Vera Ann Farmiga (born August 6, 1973) is an American actress. Early roles included co-starring on the short lived tv series Roar (1997), with Heath Ledger, Lisa Zane, John Saint Ryan, and Sebastian Roché (whom she was married to from 1997 to 2004). She made her film debut in Return to Paradise (1998), with Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Joaquin Phoenix, David Conrad, and Jada Pinkett Smith.
Films in the early 2000s include The Opportunists (2000), with Christopher Walken, Peter McDonald, Cyndi Lauper, Donal Logue, José Zúñiga, and Tom Noonan; Joan Chen’s Autumn in New York (2000), with Richard Gere, Winona Ryder, Anthony LaPaglia, and Elaine Stritch; John Herzfeld’s 15 Minutes (2001), with Robert De Niro, Edward Burns, Kelsey Grammer, Avery Brooks, and Melina Kanakaredes; Milcho Manchevski’s Dust (2001), with Joseph Fiennes and David Wenham; Love in the Time of Money (2002), with Steve Buscemi, Rosario Dawson, Malcolm Gets, Jill Hennessy, and Adrian Grenier; Greg Pritikin’s Dummy (2002), with Adrien Brody, Milla Jovovich, Illeana Jessica Walter, Ron Leibman, and Jared Harris; Mind the Gap (2004), with Elizabeth Reaser, Eric Schaeffer (who also directed), Jill Sobule, Charles Parnell, John Heard, and Alan King; and Jonathan Demme’s The Manchurian Candidate (2004), with Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, Kimberly Elise, Jeffrey Wright, Ted Levine, Bruno Ganz, and Simon McBurney.
Films in the mid to late 2000s include Neverwas (2005), with Ian McKellen, Aaron Eckhart, Brittany Murphy, Nick Nolte, William Hurt, and Jessica Lange; Running Scared (2006), with Paul Walker, Cameron Bright, and Chazz Palminteri; Anthony Minghella’s Breaking and Entering (2006), with Jude Law, Juliette Binoche, and Robin Wright; The Hard Way (2006), with Henry Thomas, David Boreanaz, Bruce Dern, Peter Weller, Gary Busey, and Nick Lachey; Martin Scorsese’s The Departed (2006), with Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Alec Baldwin, and James Badge Dale; Gina Kim’s Never Forever (2007), with Ha Jung-woo and David Lee McInnis; and Joshua (2007), with Sam Rockwell, Jacob Kogan, Celia Weston, Dallas Roberts, and Michael McKean.
Films in the late 2000s include Quid Pro Quo (2008), with Nick Stahl; In Transit (2008), with Thomas Kretschmann, Daniel Brühl, and John Malkovich; Rod Lurie’s Nothing But the Truth (2008), with Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Angela Bassett, and Alan Alda; Mark Herman’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008), with David Thewlis, Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, Amber Beattie, Rupert Friend, and David Hayman; Jaume Collet-Serra’s Orphan (2009), with Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder, and Jimmy Bennett; Niki Caro’s The Vintner’s Luck (2009), with Jérémie Renier, Gaspard Ulliel, and Keisha Castle-Hughes; and Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air (2009), with George Clooney, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Danny McBride, Melanie Lynskey, Amy Morton, Sam Elliott, J.K. Simmons, and Zach Galifianakis – the latter earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Films in the 2010s include Henry’s Crime (2010), with Keanu Reeves, James Caan, Judy Greer, Fisher Stevens, Peter Stormare, Bill Duke, Danny Hoch, Currie Graham, and David Costabile; her directorial debut Higher Ground (2011), with Joshua Leonard, Norbert Leo Butz, Dagmara Domińczyk, John Hawkes, Bill Irwin, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Donna Murphy; Duncan Jones’s Source Code (2011), with Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, and Jeffrey Wright; Goats (2012), with David Duchovny, Graham Phillips, Keri Russell, Justin Kirk, and Ty Burrell; Safe House (2012), with Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Rubén Blades, Nora Arnezeder, and Robert Patrick; At Middleton (2013), with Andy García, Taissa Farmiga (her sister), Spencer Lofranco, Peter Riegert, and Tom Skerritt; Closer to the Moon (2013), with Mark Strong, Harry Lloyd, Joe Armstrong, Tim Plester, Christian McKay ,and Anton Lesser; and The Judge (2014), with Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jeremy Strong, Dax Shepard, and Billy Bob Thornton.
Farmiga is well known for her role as Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring (2013), with Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, Shanley Caswell, Hayley McFarland, Joey King, and Mackenzie Foy. She and Wilson would reprise their roles in The Conjuring 2 (2016), with Frances O’Connor, Madison Wolfe, Simon McBurney, Franka Potente, Bonnie Aarons, and Javier Botet; Annabelle Comes Home (2019), with Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, and Katie Sarife; The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021), with Ruairi O’Connor, Sarah Catherine Hook, and Julian Hilliard; and The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025), with Mia Tomlinson and Ben Hardy.
Other films in the mid to late 2010s include Special Correspondents (2016), with Ricky Gervais (who also directed), Eric Bana, Kelly Macdonald, Kevin Pollak, Benjamin Bratt, America Ferrera, and Raúl Castillo; Burn Your Maps (2016), with Jacob Tremblay, Suraj Sharma, Ramón Rodríguez, Virginia Madsen, and Marton Csokas; Neill Blomkamp’s short The Escape (2016), with Clive Owen, Jon Bernthal, and Dakota Fanning; The Commuter (2018), with Liam Neeson, Wilson, Jonathan Banks, Florence Pugh, Elizabeth McGovern, and Sam Neill; Boundaries (2018), with Christopher Plummer, Lewis MacDougall, Bobby Cannavale, Kristen Schaal, Christopher Lloyd, and Peter Fonda; The Front Runner (2018), with Hugh Jackman, Simmons, and Alfred Molina; Skin (2018), with Jamie Bell, Danielle Macdonald, Daniel Henshall, Bill Camp, Louisa Krause, Zoe Colletti, Kylie Rogers, Colbi Gannett, and Mike Colter; Captive State (2019), with John Goodman, Ashton Sanders, Jonathan Majors, and Colson Baker; and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), with Kyle Chandler, Millie Bobby Brown, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, O’Shea Jackson Jr., David Strathairn, Ken Watanabe, and Zhang Ziyi.
Other films in the 2020s include The Many Saints of Newark (2021), with Alessandro Nivola, Michael Gandolfini, Leslie Odom Jr., Bernthal, Corey Stoll, Billy Magnussen, Michela De Rossi, John Magaro, and Ray Liotta; Origin (2023), with Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Bernthal, Audra McDonald, Niecy Nash-Betts, Nick Offerman, and Blair Underwood; Ezra (2023), with Cannavale, Rose Byrne, Whoopi Goldberg, Rainn Wilson, Goldwyn, William A. Fitzgerald, and De Niro; and The Leader (2026), with Tim Blake Nelson, Jim Parsons, Grace Caroline Currey, and Simon Rex.
She recurved an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series as Norma Bates in the psychological horror drama series Bates Motel (2013-2017), with Freddie Highmore, Max Thieriot, Olivia Cooke, Nicola Peltz, Nestor Carbonell, and Kenny Johnson. Other TV series include UC: Undercover (2001-2002), with Oded Fehr,
Jon Seda, Bruklin Harris, Jarrad Paul, and William Forsythe; Touching Evil (2004), with Jeffery Donovan, Brian Markinson, Kevin Durand, and Zach Grenier; and Boots (2025), with Miles Heizer, Ana Ayora, Blake Burt, Cedrick Cooper, Dominic Goodman, Nicholas Logan, Kieron Moore, Angus O’Brien, Liam Oh, Rico Paris, and Max Parker.
She received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie in When They See Us (2019), with Jharrel Jerome, Asante Blackk, Caleel Harris, Ethan Herisse, Marquis Rodriguez, Jovan Adepo, Michael K. Williams, Logan Marshall-Green, Joshua Jackson, Blair Underwood, John Leguizamo, Felicity Huffman, Niecy Nash, Aunjanue Ellis, Marsha Stephanie Blake, and Kylie Bunbury. Other TV movies and miniseries include Rose Hill (1997), with Jennifer Garner, Jeffrey D. Sams, Justin Chambers, Zak Orth, and Stuart Hill; Snow White: The Fairest of Them All (2002), with Miranda Richardson, Kristin Kreuk, Tom Irwin, and Clancy Brown; Iron Jawed Angels (2004), with Hilary Swank, O’Connor, Julia Ormond, Anjelica Huston, Molly Parker, Laura Fraser, Lois Smith, Margot Martindale, and Bob Gunton; Marvel’s Hawkeye (2021), with Jeremy Renner, Hailee Steinfeld, Tony Dalton, Fra Fee, Brian d’Arcy James, Aleks Paunovic, Piotr Adamczyk, Linda Cardellini, Simon Callow, Alaqua Cox, Zahn McClarnon, Pugh, and D’Onofrio; and Five Days at Memorial (2022), with Cherry Jones, Cornelius Smith Jr., Robert Pine, Adepero Oduye, Julie Ann Emery, Michael Gaston, Molly Hager.
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- Rose Hill (1997) – directed by Christopher Cain – TV movie
- The Butterfly Dance (1998) – directed by Max Reynal – short
- Return to Paradise (1998) – directed by Joseph Ruben
- The Opportunists (2000) – directed by Myles C.R. Connell
- Autumn in New York (2000) – directed by Joan Chen
- 15 Minutes (2001) – directed by John Herzfeld
- Dust (2001) – directed by Milcho Manchevski
- Love in the Time of Money (2002) – directed by Peter Mattei
- Dummy (2002) – directed by Greg Pritikin
- Down to the Bone (2004) – directed by Debra Granik
- Mind the Gap (2004) – directed by Eric Schaeffer
- The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – directed by Jonathan Demme
- Neverwas (2005) – directed by Joshua Michael Stern
- Running Scared (2006) – written by Wayne Kramer
- Breaking and Entering (2006) – directed by Anthony Minghella
- The Hard Easy (2006) – directed by Ari Ryan
- The Departed (2006) – directed by Martin Scorsese
- Never Forever (2007) – directed by Gina Kim
- Joshua (2007) – directed by George Ratliff
- Quid Pro Quo (2008) – directed by Carlos Brooks
- In Transit (2008) – directed by Tom Roberts
- Nothing but the Truth (2008) – directed by Rod Lurie
- The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) – and directed by Mark Herman
- Orphan (2009) – directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
- The Vintner’s Luck (2009) – directed by Niki Caro
- Up in the Air (2009)* – directed by Jason Reitman
- Henry’s Crime (2010) – directed by Malcolm Venville
- Higher Ground (2011) – also director
- Source Code (2011) – directed by Duncan Jones
- Goats (2012) – directed by Christopher Neil
- Safe House (2012) – directed by Daniel Espinosa
- At Middleton (2013) – directed by Adam Rodgers
- The Conjuring (2013) – directed by James Wan
- Closer to the Moon (2013) – directed by Nae Caranfil
- The Judge (2014) – directed y David Dobkin
- Special Correspondents (2016) – directed by Ricky Gervais
- The Conjuring 2 (2016) – directed by James Wan
- Burn Your Maps (2016) – directed by Jordan Roberts
- The Escape (2016) – directed by Neill Blomkamp – short
- Unspoken (2017) – directed by Emma Zurcher-Long, Geneva Peschka, & Julia Ngeow – documentary – executive producer only
- The Commuter (2018) – directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
- Boundaries (2018) – directed by Shana Feste
- The Front Runner (2018) – directed by Jason Reitman
- Skin (2018) – directed by Guy Nattiv
- Captive State (2019) – directed by Rupert Wyatt
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)* – directed by Michael Dougherty
- Annabelle Comes Home (2019) – directed by Gary Dauberman
- The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) – directed by Michael Chaves
- The Many Saints of Newark (2021) – directed by Alan Taylor
- 2023 The Nun (2023) – directed by Michael Chaves – cameo
- Origin (2023) – directed by Ava DuVernay
- Ezra (2025) – directed by Tony Goldwyn
- The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) – directed by Michael Chaves
- The Leader (2026) – directed by Michael Gallagher – also executive producer
- Weekend Warriors (202-) – directed by Stephen Chbosky
- Billion Dollar Spy (202-) – directed by Amma Asante
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