Kate Mara

Kate Mara (MAIR-ə; born February 27, 1983) is an American film and television actress. She starred in the Netflix political drama House of Cards as "Zoe Barnes" and appeared in the Fox TV series 24 as a computer analyst "Shari Rothenberg." 

She made her film debut in 1999 with Random Hearts. She appeared in Brokeback Mountain (2005), We Are Marshall (2006), Shooter (2007), Transsiberian (2008), Stone of Destiny (2008), The Open Road (2009), Transcendence (2014), The Martian(2015), Morgan (2016), Megan Leavey (2017), and Time of Day (2018).

She also appeared in the FX horror miniseries American Horror Story (2011) as "Hayden McClaine" and the superhero film Fantastic Four (2015) as Susan "Sue" Storm/The Invisible Woman.

Kate Mara was born as Kate Rooney Mara on February 27, 1983, in Bedford, New York. She is the daughter of Timothy Christopher Mara, an NFL scout and vice president of the New York Giants for player evaluation, and Kathleen McNulty Mara (née Rooney). She is the second of four siblings, with one older brother, Daniel; one younger sister, Patricia (known professionally as Rooney Mara, also an actress); and one younger brother, Conor. Mara's father has Irish, German, and French Canadian ancestry, and her mother is of Irish and Italian descent.

She is a great-granddaughter of both New York Giants founder Tim Mara, from her father's side, and Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney, Sr., from her mother's side. Her mother's side of the family has held ownership in the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers football team since its formation in 1933, and her father's side of the family has held ownership in the NFL's New York Giants since its formation in 1925. 

Her paternal grandparents were Wellington Mara and Ann Mara. Wellington co-owned the Giants football team from 1959 until his death in 2005 and was succeeded by her uncle, John Mara, who is currently President, CEO, and co-owner of the team. Her paternal grandmother, Ann Mara, was a socialite and philanthropist.

Her maternal grandfather, Timothy James "Tim" Rooney, has run Yonkers Raceway in Yonkers, New York since 1972. Her granduncle, Dan Rooney, chairman of the Steelers, was a former United States Ambassador to Ireland and the co-founder of the charitable organization The Ireland Funds. Her first cousin, once removed, Art Rooney II, is the current President and co-owner of the Steelers.

Mara began acting at the age of nine in a school musical. She attended several youth theater-arts schools and appeared in community theater and school plays. Growing up, she was "painfully shy," as she described herself in a January 2015 interview with Esquire magazine. She added, "I hated school. The thought of sitting in a room with twenty kids my age and everybody talking freaked me out."

Her first audition was for the NBC police drama Homicide: Life on the Street. She did not get the role but knew from then on that she wanted to act. Mara graduated from Fox Lane High School in Bedford, New York a year early, and was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University to study musical theater. However, she deferred her slot to work as an actress.

Television

Mara's made her acting debut in 1997, appearing as "Jenna Erlich" in the NBC legal drama Law & Order. Two years later, in 1999, she made her film debut with Frank Whaley's crime-drama Joe the King. She then guest-starred on numerous television series, including Madigan Men, Ed, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

In 2003, she landed recurring roles in the television series Everwood and Nip/Tuck. In Everwood, she portrayed "Kate Morris," an 18-year-old who is impregnated by her piano teacher and then gets an abortion and in Nip/Tuck, she was "Vanessa Bartholomew," a bisexual cheerleader involved in a love triangle with her boyfriend Matt McNamara (played by John Hensley) and another cheerleader Ridley Lange (played by Sophia Bush). Also in 2003, she appeared on Cold Case and Boston Public. The following year, she was seen in CSI: Miami and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

In 2004, Mara was cast as "Callie Duncan," one of the primary characters in the Warner Brothers' TV pilot Prodigy, alongside Cody Arens, Justin Chatwin, and Karin Anna Cheung. The series was eventually not picked up by The Warner Brothers.

Mara had a recurring role of "Katie" on the Warner Brothers' Jack & Bobby in 2005 and a five-episode arc on the Fox TV series 24 in 2006, playing computer analyst "Shari Rothenberg." She joined the cast of the HBO comedy-drama Entourage for the series' sixth season in 2009. She played Brittany, Eric "E" Murphy (played by Kevin Connolly)'s assistant at his talent-management company and a potential love interest. She filmed four episodes for the series in 2009. 

In 2011, Mara guest-starred in eight episodes of the FX horror series American Horror Story, as "Hayden McClaine," a student who becomes Dr. Ben Harmon (played by Dylan McDermott)'s dead mistress, a spirit trapped in the Harmon house. She was offered the role by Ryan Murphy, her former producer on Nip/Tuck.

In 2013, Mara joined the cast of House of Cards, playing the role of "Zoe Barnes," an intrepid reporter from Washington, D.C. who becomes a major ally to Frank Underwood (played by Kevin Spacey) by leaking stories that undermine his rivals. She filmed a second season of the series, which was released on February 14, 2014. On July 10, 2014, she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.

Most recently, in 2020, she has finished filming for various episodes of the TV series A Teacher. She will be seen as "Claire" in this series created by Hannah Fidell.

Stage

Mara made her stage debut in 2003 at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in John Guare's Landscape of the Body. The play, directed by Michael Greif, featured Sherie Rene Scott as Rosalie, Lili Taylor as Betty, and Paul Sparks as Captain Marvin Holahan.

She then starred in The Alice Complex, a play by Peter Barr Nickowitz, at Dixon Place in New York City in 2005 and the Blank Theatre in Los Angeles in 2006. The production co-starred Tony Award-winner Harriet Sansom Harris. She later told WFAN radio in 2006 that doing more theater work is a "dream" because it was "all I really wanted to do as a kid. I didn't care about movies or TV, I just wanted to do Broadway".

Film

Mara made her film debut in 1999, appearing in a minor role of "Allyson" in Frank Whaley's crime/drama Joe the King, starring Noah Fleiss and Karen Young. The film won "Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award " at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. The same year, Mara was seen in director Sydney Pollack's mystery/drama Random Hearts, starring Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas. She portrayed the character of "Jessica Chandler," the daughter of a congresswoman Kay Chandler (played by Kristin Scott Thomas).

In 2002, Mara appeared as "Miranda Spear" in Gary Winick's Tadpole, alongside Sigourney Weaver and Aaron Stanford.

In 2004, she co-starred in Peoples, a drama and coming of age story filmed in Louisville, Kentucky. She starred as "Samantha Owens" in the direct-to-video horror film Urban Legends: Bloody Mary and appeared as "Zoe Tripp" with Noah Wyle and Illeana Douglas in the 2005 film The Californians.

In 2005, she also had a supporting role of the 19-year-old version of "Alma" (played by Michelle Williams) in the Academy Award-winning film Brokeback Mountain, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. The success of the film brought her more widespread critical notice.

Mara signed with the William Morris Agency and was included on the New York Daily News list of "10 young actors who have a shot at making it big" at the start of 2006. In that year, she was seen in Zoom, portraying "Summer Jones/Wonder" a 16-year-old girl with telekinetic and empathic abilities. She next appeared in We Are Marshall, starring Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox, which recalled the aftermath of the 1970 Marshall University plane crash that took the lives of most of the football team. In the film, Mara played cheerleader "Annie Cantrell."

In 2007, Mara appeared as "Annie Dray" in the comedy Full of It with Ryan Pinkston and Teri Polo for New Line Cinema. The film later aired on television as Big Liar on Campus. Mara was also featured in an advertising campaign for clothing retailer Gap called, "khakis with attitude." She appeared in Shooter, a thriller about a master sniper portrayed by Mark Wahlberg, lured out of retirement to prevent an assassination. In the film, Mara played a Kentucky widow, "Sarah Fenn," adopting a southern accent for the role.

In 2007, she finished her work in the film Transsiberian by Brad Anderson, which takes place on the Trans-Siberian Railway that runs from China to Moscow. She spent three months shooting the thriller in Vilnius, Lithuania, starting in December 2006. The film also shot on location in Beijing and Russia. Mara played "Abby," a 20-year-old runaway from Seattle. Transsiberian premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival in January 2008.

Mara starred in the 2008 film Stone of Destiny, written and directed by Charles Martin Smith, about the theft of the Stone of Scone on Christmas Day, 1950. Mara played "Kay Matheson," one of four students that removed the stone in a Scottish nationalist plot. The period adventure-comedy co-starred Billy Boyd, Robert Carlyle, and Charlie Cox. Filming began in June 2007 in locations around Glasgow. She employed a Scottish accent for the role, which she found very difficult to master. Mara felt lucky and proud to play a role that was important to people's heritage. She stayed near the Botanic Gardens in the city's West End while filming, attending the film premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on June 21, 2008. The film closed the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2008.

In December 2008, Mara appeared in T Takes: Brooklyn 09, a series of 6 improvised short films directed by Brody Baker. She starred as "Lucy" in The Open Road, for which, the filming began in Hammond, Louisiana in February 2008, and continued in Memphis, Tennessee, and elsewhere in the South.

In 2009, Mara filmed the independent comedy Peep World, starring Michael C. Hall, Sarah Silverman, and Rainn Wilson, and joined the cast of Marvel's Iron Man 2, making a cameo appearance as a U.S. Marshal who serves Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) a subpoena. 

Mara shot the ensemble romantic comedy happythankyoumoreplease in New York City in July 2009. She plays a waitress and aspiring singer named "Mississippi," in a story about six single New Yorkers in their 20s. The film was written and directed by actor Josh Radnor (of How I Met Your Mother fame). The film won the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. In 2010, Mara played hiker "Kristi Moore" in the survival drama 127 Hours, a true story directed by Danny Boyle about Aron Ralston, a climber trapped while mountaineering in Utah.

Mara appeared in Ironclad (2011), which tells the story of the siege of Rochester Castle by King John in the year 1215. It is her first film where she speaks in an English accent. 

Mara appeared in the short film Ten Year, produced by Channing Tatum to attract financing for a feature film. The full-length feature went into production in Albuquerque in January 2010, with Mara starring in a large ensemble cast film about a 10-year high school reunion. 

In 2011/12, she was in consideration for the role of Selina Kyle/Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises (2012), but Anne Hathaway was cast instead. She also lost to Amy Adams for the character of "Lois Lane" in Man of Steel (2013).

In 2012, Mara starred in Stefan Ruzowitzky's thriller Deadfall with Eric Bana and Olivia Wilde. In 2013, Mara and Anton Yelchin starred in the music video for the song Holding On For Life by Broken Bells. In 2014, she appeared in Transcendence, starring Johnny Depp and directed by Wally Pfister.

In 2015, Mara played the Invisible Woman in a new film version of the Fantastic Four. In that year, she also had a supporting role as astronaut "Beth Johanssen" in director Ridley Scott's film The Martian. She also starred as "Ashley Smith" in the 2015 movie Captive, alongside Elle Graham and Claudia Church.

In 2017, Mara starred in Megan Leavey, playing the title role of Megan Leavey, a real-life U.S. marine who bonded with her military working dog. The film was directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and released on June 9, 2017. In the same year, she was seen as "Mary Jo Kopechne" in director John Curran's thriller Chappaquiddick, alongside Jason Clarke and Ed Helms. Also in 2017, she and her friend Ellen Pageco-produced and starred in a drama/romance My Days of Mercy,

Mara began dating her Fantastic Four co-star Jamie Bell in late 2015. They got engaged in January 2017 and on July 17, 2017, the couple announced that they had gotten married. Mara is a stepmother to Bell's son from his marriage to Evan Rachel Wood. In May 2019, the couple's first child together, a daughter, was born.

Earlier, she was in a relationship with actor Max Minghella for several years, starting in 2010.

Mara currently lives in Los Angeles and Manhattan. She credits her vegan diet and regular workouts for keeping herself fit. "I'm a massive animal lover, too," she explained. "Being vegan has been so good for me. I've never felt better."

She has stated she comes from a "huge" family; her father is one of 11 children, and she has 22 aunts and uncles and 40 cousins. As a descendant of the owners of the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers, Mara is a fan of both teams; she joked, "If I'm mad at my mom I root for the Giants, and if I'm pissed at my dad I root for the Steelers." This relationship contributed to her being cast in We Are Marshall (2006). Mara has sung at both teams' games, and after missing the Steelers' victory at Super Bowl XL due to work, her contracts now state that she can attend if either team goes to the Super Bowl. She was in attendance for the Giants' victory in Super Bowl XLII, the Steelers' victory the next year in Super Bowl XLIII, and the Giants' victory in Super Bowl XLVI.

Mara is one of the faces of the Humane Society of the United States. In 2015, she was featured in one of their campaign videos to promote Meatless Monday.