Mira Sorvino was born in Tenafly, New Jersey, and is the daughter of veteran actor Paul Sorvino, whose credits include Goodfellas, Oliver Stone's Nixon, and TV's Law & Order. She was raised in New Jersey and dedicated most of her childhood to academic studies rather than preparing for an acting career, as her father did not want his three children to become young movie stars.

After graduating from college, she spent three years in New York trying to make a name for herself as an actress. Like so many other young actors, she did several jobs, waiting for her opportunity. One of her jobs was as production assistant in a film company. When the 1993 picture Amongst Friends entered pre-production, she was hired as third assistant director. Soon she was promoted to casting director and to assistant producer, and was finally offered the lead role in the movie. Reviews of her first film performance were positive, which opened her doors for her following parts.

The breakthrough role in Sorvino's early career was her portrayal of a squeaky-voiced, foul-mouthed prostitute in Woody Allen's 1995 movie Mighty Aphrodite, for which she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Since then she has had offers for co-leading and supporting roles, some of them having become box-office hits, such as Romy and Michele's High School Reunion opposite Lisa Kudrow, and At First Sight with Val Kilmer.

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