Vera Farmiga

Farmiga married to French actor, Sebastian Roché, in 2007. The marriage ended in a divorce, in 2005.

She married musician Renn Hawkey on September 13, 2008. The couple has a son named, Fynn McDonnell Hawkey, and a daughter named Gytta Lubov Hawkey.

Vera Farmiga was born on August 6, 1973 in Clifton, New Jersey to Ukrainian parents. Her mother, Lubomyra, was a schoolteacher and father, Michael Farmiga, was a computer systems analyst. She has an older brother and five younger siblings.

Belonging to a strict Ukrainian Catholic family, she couldn’t speak English till she began kindergarten at the age of six. At the age of 12, the family moved from Irvington to Whitehouse Station, New Jersey and Farmiga attended St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School in Newark.

She was a shy, spectacled girl and trained as a folk dancer and classical pianist. As a teenager, she toured with a Ukrainian folk-dancing group, ‘Syzokryli’ and was also a member of the Ukrainian Girl Scouts group, ‘Plast’.

She graduated from Hunterdon Central Regional High School, in 1991. It was here in junior school, that she discovered her talent for acting.

Though she had planned to become an Ophthalmologist, her interest in acting led her to graduate in Visual and Performing Arts from Syracuse University, in 1995.

Vera Farmiga’s stage career took off in 1996 when she starred as ‘Miranda’ in the American Conservatory Theatre’s production of ‘The Tempest’. She also performed as a member of ‘The Barrow Group’, the prestigious theatre company, in New York City.She made her Broadway debut on October 17, 1996 in Ronald Harwood play ‘Taking Sides’.

This was followed by her role as Emily Elliot in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television Western film ‘Rose Hill’ (1997). In 1997, she also starred as former slave Catlin in the Fox fantasy adventure series ‘Roar’. The show was aired for a single season.

In 2000, she featured in a supporting role in the commercially successful romantic drama film ‘Autumn in New York’, alongside lead actors Richard Gere and Winona Ryder. The same year, she also featured in the crime-drama ‘The Opportunists’.

In 2001, she starred in a supporting role in an action thriller called ‘15 Minutes’ which achieved considerable box office success. She also starred in the British-Macedonian Western drama film ‘Dust’, which premiered at the 2001 Venice Film Festival.

In 2001, she appeared in NBC's procedural drama ‘UC: Undercover’ as Alex Cross. The series aired for a single season following which she appeared as Queen Josephine in Hallmark fantasy television film ‘Snow White: The Fairest of Them All’.

Her first major lead role was in 2005, as the drug addicted mother of two, in the independent drama film ‘Down to the Bone’.

In 2009, she appeared opposite George Clooney in the comedy-drama ‘Up in the Air’, which received universal acclaim and box office success.

In 2013, she acted in James Wan's horror film ‘The Conjuring’, which became one of the highest grossing horror movies ever.