Rooney Mara is one of those actresses who is not afraid of daring experiments on herself for the sake of an interesting role. Playing the withdrawn and weird Lisbeth Salander in the film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, she got real piercings in her ears and forehead, and also parted with long hair for a long time. Rooney's efforts were not in vain, the role earned her Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. Since then, the actress's career has been steadily developing, each year bringing her closer to the status of a Hollywood superstar.
Biography: childhood, family, choice of profession
Timothy Mara and Kathleen McNulty named their second daughter, born April 17, 1985, Patricia Rooney. However, after the beginning of her acting career, the girl left only a middle name, finding it more interesting and sonorous.
Rooney is a member of a family clan that is closely associated with American football. Her maternal relatives founded the famous Pittsburgh Steelers, and her paternal grandfather was at the origins of the creation of the New York Giants. The girl has Irish, French, Italian, German roots. Also among the relatives of Rooney Mara there are prominent political figures who have worked in the US Congress and the foreign policy department.
The future actress grew up surrounded by two brothers and older sister Kate, who also successfully acted in films. The family lived in Bradford, New York. My father served as vice president of the New York Giants team, my mother moonlighted as a real estate agent. Rooney attended Fox Lane Public School. After graduation in 2003, the girl was a member of the Traveling School program, in which she traveled around South America for 4 months, studying the environment.
Miss Mara began to receive higher education at the University of Washington, but a year later she transferred to New York University. In 2010, she graduated from the Gallatin Scholl of Individualized Study, an interdisciplinary university college in which students develop their own curriculum that suits their career goals. Rooney studied psychology, social policy and nonprofits internationally as she wanted to be part of the family's philanthropy.
Together with her mother and sister, the future actress often attended music shows on Broadway, adored old Hollywood films. However, she was hampered by uncertainty and fear of failure to go on stage and try her hand at some amateur production. In high school, Rooney still played the role of Juliet, although she admitted that she was embarrassed by what was happening and would have preferred to be reincarnated as Romeo if it was possible.
While attending New York University, she took part in student films. She began to attend the first auditions only at the age of 19, in contrast to her older sister Kate, who played in the movies from the age of 12.
Actor career
Rooney got her first movie role thanks to her sister Kate. In 2005, she starred in the horror episode Urban Legends 3: Bloody Mary. In 2006 she played a girl with mental disabilities in the TV series Law & Order. Then she took part in two more television projects - "Women's Club of Murder Investigations" (2007) and "The Cleaner" (2008).
Since 2008, the actress has been focusing on cinema, appearing mainly in low-budget independent films:
- Dream Boy (2008);
- Tanner Hall (2009);
- Rebellious Youth (2009);
- The Challenge (2009).
Rooney's popularity skyrocketed after the release of The Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) remake, where she got the lead role of Nancy Holbrook. According to the actress herself, this work became the reason for her disappointment in the acting profession. Miss Mara was saved from ending her career by an invitation to the film "The Social Network" of the famous director David Fincher. Her character appeared on the screen at the very beginning of the film to leave her boyfriend - the prototype of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The breakup scene between Rooney and Jesse Eisenberg's characters was re-filmed several dozen times.
Director David Fincher once again remembered the young actress when he began filming the next project - "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." The adaptation of the popular novel by the Swedish writer Stig Larsson was supposed to be a high-profile event in the world of cinema. Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley, Kristen Stewart, Jennifer Lawrence applied for the role of Lisbeth Salander, but director Fincher chose Rooney Mara. She was the one who had "the right mix of attractiveness and weirdness," he said.
For this role, the actress had her eyebrows shaved, cut and dyed short, and pierced. She played a lot of sports, lost weight to look more like Lisbeth, suffering from anorexia. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo performed well at the box office and received critical acclaim. Rooney's acting was recognized as strong, convincing, "hypnotic". She received her first career Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.
In 2012, Mara starred with director Terrence Malick in Song by Song, which was released only in 2017. She replaced actress Blake Lively in Steven Soderbergh's Side Effect (2013), which also stars Jude Law, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum.
Rooney's second big hit came with Todd Haynes's 2015 film Carol. The plot revolves around the love affair of a mature woman played by Cate Blanchett and a young saleswoman played by Mara. The events in the film take place in the middle of the twentieth century. For the role of the girl Teresa, the actress again received Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. In addition, she won the Cannes Film Festival award for Best Actress.
In 2016, Mara voiced the characters Karasu and Wasi in the animated film Kubo. The Legend of the Samurai ". The film "Lion" (2016), in which she played a minor character, was nominated for prestigious film awards. Rooney Mara's newest works:
- Discovery (2017);
- A Ghost Story (2017);
- Mary Magdalene (2018);
- “Don't worry, he won't go far” (2018).
Personal life
For almost seven years, Mara was in a relationship with actor and director Charlie McDowell, the son of actor Malcolm McDowell. They started dating in 2010, and broke up in 2017. The former lovers managed to maintain a warm relationship. Rooney even starred in Discovery, which was McDowell's second feature film.
During the filming of the film "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far" Rooney began an affair with actor Joaquin Phoenix, known for his roles in "Gladiator", "Cross the Line", "The Master". Lovers live together in Hollywood.
