Mira Sorvino contains multitudes: She’s a Harvard grad, an Oscar winner, a U.N. ambassador, a onetime muse of the late Giorgio Armani and a protective mom of four. (She and her husband of 21 years, Christopher Backus, are parents to Mattea, 20, Johnny, 19, Holden, 16, and Lucia, 13.) We’re only half-kidding when we ask: Has her hair color put her on top? Known for iconically blond roles in Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, Norma Jean & Marilyn and Mighty Aphrodite, she is actually a natural brunette.
“As a child, I was super-serious: I was the dark-haired intellectual girl, very studious, quiet and introspective,” the actress, 58, tells Us. “Being blond, for some reason, unlocks the lighter side of my personality and allows me to be kooky or enjoy life a bit more.” She continues: “So weird, right?”
Now she’s singing and dancing on Broadway (and “elated wearing my wig”) as Roxie Hart in Chicago. “I went to Broadway shows all the time with my parents,” she recalls (dad is the late actor Paul Sorvino). “Some of the incredible performances we saw made me decide to be an actor.” At the beginning of her second act, Sorvino looks back at where she’s been.
‘Swans Crossing’ (1992)
Sorvino scored her first major role on this daytime soap, a high school drama that also helped launch the careers of Sarah Michelle Gellar and Brittany Daniel. “I was by far the oldest person in [the main cast] — I was in my 20s, and most of the other people were teens,” Sorvino tells Us. “I play a character who’s half Italian, half Chinese. I don’t think that would fly today.” YouTube has given the “silly” Swans new life: “It’s achieved a kind of cult status.”
Amy Sussman/Getty Images Pursuing a showbiz career was nothing more than a “pipe dream” for a young Connie Britton. “I used to say to my best friend on the phone late at night, ‘If I could do anything, I’d be an actress,’” Britton, 57, exclusively shared in the latest issue of Us Weekly. With her […]
With Dad Paul Sorvino (1993)
She was known as Paul Sorvino’s daughter when she first arrived on the entertainment scene, but soon enough, he was happy to be known as Mira Sorvino’s father. “Me and dad were so close,” says Mira of the late Goodfellas and Law & Order actor, who passed away at 83 in 2022. She still feels his paternal presence. “Sometimes, lights flicker,” she explains. “That happened this morning, and it only happens once in a while. I really felt like it was Dad telling me that he was proud.”
‘Quiz Show’ (1994)
The late Robert Redford — “so kind and intelligent and a perfectionist,” Sorvino says — directed this Oscar-nominated drama about real-life TV scandals of the 1950s. “He was one of the first people who believed in me,” she recalls. Being cast in a small but important role “was like an early sign that I actually was good enough to be in his film. That was very, very heady, because I was super-unknown.”
‘The 68th Academy Awards’ (March 25, 1996)
Decked out in Armani, Sorvino was shocked to take home the best supporting actress trophy for her portrayal of a foul-mouthed, warm-hearted sex worker in Woody Allen’s 1995 comedy Mighty Aphrodite. “This was a fairy-tale, dream-come-true night,” she remembers. “I was just preparing myself to be happy for whoever else won. I heard my name, and I kissed my then boyfriend [Quentin Tarantino], I kissed my parents, and then I felt like I floated up to the stage.”
‘Norma Jean & Marilyn’ (1996)
Starring as idol Marilyn Monroe? “What a thrill and a scary challenge!” (Ashley Judd, left, on the red carpet, was young Norma Jean in the HBO biopic.) Sorvino even had a panic attack in her trailer as she put on a dress the icon had worn in her last film: “I basically said, ‘Who am I to play Marilyn Monroe?’” Later, she learned Monroe’s ex Arthur Miller had praised her performance.
‘Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion’ (1997)
They may not have invented Post-It Notes, but Lisa Kudrow and Sorvino’s kooky, quotable characters have become pop culture royalty and go-to BFF Halloween costumes. “[The movie is] about being yourself and loving your best friends, no matter what other people think of you — just being your authentic self,” Sorvino tells Us. “We had so much fun. I love Lisa. We’re dear friends to this day.” The two actresses — in fact, the “whole gang” — start filming a sequel in the spring. Romy and Michele are “still the same kind of the same people, living in a slightly frozen-in-time way, best friends doing everything together, you know?” Sorvino teases. “And then they’re like, Have we missed out on anything?”
‘Summer of Sam’ (1999)
In a thriller about a Bronx neighborhood terrorized by the “Son of Sam” serial murders in 1977… Sorvino managed to hit the dance floor with John Leguizamo. “We rehearsed for a month doing the Hustle, which is a very specific social dance with lots of twirls and dips and spins,” she recounts. “That was so much fun.” The disco scenes also added some lightness to director Spike Lee’s intense film. “It’s a beautiful movie, often overlooked.”
At a U.N. Event on Human Trafficking (2016)
After becoming Amnesty International’s “Stop Violence Against Women” campaign spokesperson and starring in Lifetime’s Human Trafficking in 2005, Sorvino found a focus for her activism. “I started meeting survivors, and it changed my life,” she says. “I had to devote myself more fully to this cause.” Today, her work continues with the U.N.
‘American Crime Story: Impeachment’ (2021)
This provocative anthology series was Sorvino’s second project with producer Ryan Murphy, after 2020’s Netflix series Hollywood. In a look at the Bill Clinton sex scandal, she played Marcia Lewis, mother to Beanie Feldstein’s Monica Lewinsky. “It’s just a very sad story, what [Lewinsky] went through,” Sorvino says. “Playing her mom was painful, but it was a good acting experience.”
‘Shining Vale’ (2022-23)
Not that you would know it from looking at the photo, but Shining Vale is “super-funny,” a proud Sorvino says. “I loved everything about it.” Season 1 of the horror-comedy (now on Max) paid homage to The Shining: “I play a ghost that is haunting Courteney Cox and Greg Kinnear, living in their attic,” she says. And season 2, a Rosemary’s Baby tribute, got wilder, with the actress as three characters, “sometimes all in the same episode.”
‘Dancing With the Stars’ (2023)
Gleb Savchenko and Mira Sorvino. ABC/Christopher Willard
Paired with Gleb Savchenko on season 32, Sorvino welcomed a special guest during “Most Memorable Year” week — daughter Mattea — to help re-create Romy and Michele’s beloved “Time After Time” dance. “Mattea is an incredibly trained, amazingly talented dancer, far better than me,” her mom raves. Though Sorvino was eliminated from the ABC competition, she cherishes that night. “I wanted to share this with her, and we’ll have that forever.”
‘Chicago’ (2025)
Mira Sorvino Courtesy of Chicago Broadway/Avery Brunk
Currently, Sorvino is killing it as murderous showgirl Roxie Hart in the classic stage musical. (Her last performance is Nov. 2.) “As a girl, I dreamed of being on Broadway,” she tells Us. “I think the beauty of this show is that they bring in all of these guest Roxies, and everyone brings their own thing to it. For me, I see Roxie in a less cynical way than some of the other Roxies. I see her as this person who is almost naive at heart, even though she does survivalist things to get along in the world.” The result has been the ride of a lifetime. “Like, why am I doing it if I’m not going to love every moment of it?”
