Vera Farmiga

Her maternal grandparents, Nadia (née Pletenciw; 1925–2014) and Theodor Spas (1921–1990), met at a displaced persons camp in Karlsfeld during World War II.

As a child, Farmiga converted with her family from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to Pentecostalism.

Farmiga considers herself to be "100% Ukrainian American".

She was raised in an insular Ukrainian American community in Irvington, New Jersey, with Ukrainian as her native language.

She did not learn English until she started kindergarten at age six.

When she was 12, the family moved from Irvington to Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.

She attended St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School in Newark, New Jersey, and toured with a Ukrainian folk-dancing ensemble, Syzokryli, during her teen years.

In addition to being a semi-professional folk dancer, she is also a classically trained pianist.

Farmiga was a member of Plast.

Vera Ann Farmiga (born August 6, 1973) is an American actress.

Farmiga was born on August 6, 1973, in Clifton, New Jersey.

Her parents are Ukrainians: Mykhailo Farmiga, a systems analyst-turned-landscaper, and his wife Lubomyra "Luba" (née Spas), a schoolteacher.

She has an older brother, Victor, and five younger siblings: Stephan, Nadia, Alexander, Laryssa (who was born with spina bifida), and Taissa.

In 1991, she graduated from Hunterdon Central Regional High School.

During her junior year there, she found acting after being benched during a varsity soccer game; her friend convinced her to audition for the school production of The Vampire, and she won the lead role of Lady Margaret.

Farmiga went on to study Theatre at Syracuse University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1995.

In her final year at Syracuse, she portrayed Nina Zarechnaya in The Seagull at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, and the production won the top prize.

Her drama professor, Gerardine Clark, stated: "We'd never have won had she not nailed the fourth act. A number of the judges told me that."

Farmiga began her professional acting career on stage in the original Broadway production of Taking Sides (1996).

In February 1996, Farmiga starred as Miranda in the American Conservatory Theater's production of The Tempest.

That same year, she portrayed Anne Hartman in a production of Good at The Barrow Group.

Farmiga made her Broadway debut alongside Ed Harris and Daniel Massey in October 1996, understudying the role of Emmi Straube in Ronald Harwood's play Taking Sides.

Following these stage roles, she co-starred in the Hallmark Hall of Fame western television film Rose Hill in April 1997, portraying Emily Elliot.

Farmiga had a main role in Fox's short-lived fantasy adventure series Roar (1997), alongside Heath Ledger and Sebastian Roché.

The following year, she guest-starred in an episode of NBC's procedural drama series Law & Order, portraying Lindsay Carson, the daughter of a convicted murderer who goes on her own killing spree.

She made her feature film debut playing a supporting role alongside Vince Vaughn and Joaquin Phoenix in the drama-thriller Return to Paradise (1998).

Also that year, she had a guest appearance in the NBC drama series Trinity, portraying Allison.

Farmiga's next film was the crime drama The Opportunists (2000), in which she co-starred as Miriam Kelly, the daughter of Christopher Walken's character.

She also had a supporting role as Lisa Tyler in the romantic drama Autumn in New York (2000).

The following year, Farmiga had a supporting role as Daphne Handlova in the action thriller 15 Minutes, alongside Robert De Niro, and co-starred in the drama film Dust, which premiered at the 2001 Venice Film Festival.

Farmiga subsequently joined the main cast of NBC's short-lived procedural drama series UC: Undercover, as Alex Cross.

The series premiered in September 2001, and was cancelled after one season.

After expanding to television and film, Farmiga's breakthrough came in 2004 with her starring role as a drug addict in the drama Down to the Bone.

She had starring roles in the political thriller The Manchurian Candidate (2004), the crime drama The Departed (2006), the historical drama The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008), the thrillers Source Code (2011) and Safe House (2012), the legal drama The Judge (2014), the biographical drama The Front Runner (2018), the monster film Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), and the crime drama The Many Saints of Newark (2021).

These performances, along with her lead roles in the films Joshua (2007) and Orphan (2009), established her as a scream queen.

She received praise for starring in the 2009 comedy-drama Up in the Air, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Farmiga made her directorial debut in 2011 with the drama film Higher Ground, in which she also had the leading role.

Farmiga portrayed paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the Conjuring Universe films The Conjuring (2013), The Conjuring 2 (2016), Annabelle Comes Home (2019), and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021).

From 2013 to 2017, she starred as Norma Louise Bates in the A&E drama horror series Bates Motel, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

She also starred in the Netflix miniseries When They See Us (2019), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination, the Disney+ miniseries Hawkeye (2021), which is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the Apple TV+ miniseries Five Days at Memorial (2022).