Mira Sorvino Biography | Mira Sorvino Actress | Mira Sorvino News

Mira Sorvino Bio

Mira Sorvino

Mira Sorvino doesn’t need to worry about being typecast. For one, she has played a variety of different roles. For another, while she has twice played roles of women who aren’t very bright, Sorvino herself actually graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University and speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese.

Sorvino was born in the affluent New Jersey suburb deemed Tenafly on September 28, 1967. Her parents are actor Paul Sorvino and drama therapist Lorraine Davis. Her father wanted to prevent her and his other children from entering into acting while they were young, so instead, the very intelligent Sorvino focused on her schoolwork. She ended up graduating magna cum laude with a degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University and wrote her senior thesis on the anti-African sentiment in China.

Despite all of this, Sorvino still couldn’t escape the acting bug. She spent some time working several different jobs in New York, but the one that helped further her acting career was working for Robert De Niro’s production company. Within the span of one movie (Amongst Friends) she went from production assistant to third assistant director to casting director to assistant producer, and eventually the acting lead.

After, a few more acting roles came along for Sorvino in movies such as The Second Greatest Story Ever Told with Malcolm McDowell, and in Parallel Lives, a made-for-television movie with a star-studded cast including, James Belushi, Liza Minelli, James Brolin, LeVar Burton, Jack Klugman, Matthew Perry, and her father Paul. Sorvino then starred in Quiz Show, a movie about the great quiz show scandal from the 1950s, and costarred with John Turturro, Rob Morrow, Ralph Fiennes, and Hank Azaria.

Sorvino’s breakthrough role came next, when Woody Allen cast her in the supporting role as a hooker in Mighty Aphrodite with himself, F. Murray Abraham, Helena Bonham Carter, Olympia Dukakis, and Michael Rapaport. This role won Sorvino an unexpected Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The same year she also appeared in the film Beautiful Girls with Matt Dillon, Lauren Holly, Rosie O’Donnell, and Timothy Hutton.

After her big award win, Sorvino only had one big role that received praise commercially. She costarred with Lisa Kudrow in Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion, a movie about two ditzy women going back for their ten year reunion and making themselves out to be much more than they are. The other movies that Sorvino has worked on may not have been huge successes, but they made for interesting roles for Sorvino. One such example is her role as Marilyn Monroe in Norma Jean and Marilyn, with Ashley Judd starring as Norma Jean. In Mimic she stars as an entomologist that genetically creates an insect, and in Too Tired to Die, Sorvino takes on the role of Death.

As an Academy Award winner Sorvino mostly appears with big name actors. One such example is Free Money, when Sorvino appeared alongside Marlon Brando, Donald Sutherland, and Charlie Sheen. She stars in At First Sight as a woman that falls for the blind Val Kilmer. Sorvino also took a role in Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam along with John Leguizamo. Other past costars include Mariah Carey in WiseGirls, and Jeff Daniels and Robert Duvall in Gods and Generals.

Sorvino had a long time relationship with director Quentin Tarantino and also dated Olivier Martinez. But it was a memorable game of charades at a party where Sorvino found the man of her dreams. There Sorvino met Christopher Backus and a month later the couple was engaged. They eventually wed and now have two children together.

del.icio.us

Stumble It

Facts:
Mira Sorvino - Starred in 'The Summer of Sam' which was written by Michael Imperioli .
Mira Sorvino - Daughter of Paul Sorvino .
Mira Sorvino - Once worked for Robert De Niro 's production company.
Mira Sorvino - Starred in TV movie 'Parallel Lives' with James Belushi .
Mira Sorvino - Starred in TV movie 'Parallel Lives' with James Brolin .