Vera Farmiga (pronounced [fɑɹˈmiːgÉ™]), the second oldest of seven children, was born in Essex County, New Jersey and grew up in Irvington, New Jersey, the daughter of Michael (a computer-systems analyst) and Luba Farmiga (a schoolteacher), Ukrainian immigrants. She was raised in an insular Ukrainian American community, not speaking English until the age of six. She attended a Ukrainian Read more...

Although she originally intended to become an optometrist, Farmiga attended Syracuse University's School of Visual and Performing Arts. She made her Broadway debut in 1996 as an understudy in the play Taking Sides. The same year, she starred as Miranda in the American Conservatory Theater production of The Tempest. Throughout the late 1990s, she continued appearing in stage, television and film Read more...

Farmiga was formerly married to actor Sebastian Roché, who co-starred with her in the television series Roar. The two eloped to the Bahamas after the series' end in 1997. The marriage ended in divorce in 2005.