Vera Farmiga

Vera Ann Farmiga (born August 6, 1973 in Passaic County, New Jersey) is an American actress and director. She is known for her role as Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring (2013) and The Conjuring 2 (2016).

Early life
Farmiga comes from an immigrant family from Ukraine. She grew up with her six brothers and sisters in a Ukrainian community and learned with six years old the English language. In her youth she was in a Ukrainian folk group. In the beginning she went to a Ukrainian Catholic school and then, she studied at the School of Visual and Performing Arts of the Syracuse University.

Career
In 1996 she debuted in the Broadway theater play, Return to Paradise with Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche and Joaquin Phoenix in 1998. 2000 she played in the film drama Autumn in New York as Lisa Tyler. She played in the action film called 15 Minutes.

In 2004 she got an extra price of the Sundance Film Festival. 2005 the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards and the Independent Spirit Award for her performance in the film Down to the Bone.

She became famous thanks to the film 2006: The Departed. The film won four Academy Awards. In Up in the Air from the year 2009, she got an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

She had her directing debut with the film Higher Ground (2011). Since 2013 she plays the main role as Norma Louise Bates on the series Bates Motel.

Personal life
From 1997-2005 she was married with the actor Sebastian Roche. In 2008 she married Renn Hawkey. They have a son Fynn (*2009) and a daughter Gytta (*2010).

She has also a sister called Taissa Farmiga.