawkey) on November 4, 2010. Child's father is her 2nd husband, Renn Hawkey.
Was five months pregnant with her daughter Gytta when she completed filming on Higher Ground (2011).
Returned to work 3 months after giving birth to her daughter Gytta in order to begin filming Goats (2012).
Older sister of Taissa Farmiga.
Good friends with George Clooney.
Delivered her children Fynn and Gytta via Caesarean section.
Turned down the offer to portray Milada Horáková in Milada (2017), eventually played by Ayelet Zurer.
First wife of Sebastian Roché.
Turned down the role of Lynn Childers in Machine Gun Preacher (2011) as she had become pregnant with her daughter Gytta.
Drives a black Chevrolet Corvette. [December 2013]
Counts boxing and knitting among her hobbies.
Plays the guitar and piano.
Practices the Japanese martial art of Jujitsu, in which she has earned an orange belt (March 2017).
Is a highly skilled pianist. She has played the piano for many of her acting roles, including Orphan (2009), At Middleton (2013), and Bates Motel (2013).
Had never acted in a sequel until The Conjuring 2 (2016).
Has starred in two films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: The Departed (2006) (which won) and Up in the Air (2009).
Made her Broadway debut as an understudy for the role of Emmi Straube in "Taking Sides". [October 1996]
Is a fan of the novels "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian" by Marina Lewycka, "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" by Annie Dillard, "Identity" by Milan Kundera, and "Wildlife" by Richard Ford.
Was considered for a role in The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
Before acting professionally, she worked in customer service for an air conditioning company.
Is referred to as a "Scream Queen" after her starring roles in Joshua (2007), Orphan (2009), Bates Motel (2013), The Conjuring (2013), and The Conjuring 2 (2016).
Is an alumnus of the prestigious Barrow Group theatre company.
Was a semi-professional Ukrainian folk dancer in the troupe Syzokryli, instructed by dancer and choreographer Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky.
Owns three angora goats named Zoshya, Fruzia and Sofika, and a dog named Muppet.
Though both her parents are Ukrainian-born, her mother grew up in the United States from infancy and her father was raised in Argentina.
Found her love of acting after being benched during a high school soccer match. She auditioned for the drama department's production of "The Vampire" and won the lead role.
Owns homes in Hudson Valley, New York and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Can speak some French and Spanish, in addition to being fluent in English and Ukrainian.
Began studying Muay Thai boxing during the second season of Bates Motel (2013). She previously studied the sport as a 20-year-old.
Attended St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School.
Met her 2nd husband, Renn Hawkey, on the set of Touching Evil (2004) in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Auditioned, and was closely considered, for the role of Jude Quinn in I'm Not There (2007), but Cate Blanchett was cast instead.
Earlier in her career, Farmiga would send self-taped auditions to casting directors instead of auditioning in person.
Her six siblings are named Victor, Stephan, Nadia, Alexander, Laryssa, and Taissa. They all share the same parents.
Played the older version of her sister Taissa Farmiga's character in Higher Ground (2011), and her mother in At Middleton (2013).
Was born in Passaic County and grew up in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
Her sister Laryssa was born with spina bifida.
Her father was a soccer player in his youth and was scouted for Argentina's national team.
Her role in Roar (1997) paid off her college student loans.
Is often cast in the role of a mother.
Has sung in four of her projects: Iron Jawed Angels (2004), Higher Ground (2011), Bates Motel (2013), and Special Correspondents (2016).
The set of The Conjuring (2013) was allegedly haunted. Farmiga apparently received an unexplained claw-shaped scratch on her thigh, and a similarly-shaped mark also appeared on her laptop screen.
Once played her agent, Tracy Brennan, in a video for CAA. She was so good in the role that other agents began recommending her to casting directors for roles.
Landed her first agent immediately after graduating from Syracuse University.
Met with Darren Aronofsky to discuss her taking a role in The Wrestler (2008). Farmiga could not envision herself coupled with Mickey Rourke and passed on the project. Marisa Tomei was eventually cast.
Placed the People's Choice Award she won for Bates Motel (2013) in a scene in the series finale, as an "Easter egg" for the supportive fans of the show.
Had to go to the emergency room after sustaining an injury during the filming of Bates Motel (2013)'s third season finale.
Flashed Jude Law on the set of Breaking and Entering (2006). She said, "It was just me and Anthony Minghella messing with Jude and his reaction [was] priceless -- embarrassed and amused and giddy".
Anthony Minghella sought Farmiga for a lead role in Breaking and Entering (2006), but due to scheduling conflicts with The Departed (2006), she instead took the supporting role of Oana.
Was a member of the Breakthrough Actor award jury at the Gotham Awards in 2017.
Cousin of artist Adriana Farmiga.
Born on the 28 year anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Japan.
Personal Quotes (34)
I can't do Los Angeles. I've always been the anti-Barbie. I don't want to be in a place where almost every woman walks around with puffy lips, little noses and breasts large enough to nourish a small country. As a kid I wanted attention, so I started praying for glasses because everyone had ace vision in my family. Then one day my eyes started going bad and never stopped.
It's terrifying to be the lead. There's a moment of excitement, and then pure terror.
I really don't feel a need to be famous. But I do feel a need to make a difference, to shed light on human emotion through acting.
There are some times when I think acting can be a noble profession.
I'm not in this for the achievement. I'm in it for the illumination. That's how I choose my roles, that's how I attract roles -- it's a very spiritual process for me. And it's the only way I can continue, and stay interested. The acting...it's really a vocation.
As an actor, you're sort of the court-appointed lawyer of the character. And that's what used to draw me to scripts -- something in a woman that I wanted to defend, something that I recognized or wanted to understand, something that turned my head. Now that I'm a mother, I think it's more the message of a film, or the questions that they pose about life -- that's the magnifying glass through which I look at them now. But at first it was all about the character.
I just can't feel lukewarm about a character. I either despise her, admire her, or don't understand her and want to understand her.
What happened is that I ended up getting benched in soccer in high school so I tried out for the school play and I got the lead role. Then I just stuck with it.
[on her film, Higher Ground (2011)] You've got fundamentalism, and you've got relativism. I wanted to push both ways and try to come at it from a middle ground.
My dad is someone who feels the breath of God on his face. He's tapping into something that I have yet to tap into -- and yearn to.
Doubt is the middle position between knowledge and ignorance. It encompasses cynicism but also genuine questioning.
[on any difficulties she encountered in casting Higher Ground (2011)] It should have been a lot harder. I'd say, "It's about a woman enmeshed in this very particular spiritual community who's trying to conceptualize and define God for herself". And you use the word "God" and people quake with fear. That's when I started to realize what a touchy, bizarre, sensitive, combative subject matter it is.
[on Up in the Air (2009)] Jason Reitman sketches these characters and shines a real stark spotlight on them that illuminates all their foibles, all of their deficiencies, quirks, eccentricities and yet you still manage to root for them because they're so human and complex. And I saw that in Alex.
My culture is very rich in the art; singing and dance were so much a part of my childhood. I was in a traveling professional dance troupe called Syzokryli, and I was very serious about the piano. So I was always performing.
[on directing] My big formative experience was Debra Granik. That was school for me. It was the first time anyone had given me the responsibility of a protagonist, and to work so closely with her ethics and her tenets about her filmmaking, and her honesty. I was persuaded through the Debra Granik school.
I keep finding the most compelling characters in independent films. A lot of the roles in the other kinds of films were peripheral princesses or just boring, boring women -- female characters that were utterly ordinary and devoid of any personality or spirituality. Is that a reflection of what we've become as women? That's something that we sometimes don't think about. You see all these stupid, materialist, horny, nympho characters that people put up there in movies, and you have to think: Is that what feminine dignity has come to?
[on giving up music and dancing] I don't regret it. I'm a jack-of-that-trade. There's not enough time, genuinely, not enough time in the day. So you choose your weapons. And the piano...I will not have time for the next decade until my children are grown! It's not about me anymore. It's not about myself. It's about them and the very little time I have left for me.
I'm not an attention seeker; I wasn't looking for fame and fortune. I wasn't sure while I was at college. But I found I was really comfortable taking on a different personality. It saved me from myself, in a way.
I've gravitated towards independent cinema because you have to work harder in studio scripts to flesh out characters, particularly female ones. They are not as sharply edged, they tend to be quite watery. They are not renderings of women as I know them.
My parents are very sensible and grounded, they take it with a pinch of salt. You know, I'm one of seven and they want success for all their children. They're proud but they're even more proud now that I've given them grandchildren.
I'm really serious about boxing these days. Boxing is a great way for me to get out of my head and get out of my heart and just like sweat it out, honestly. I'm very serious about it. If I didn't have the insurance, I would honestly start sparring and start competing in boxing, because I'm that serious and love it. It's a huge passion of mine.
I went to Ukrainian Girl Scouts, which is called Plast, and Ukrainian Catholic school. I did Ukrainian folk dancing. My piano teacher was Ukrainian. I used to think and dream in Ukrainian. My exposure to the English language mostly came from preschool, Saturday morning cartoons and television -- The Little Rascals (1982), Little House on the Prairie (1974), Gilligan's Island (1964).
Sometimes I attract roles that are necessary either for personal growth or enlightenment.
Normally, I rely heavily on my director to massage me out of my actor comfort zones.
The more people know about you, the more face-time you get in the media, the harder your job becomes to create a character in whom people suspend disbelief.
Whether you're making a million dollar film or a $100 million film there is never enough money, there's never enough time.
I think the worst thing that can happen to a good actor is fame.
[on her character Norma in Bates Motel (2013)] I had to like her. I had to have compassion with her. She wanted out of this maze of this cruel life she'd experienced. It's a really terrifying notion, this idea of confronting darkness in your child. There was so much to me that was lovable about her. There was much sass and humor. There's a whole lot of goofball that balanced the darkness.
I wouldn't have done The Departed (2006) had it not been for Down to the Bone (2004). I wouldn't have done Up in the Air (2009). Down to the Bone has always been the reference film for why directors hire me.
[on her first Emmy Award nomination] It is such an honor to be recognized by the academy and in the company of such brilliant women. I'm grateful to Carlton, Kerry and Anthony for gifting me with the opportunity to play such a complex woman and for breathing new life into the iconic Norma Bates.
[on her first Academy Award nomination] This feels great. It's a nice affirmation saying job well done. It's nice to have the respect of your peers and industry and critics and everyone rooting for you. I've been going at this a long time. I feel like I've always had the critics encouraging me.
A franchise, for me, is the chance to explore deeper characterization and, potentially, a slightly bigger paycheck, which is very alluring.
I look at characters the way my 4-year-old son Fynn looks at Legos: He doesn't want the Duplo Legos, for 2-year-olds -- they're janky. He wants that 2,503-piece collector's item Imperial Shuttle that features the rotating double laser-wing cannons. And for me it's the same thing: Norma Bates is the Imperial Shuttle.
[on her second Emmy Award nomination] Astonished by the surprising Emmy pat on my back, humbled. My heart is bursting with pride for all my When They See Us (2019) brothers and sisters and their noms. I pray that Kevin, Antron, Raymond, Korey and Yusef continue to absorb healing from this sweeping acknowledgment. Thank you to the Television Academy.
Salary (1)
| Bates Motel (2013) | $75,000 per episode (season one) |
