Rooney Mara
Patricia Rooney Mara (born April 17, 1985) is an American film and television actress. Mara made her acting debut in 2005 and has gone on to star in films including A Nightmare on Elm Street, the remake of the 1984 horror film, and The Social Network. Mara rose to prominence starring as Lisbeth Salander, the title character in the 2011 version of the film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first of three Sony Pictures films based on Stieg Larsson’s Millennium book series. For her performance in the film, she received critical acclaim and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and aGolden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.
Mara is also known for her charity work. She oversees the charity Uweza Foundation, which supports empowerment programs for children and families in the Kibera slum inNairobi, Kenya, one of the largest slums in Africa.
Rooney is the younger sister of actress Kate Mara.
Early life & family
Mara was born and raised in Bedford, New York, a town in Westchester County, north of New York City. She is the daughter of Timothy Christopher Mara, the vice president of player evaluation for the New York Giants, and Kathleen McNulty (née Rooney), a part-time real estate agent.[3] She has two brothers, Daniel and Conor, and an older sister,Kate.
Mara has Irish roots on both sides of her family. Her "Rooney" ancestors originate in Newry, County Down. Through her maternal grandmother, she is also of Italiandescent. Her paternal grandfather, Wellington Mara, the long-time co-owner of the Giants, was succeeded in that position by her uncle, John Mara. Her maternal grandfather, Timothy James "Tim" Rooney, has run Yonkers Raceway in Yonkers, New York since 1972. Mara is the great-granddaughter of both New York Giants founder Tim Mara andPittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney, Sr. Her great-uncle, Dan Rooney, is chairman of the Steelers, the United States Ambassador to Ireland, and the co-founder of The Ireland Funds charitable organization.
After graduating from Fox Lane High School in 2003, she went to Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia in South America for four months as part of the Traveling School, an open learning environment. She attended George Washington University for a year, and then transferred to New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where she studied psychology, international social policy, and nonprofits, graduating in 2010.
Mara was inspired to act by seeing musical theatre and classic movies, like Gone with the Wind (1939), Rebecca (1940), and Bringing Up Baby (1938), with her mother. She also wanted to be like her sister, Kate Mara, a professional actress. Patricia resisted pursuing acting as a child, stating to The Journal News that "it never seemed that honorable to me, and I guess I was always afraid that I might fail." Her first and only role in high school was Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, which she got after being signed up to audition by a friend. Mara acted in a few student films while at NYU, and then began her career in acting, first auditioning at the age of nineteen.
Acting career
2005–2009
Mara first appeared as an extra in films which starred her sister, including a bit-part in the 2005 direct-to-video horror film Urban Legends: Bloody Mary. She found work in television, making her professional debut in a 2006 episode of the drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as a girl who bullies overweight children. She guest-starred on the legal drama Women's Murder Club in 2007, and played a drug addict in an episode of The Cleaner in 2008. Mara appeared in the feature films Dream Boy and Friends (With Benefits) that year, and guest-starred as Megan for two episodes of NBC's ER in 2009.
Mara landed her first lead role in Tanner Hall, a coming-of-age film which tells the story of four teenage girls set in a New England boarding school. She played Fernanda, who has an affair with a married family friend (Tom Everett Scott). The feature was the debut of filmmakers Tatiana von Fürstenberg and Francesca Gregorini. Tanner Hall debuted at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and had a limited theatrical release in September 2011. Mara dropped her first name, Patricia, to be known professionally by her middle name after working on the project. "I never really liked my first name," Mara stated to Paper magazine. "I never felt like a Tricia. And Rooney is more memorable". Her father and younger brother also go by their middle names.
Mara's experience led to other film work. She appeared in the comedy Youth in Revolt in 2009, starring Michael Cera and directed by Miguel Arteta. Mara played Taggarty, the love interest of Cera’s best friend. Her character tries to sleep with 50 guys before she goes to college. The film was based on the 1993 cult novel of the same name by C.D. Payne. Mara had auditioned for the starring role, but was offered the smaller part when the lead went to Portia Doubleday.
Mara appeared in the independent film Dare in 2009, starring Emmy Rossum. She played Courtney, a high school senior set on expanding her life experience. Mara also filmed The Winning Seasonthat year, starring Emma Roberts and Sam Rockwell, playing a high school basketball player in a story similar to The Bad News Bears. Her character has an affair with a 40-something year old shoe salesman (Kevin Breznahan). Dare and The Winning Season premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Mara was included on Filmmaker magazine's list of "25 New Faces of Independent Film" that year.
Mara starred in a remake of the 1984 horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street. She played the protagonist Nancy Holbrook, a teenage girl who is eager to leave town after graduating from high school. Mara began shooting the film in Chicago on May 5, 2009, directed by Samuel Bayer. Mara told Filmmaker that she felt that her Nancy was "completely different from the original" and "the loneliest girl in the world". Mara had signed on to continue her role if a sequel was made. She stated to Vogue that she disliked the experience of making the film so much, that it made her question if she wanted to be an actress. Mara appeared at the Hamptons International Film Festival in October 2009 as part of its Breakthrough Performers Program, where she was tutored by Sharon Stone.
2010–present
Mara appeared in the 2010 film The Social Network by David Fincher, as Erica Albright and which also stars Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timberlake. In the film's opening scene, her character breaks up with Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, which inspires him to start the social networking website.
In August 2010, Mara was cast as the lead in a film adaptation of the Millennium book trilogy by Stieg Larsson. She played Lisbeth Salander, a damaged punk computer hacker who helps journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) attempt to solve a series of murders. Mara won the role over several other actresses, including Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, and Carey Mulligan, after two and a half months of auditions and screen tests. David Fincher directed the first film, based on the novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, with Scott Rudin producing. The other books, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, will also be adapted, depending on box office performance. Fincher initially did not picture her as the character but changed his mind when she auditioned. He convinced executives at Columbia Pictures to cast her for the part.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo began shooting in Sweden in September 2010. Mara did not consider the film to be a remake, but another interpretation of the novel. "I plan on giving my interpretation of the character," she stated to Variety. Mara's long brown hair was cut short and dyed black, in a style reminiscent of 1970s punk and 1980s goth fashions. She also had each of her ears pierced four times, and had her brow and right nipple pierced for the role. Her nose and lip piercings were fake. She kept the nipple piercing so that it would not need to be re-pierced for a sequel. Mara's eyebrows were bleached, and she wore a temporary dragon tattoo. She began preparing for the role by starting to skateboard and kickbox, and underwent dialect and computer training. She also visitedStockholm, the setting of the novel. The film was released on December 20, 2011. Mara received universal critical acclaim and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her performance.On January 24, 2012, Mara received her first Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Actress for this role.
In late 2011 it was revealed that Mara had joined the cast of Terrence Malick's latest film, Lawless alongside Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett and Haley Bennett. Listed as a musical drama that's scheduled to be released sometime in 2013, the plot line of the movie has largely been kept under wraps thus far. An official logline released by FilmNation in February 2012 described Malick's picture as a story of "two intersecting love triangles" and, "sexual obsession and betrayal set against the music scene in Austin, Texas."
Rooney Mara has also signed on to appear in Steven Soderbergh's 2013 film Side Effects, previously titled The Bitter Pill. As the lead character, Emily Hawkins, she'll play "a woman who turns to prescription medication as a way of handling her anxiety concerning her husband's upcoming release from prison." Co-starring alongside Mara in the crime drama/thriller are actors Jude Law, Channing Tatum, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Vinessa Shaw.
In late April 2012, Rooney was named as the choice replacement for Carey Mulligan in Spike Jonze's upcoming film project. Varietyreported that Mulligan had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, and Mara has apparently been selected to fill in alongside Amy Adams, Joaquin Phoenix and Samantha Morton. Though details of her role are unclear, Mara would be the final element needed for Jonze to wrap up the planning phase and start filming, according to Variety. The script, penned by Jonze himself, revolves around a man who falls in love with the voice of a computer. In early 2012, Mara dropped out of Kathryn Bigelow's action film Zero Dark Thirty and was replaced by Jessica Chastain.
She will star in David Lowery's independent film Ain't Them Bodies Saints alongside Casey Affleck and Ben Foster which is described as a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde story. It will premiere at Sundance Film Festival in January 2013.
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