Vera Farmiga on family, fame & her new flick
The scream queen takes a break from the horror genre and dips into the thriller pool with The Commuter
Off with the sheep Not until sports- loving Vera was sidelined during a varsity soccer match did she let a friend drag her to an audition for a play. Although the young Vera was hooked she never believed Hollywood success was in her future. “Even when I was at college studying theatre, when I got all the lead roles, I wasn’t convinced this was a vocation or a calling,” the 44-year-old actress recalls.
“I even entertained ideas of being a shepherdess in New Zealand. One of my hobbies is knitting. I held on to this romantic idea even when I got real jobs.” Proudly Ukrainian Vera grew up in an insular Ukrainian community in New Jersey in the USA and only learnt to speak English when she was six. “I see myself as 100% Ukrainian-American. I went to a Ukrainian Catholic school, I even became a professional Ukrainian folk dancer,” she says.
The second of seven children, Vera says her IT dad and teacher mom are baffled by her line of work. “They’re very sensible and grounded,” she says. “They’re proud but they’re even more proud now that I’ve given them grandchildren.” The simple life Vera and her husband of nine years, Renn Hawkey (43) – a carpenter and former keyboard player for the pop band Deadsy – have a son, Fynn (9), and a daughter, Gytta (7). The family enjoy a blissful existence in upstate New York. “I can’t do Los Angeles,” Vera says. “I don’t want to be in a place where almost every woman walks around with puffy lips, little noses and breasts large enough to nourish a small country.” Not in the fame game After years of landing bit parts in movies, Vera shot to fame when she appeared in the Oscarwinning film The Departed and earned a reputation as Hollywood’s resident horror queen with roles in movies such as The Conjuring, Orphan and eerie TV series Bates Motel.
But fame isn’t something she chases. “The more famous you are, the more people know about you, the harder your job becomes to create a character in whom people can suspend disbelief. Honestly, I cherish the position I’m in – I do have respect but I can hide away.” The Commuter “He’s grace on two feet,” Vera says of Liam Neeson, her co-star in the action flick The Commuter.
“He’s so open. Often when you meet actors of his calibre there’s a closed-heartedness, but he’s so open and warm.”
In the film the veteran actor plays Michael, an insurance salesman. While on his daily commute home, he’s approached by Joanna (played by Vera), a mysterious stranger who blackmails him into uncovering the identity of a passenger on the train before the last stop. As Michael races to solve the puzzle and survive, he realises he’s caught up in a dangerous criminal conspiracy.
“It’s always fascinating to see someone in a desperate situation pushed up against a wall – as long as it’s not us!” Vera says of the high-octane thriller.