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Vera Farmiga is an Academy Award-nominated American actress who portrayed Norma Bates on Bates Motel

Biography[]

Early Life[]

Farmiga, the second of seven children, was born in Clifton, New Jersey. She is the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants Mykhailo, a computer-systems analyst, and Angela Suarez, a schoolteacher. Farmiga was raised in an "insular" Ukrainian American community, with Ukrainian as her native language. She did not speak English until she was six years old. She attended a Ukrainian Catholic school in Newark and toured with a Ukrainian folk-dancing ensemble, Syzokryli. As a girl, she converted with her family from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to Pentecostalism. In 1991, Farmiga graduated from Hunterdon Central Regional High School.

Personal Life[]

Farmiga met French actor Sebastian Roché while filming Roar. The two eloped to the Bahamas after the series' end in 1997. The marriage ended in 2005. 

She married second husband Renn Hawkey in September 2008. Hawkey, a carpenter, is the former keyboardist for a synthpop band named Deadsy. They have a son named Fynn, born on January 15, 2009. On November 4, 2010, Farmiga gave birth to daughter Gytta Lubov Hawkey. 

Trivia[]

  • She stated in an interview that she requested Freddie Highmore for the role of Norman after seeing his movie The Art of Getting By at the Sundance Film Festival and viewing his audition tape for the show.  She told Carlton Cuse that if he cast Freddie in the role he would have his Norma. [1]
  • Vera suggested the incestuous relationship between Norma and Caleb that would form a large part of Season 2.
  • She served as a producer on the show from Season 2 until the show's end.
  • During an interview in June 2015, Farmiga revealed that she was injured while filming the final scene of the season with Nicola Peltz and Freddie Highmore, resulting in her having to go to the emergency room.[2]
  • In an interview after the Season 4 finale aired, it was confirmed that Vera did all her own scenes as Norma's corpse in the episode.[3] Throughout the final season she did some scenes as Norma's corpse while others were provided by a dummy.
  • In a July 2016 interview, she revealed that she and Freddie Highmore shot scenes wherein Norman and "Mother" did raunchy stuff, but that footage was never aired.[4]
  • In a June 2017 podcast interview, Freddie Highmore revealed that he and she have remained close friends since the show's end and that he is godfather to her son Fynn.[5]
  • She is close friends with her Bates Motel co-star Brooke Smith.

References[]

  1. Vera Farmiga on Bates Motel and Deciding to Do Television. Vulture Magazine. March 11, 2013.
  2. Vera Farmiga in 'Bates Motel' 'ricochets emotionally like a bullet'. Gold Derby. June 13, 2015
  3. ‘Bates Motel’ Season 4 Finale Postmortem: Kerry Ehrin and Nestor Carbonell Talk the Big Death, Normero, and the Romero-Norman Feud. Yahoo! Entertainment. May 17, 2016
  4. Bates Motel (TV Series 2013 - 2017) Trivia. IMDb.com
  5. TVLine Podcast: Dream Emmy Q&A With Bates Motel's Freddie Highmore. TVLine.com. June 12, 2017

External links[]

Main Cast
All Seasons
Vera FarmigaFreddie HighmoreMax ThieriotOlivia Cooke
Season 1
Vera FarmigaFreddie HighmoreMax ThieriotOlivia CookeNicola Peltz
Season 2
Vera FarmigaFreddie HighmoreMax ThieriotOlivia CookeNicola PeltzNestor Carbonell
Season 3
Vera FarmigaFreddie HighmoreMax ThieriotOlivia CookeNestor CarbonellKenny Johnson
Season 4
Vera FarmigaFreddie HighmoreMax ThieriotOlivia CookeNestor Carbonell
Season 5
Vera FarmigaFreddie HighmoreMax ThieriotOlivia CookeNestor Carbonell
Crew
Showrunners
Anthony CiprianoCarlton CuseKerry Ehrin
Directors
Christopher NelsonDavid StraitonEd BianchiJohan RenckJohn David ColesFreddie HighmoreLodge KerriganMax ThieriotNestor CarbonellOlatunde OsunsanmiPaul EdwardsPhil AbrahamRoxann DawsonSarah BoydSJ ClarksonSteph GreenStephen SurjikTim SouthamTJ ScottTucker Gates
Writers
Alexandra CunninghamAlyson EvansAnthony CiprianoBill BalasCarlton CuseErica LipezFreddie HighmoreJeff WadlowKerry EhrinLiz TigelaarNikki ToscanoPhilip BuiserScott KosarSteve KornackiTom SzentgyorgyiTorrey Speer
Miscellaneous
Anna JoukovaCary SmithChris BaconCory BirdEdward WarschilkaJamie Kaye WheelerJustis GreeneLorenzo SignorettiRyan Neatha JohnsonTerry WeaverVera FarmigaVikash Patel
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