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Mira Sorvino
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Mira Sorvino

Since her first leading role as a convict's loyal girlfriend in her friend Rob Weiss's debut film Amongst Friends (1993), Mira Sorvino has been on the fast track to stardom. Her breakthrough role as a crass New York streetwalker in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (1995), displayed not only her depth and range as an actress but her willingness to take on challenging roles.

Her risk paid off. Not only did her performance steal the show, it also earned Sorvino an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Born in Tenafly, New Jersey on September 28, 1967, Sorvino is the daughter of character actor Paul Sorvino, best known for roles in films like Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990). Sorvino earned a degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University.

Upon graduation, Sorvino moved to New York to pursue an acting career. Between small acting gigs, she waited tables and worked as a production assistant until 1992, when Weiss hired her as a third assistant director on the low-budget, independent Amongst Friends. Sorvino proved so adept at her job that Weiss promoted her to associate producer and eventually cast her as his leading lady. She appeared in two short films, Susan Seidelman's The Dutch and the satirical The Second Greatest Story Ever Told (both 1993), in which she played a contemporary Virgin Mary. In 1994, Whit Stillman hired her to play a two-faced party girl in Barcelona, while Robert Redford cast her as Rob Morrow's wife in Quiz Show.

After winning her Oscar for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite, Sorvino took a turn as Matt Dillon's anorexic girlfriend in Beautiful Girls (1996) and as Marilyn Monroe in the made-for-TV Norma Jean and Marilyn (1996), for which she received an Emmy nomination. Sorvino went on to star in Mimic, the comedy hit Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, and The Replacement Killers. Sorvino decided to try her hand at romantic drama in 1999, starring opposite Val Kilmer in At First Sight and finished the year with critical acclaim for her starring role as John Leguizamo's estranged wife in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2003.

Mira Sorvino Facts

Birth NameMira Katherine Sorvino
OccupationActress
BirthdaySeptember 28, 1967 (56)
SignLibra
BirthplaceTenafly, New Jersey, USA
Height5' 10" (1m78)  How tall is Mira Sorvino compared to you?
Awards1996 Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actress (for Mighty Aphrodite)
1996 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture (for Mighty Aphrodite)

Selected Filmography

Not available.