Mira Sorvino

Mira Katherine Sorvino (Tenafly, New Jersey, September 28, 1967) is an American actress, winner of an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

Biography

She was born in Tenafly, New Jersey as Mira Katherine Sorvino, the daughter of Lorraine Ruth Davis and fellow actor Paul Sorvino, of Italian descent. She grew up in New Jersey and spent her childhood and adolescence studying academics and not in preparing for an acting career; since her father did not want her children to become movie stars while still very young.

Even so, during the last years Sorvino took part in theatrical productions of the school, where he acquired his first acting experiences. He later continued to act in his university's theatrical productions. He studied at Harvard University, where he graduated & # 34; magna cum laude & # 34; in East Asian Language and Civilization studies. He lived for a year in China, during which he became fluent in Mandarin Chinese. He is also fluent in French. ^{[citation needed ]}

After graduating from college, Sorvino spent three years in New York trying to make a name for herself as an actress single-handedly. Like so many other young actors and actresses, she also did various jobs while she waited for her chance. One of her jobs was as a production assistant at a film company. When pre-production on the film Amongst Friends began in 1993, Sorvino was hired as a third assistant director. However, she was soon promoted to casting director and assistant producer positions, eventually being offered the lead female role in the film. Reviews of her performance were positive, which opened the doors for her to act in other films.

A performance that made her a renowned actress in 1995 was as a high-pitched, chatty prostitute in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite, for which Sorvino won an Oscar in 1996 Best Supporting Actress. Since then she has worked continuously in leading and supporting roles, in films some of which were highly commercially successful, including Romy and Michelle, co-starring Lisa Kudrow, and At First Sight, with Val Kilmer.

Sorvino was in a relationship with Quentin Tarantino for several years, and then with French actor Olivier Martinez. She is currently married to actor Christopher Backus, with whom she has had 4 children: Mattea Angel, Johnny Christopher King, Holden Paul Terry and Lucia.

Sorvino is a vocal participant in the #MeToo movement and has reported being sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein as part of the sexual assault allegations against him. Director Peter Jackson acknowledged that Weinstein had banned her along with Ashley Judd (another Weistein victim) of participating in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. In 2019, he also confessed to having suffered a date rape. Sorvino is a human rights activist and has participated in campaigns against trafficking in Darfur.

Filmography

Cinema

Television

Awards and nominations

Oscar

Golden Globes