Mira Sorvino
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| Mira Sorvino | |
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| Birth name | Mira Katherine Sorvino |
| Born | September 28, 1967 (age 39) Tenafly, New Jersey, USA  |
| Spouse(s) | Christopher Backus (2004 - present) |
| Notable roles | Linda in Mighty Aphrodite Romy in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion |
| Academy Awards | |
|---|---|
| Best Supporting Actress 1995 Mighty Aphrodite |
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Mira Katherine Sorvino (born September 28, 1967 in Tenafly, New Jersey) is an Academy Award-winning American actress.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
She is the daughter of Lorraine Davis, a drama therapist for Alzheimer's patients, and Italian American character actor Paul Sorvino; she has two siblings, Michael, and Amanda, a playwright.
Her father did not want his children to become actors; at a young age, however, Sorvino wrote and acted in backyard plays with childhood friend Hope Davis, in theater productions at Dwight-Englewood High School, and later at Harvard University, where she graduated magna cum laude in East Asian Studies. Her thesis was on anti-African sentiment in China. While at Harvard, she helped found the Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones, one of Harvard's premier co-ed a cappella groups.
[edit] Career
Sorvino spent the next three years in New York City, trying to make a name for herself as an actress. When the 1993 film Amongst Friends entered pre-production, she was hired as third assistant director, then was promoted to casting director, then to assistant producer, and was finally offered a lead role. Positive reviews [1] [2] opened doors for her.
After small but showy roles in Robert Redford's Quiz Show and Whit Stillman's Barcelona, her portrayal of a squeaky-voiced, foul-mouthed prostitute in Woody Allen's 1995 film Mighty Aphrodite won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Other credits include Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (opposite Lisa Kudrow) and At First Sight with Val Kilmer. In recent years, she has appeared in lower budget and independent films. In 2005, she received a Golden Globe nomination for her role as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in the Lifetime film Human Trafficking.
[edit] Personal life
Sorvino dated director Quentin Tarantino for several years and was in a relationship with French actor Olivier Martinez.
She met actor Christopher Backus at a friend's charades party in August 2003: "He walked into the kitchen looking for silverware. We saw each other and something made us want to talk to each other more". She told People. They were engaged within a month. On June 11, 2004, they married in a private civil ceremony at a Santa Barbara, California courthouse, then later had a hilltop ceremony in Capri, Italy. Their daughter, Mattea Angel, was born on November 4, 2004 and their son, Johnny Christopher King, was born on May 29, 2006.
Sorvino is affiliated with Amnesty International, and has been among the many Hollywood celebrities calling for United Nations action in Darfur.
She spent a year of study in Beijing while attending Harvard. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and also speaks French.
In October of 2006, Sorvino was successfully evicted from her rent-stabilized one-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan near Central Park when her landlord claimed that it was not her primary residence. Sorvino told New York magazine, “My landlords are selling the building, and they want the units cleared so they can turn it into a luxury rental, even though it’s a one-bedroom. I mean, it’s 600 square feet! No great digs, but I loved it and now it’s probably going to go for $4,000 a month ... I’m a little bitter! Can you tell?”
[edit] Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Barcelona | Marta Ferrer | |
| 1995 | Mighty Aphrodite | Linda Ash | |
| 1996 | Norma Jean & Marilyn | Marilyn Monroe | |
| 1996 | Beautiful Girls | Sharon Cassidy | |
| 1997 | Romy and Michele's High School Reunion | Romy White | |
| 1997 | Mimic | Dr. Susan Tyler | |
| 1998 | The Replacement Killers | Meg Coburn | |
| 1998 | Lulu on the Bridge | Celia Burns | |
| 1999 | At First Sight | Amy Benic | |
| 1999 | Summer of Sam | Dionna | |
| 2000 | The Great Gatsby | Daisy | |
| 2002 | Wise Girls | Meg Kennedy | |
| 2002 | The Triumph of Love | The Princess/Phocion/Aspasie | |
| 2004 | The Final Cut | Delila | |
| 2005 | Human Trafficking | Kate Morozov |
| Preceded by Dianne Wiest for Bullets Over Broadway |
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress 1995 for Mighty Aphrodite |
Succeeded by Juliette Binoche for The English Patient |
[edit] Interviews
- interview, 10/24/05, The Honolulu Advertiser
- interview, 10/02, Interview Magazine
- interview, 4/02, Filmcritic.com
- interview, 1/16/99, People Online
- interview, 10/95, MovieMaker Magazine
[edit] External links
- Mira Sorvino at the Internet Movie Database
- Mira Sorvino at the Notable Names Database
- Mira Sorvino at TV.com
