Early life

Sorvino was born in New York City. Her mother, Lorraine Ruth Davis, is a drama therapist for Alzheimer's disease patients and a former actress; her father, Paul Sorvino, is a character actor and film director. She has two siblings, Michael and Amanda. Sorvino is of Italian descent on her father's side.

Sorvino was raised in Tenafly, New Jersey, where she wrote and acted in backyard plays with her childhood friend Hope Davis and in theater productions at Dwight-Englewood School. Sorvino was accepted into Harvard University, and studied one year as an exchange student with CIEE in Beijing, China, where she became fluent in Mandarin Chinese. In 1989, she graduated from Harvard magna cum laude with a degree in East Asian Studies. She also helped found the Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones, one of Harvard's co-ed a cappella groups in 1985.

Career

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 opened doors for her.

After small roles in Robert Redford's Quiz Show and Whit Stillman's Barcelona, she was cast in the 1995 Woody Allen film Mighty Aphrodite. Her portrayal of a happy-go-lucky prostitute made her a star, winning her an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Other credits include Romy and Michele's High School Reunion alongside Lisa Kudrow, At First Sight with Val Kilmer, and Summer of Sam from Spike Lee. She portrayed Marilyn Monroe for the 1996 HBO film Norma Jean & Marilyn, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe, and the lead role in the 1997 horror movie Mimic from Guillermo del Toro. In 1995, she portrayed Conchita Closson in the BBC miniseries The Buccaneers based on Edith Wharton's last novel.

In recent years, Sorvino has starred in lower-budget and independent films. In 2006, she received a Golden Globe nomination for her role as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in the Lifetime film Human Trafficking.

In February 2008, she guest-starred in the "Frozen" episode of the medical television drama House. There was talk of making her character, psychiatrist Cate Milton, a recurring character; however, the writers strike put a freeze on such discussions.

She starred in Attack on Leningrad (2009), Multiple Sarcasms (2010) alongside Timothy Hutton and Stockard Channing, and Nancy Savoca's Union Square (release date, July 2012), with Patti Lupone and Tammy Blanchard.

She was considered for the role of video game heroine Jill Valentine in Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) before the role was played by British actress Sienna Guillory.

In 2012, she starred in the feature film Union Square by Nancy Savoca. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival to good reviews.

In the same year, Sorvino played the mother of the lead in the film adaptation of Wendy Mass’s popular children’s book Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life.

In 2014, she reappeared as Head Detective Betsy Brannigan on the final season of Psych, and on the fourth season of Falling Skies as John Pope's love interest, Sara. Sorvino also joined the cast of the television series Intruders, playing the role of Amy Whelan.

In 2016, she appeared in the Netflix series Lady Dynamite as an actress working for a sitcom pilot named White Trash.

Personal life

Between 1996 and 1998, Mira Sorvino was romantically involved with director Quentin Tarantino, who was her escort to the Academy Awards ceremony where she won Best Supporting Actress for Mighty Aphrodite.

Sorvino met actor Christopher Backus at a friend's charades party in August 2003. On June 11, 2004, they married in a private civil ceremony at the Santa Barbara, California, courthouse, then later had a hilltop ceremony in Capri, Italy. The couple have four children: daughters Mattea Angel (born 2004) and Lucia (born 2012) and sons Johnny Christopher King (born 2006) and Holden Paul Terry Backus (born 2009).

She has been affiliated with Amnesty International since 2004, and, in 2006, was honored with Amnesty International’s Artist of Conscience Award given to those who have displayed longstanding philanthropic and humanist efforts. Sorvino has been a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador to Combat Human Trafficking, since 2009 through 2012, and has lobbied Congress to abolish human trafficking in Darfur.

In honor of Sorvino's role as Dr. Susan Tyler, an entomologist who was investigating deadly insect mutations in the feature film Mimic, a compound excreted by the sunburst diving beetle as a defensive mechanism was named "mirasorvone" by Thomas Eisner.,

In September 2014, Sorvino gave a wide-ranging interview on the The Nerdist Podcast in which she discusses her education and her life in China, and many of her varied interests.

Sorvino is a devout Christian.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	The Stuff	Factory Worker	Uncredited
1993	Obit Writer, TheThe Obit Writer		Short film
1993	Amongst Friends	Laura
1993	Nyû Yôku no koppu	Maria
1994	Quiz Show	Sandra Goodwin
1994	Barcelona	Marta Ferrer
1995	Sweet Nothing	Monika
1995	Mighty Aphrodite	Linda Ash	Academy Award Winner - Best Supporting Actress
1995	Blue in the Face	Young Lady
1996	Beautiful Girls	Sharon Cassidy
1996	Tales of Erotica	Teresa	Short film The Dutch Master
1996	Tarantella	Diane
1997	Romy and Michele's High School Reunion	Romy White
1997	Mimic	Dr. Susan Tyler
1998	Replacement Killers, TheThe Replacement Killers	Meg Coburn
1998	Lulu on the Bridge	Celia Burns
1998	Too Tired to Die	Death/Jean
1998	Free Money	Agent Karen Polarski
1999	At First Sight	Amy Benic
1999	Summer of Sam	Dionna
2001	Grey Zone, TheThe Grey Zone	Dina
2001	Triumph of Love, TheThe Triumph of Love	The Princess
2002	WiseGirls	Meg Kennedy
2002	Semana santa	Maria Delgado
2002	Between Strangers	Natalia Bauer
2003	Gods and Generals	Fanny Chamberlain
2004	Final Cut, TheThe Final Cut	Delila
2006	Covert One: The Hades Factor	Randi Russell
2007	Reservation Road	Ruth
2008	The Last Templar	Tess
2009	Multiple Sarcasms	Cari
2009	Like Dandelion Dust	Wendy Porter
2009	Trouble with Cali, TheThe Trouble with Cali	The Balletmaster
2009	Sweet Flame	Sheila
2009	Attack on Leningrad	Kate Davis
2010	Presence, TheThe Presence	The Woman
2011	Angels Crest	Angie
2012	Union Square	Lucy
2012	Perfect Sisters	Linda
2012	Smitty	Amanda
2012	Trade of Innocents	Claire Becker
2013	Space Warriors	Sally Hawkins
2015	Do You Believe?	Samantha
2015	Chloe and Theo	Monica
2016	Exposed	Janine Cullen

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Swans Crossing	Sophia Eva McCormick De Castro	6 episodes
1994	Parallel Lives	Matty Derosa	Movie
1995	Buccaneers, TheThe Buccaneers	Conchita Closson	5 episodes
1996	Norma Jean & Marilyn	Marilyn Monroe	Movie
2000	Great Gatsby, TheThe Great Gatsby	Daisy Buchanan	Movie
2003	Will & Grace	Diane	Episode "Last Ex to Brooklyn"
2005	Human Trafficking	Kate Morozov	Miniseries
2008	House	Dr. Cate Milton	Episode "Frozen"
2009	Last Templar, TheThe Last Templar	Tess Chaykin	Movie
2012	Finding Mrs. Claus	Mrs. Claus	Movie
2014	Psych	Head Detective Betsy Brannigan	3 episodes
2014-15	Falling Skies	Sara	Recurring role (seasons 4-5)
2014	Intruders	Amy Whelan	Main role, 8 episodes
2015	Stalker	Vicki Gregg	Recurring role
2016	Lady Dynamite	Herself/Millicent Pratt/Jennifer Nickles	1 episode ("White Trash")

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Work	Result
1995	Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Mighty Aphrodite	Won
	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award	Best Supporting Actress		Won
	Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actress		Won
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture		Won
	National Board of Review	Best Supporting Actress		Won
	New York Film Critics Circle	Best Supporting Actress		Won
	Southeastern Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actress		Won
	BAFTA	Actress in a Supporting Role		Nominated
	Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated
	Los Angeles Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated
	National Society of Film Critics	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role		Nominated
1996	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film	Norma Jean & Marilyn	Nominated
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie		Nominated
1997	MTV Movie Awards	Best Dance Sequence	Romy and Michele's High School Reunion	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Actress	Mimic	Nominated
2005	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film	Human Trafficking	Nominated
2009	San Diego Film Festival	Best Actress	Like Dandelion Dust	Won

Charities

Mira Sorvino supports the following charitable causes: Disaster Relief, Women's Issues, Rape/Sexual Abuse, World Poverty & Hunger.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]