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Kate Mara is an American actress, known for her role as Zoe Barnes in “House of Cards” and Shari Rothenberg in “24” TV series and also as the Invisible Woman in the “Fantastic Four” reboot. Here are 50 interesting facts about the actress.
- She started her career in the acting when she was just nine years old.
- Kate Rooney Mara was born on February 27, 1983, in Bedford, New York.
- Born to Timothy Christopher Mara, a NFL football team New York Giants executive and Kathleen McNulty Mara (née Rooney).
- She has three siblings – an older brother Daniel, a younger sister Patricia, also known as Ronney Mara, and a younger brother Conor.
- She is the great-granddaughter of Tim Mara, founder of New York Giants and Art Rooney, Sr, founder of Pittsburgh Steelers.
- Her paternal grandfather, Wellington Mara, co-owned the NFL's New York Giants team, from the year 1959 till his death in 2005. Her uncle John Mara, who succeeded Wellington, is the current President, CEO, and co-owner of the team.
- She often states that she comes from a “huge” family, as her father Timothy Mara, is one of 11 children. In a total, she has 22 aunts and uncles and around 40 cousins.
- She has once described herself as “painfully shy” during her childhood and even said that she had only one friend.
- She has two Boston terriers – Lucius and Bruno. Being a “massive animal lover” she credits her vegan diet and also the regular workouts for keeping herself fit.
- She had been to several youth-theater-arts school and has been a part in many school plays.
- She has starred in several stage versions of “The Wizard of Oz,” but has only played a flying monkey and the Scarecrow.
- She went to Fox Lane High School and graduated a year early.
- She is skilled dancer with specializations in jazz, tap and ballet.
- She was accepted to study musical theater in elite NYU Tisch School of the Arts. However, she had to delay taking up the course by three years, due to her career of acting and singing.
- “Coal Miner's Daughter” (1980), “The Sound of Music” (1965), “Lady Jane” (1986), “The English Patient” (1996) and “Friday Night Lights” (2004) are her favorite movies.
- She auditioned for a role in the NBC police drama “Homicide: Life on the Street,” but was not successful. This was her very first audition.
- In 1997, she landed a role in another NBC’s drama “Law & Order.” At this time, she was just 14 years old.
- Following this, she appeared in guest performance in a number of TV series including “Madigan Men,” “Ed,” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
- Her first film debut was in the movie “Random Hearts” starring opposite Harrison Ford in the year 1999, in which she played the role of Jessica Chandler.
- Later she was cast in movies like “Joe the King” and “Tadpole,” both of which won awards at the Sundance Film Festival.
- In the year 2003, she was cast as Kate Morris an 18-year-old who is impregnated by her piano teacher and then gets an abortion, in the TV series “Everwood.”
- It is reported that many WB affiliates were against airing the episode, because the subject including teenage pregnancy and abortion combined.
- She made her Broadway debut the same year with “Landscape Of The Body” which fulfilled her lifelong dream.
- She went on to play the role of Venessa Bartholomew in “Nip/Tuck” TV series, in which her character was bisexual and also involved a love triangle with her boyfriend Matt McNamara (John Hensley) and another cheerleader (Sophia Bush).
- She starred as Jill Shelby in “Cold Case” and as Helena Gelbke in “Boston Public” TV series in the year 2003.
- The next year, she played the lead role in the TV movie “Prodigy,” which was about a teenage child prodigy.
- After the lead role, she went back to guest appearances in TV series including “CSI: Miami,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” and “Jack & Bobby.”
- She played the character of Zoe Tripp, a folk singer, in “The Californians,” opposite Noah Wyle and Illeana Douglas.
- She had a minor supporting role in the Academy Award-winning film “Brokeback Mountain.” Her performance earned her more widespread critical notice.
- She was cast as Shari Rothenberg, a computer analyst in the 2006’s Fox TV series “24.” This is considered to be one of her big roles.
- She was listed among the “10 Young Actors who have a shot at making it Big” list from New York Daily News in 2006.
- One of her 2007’s movies “Full of It” in which she played the role of Annie Dray, underwent name change for 4 times. It was originally called "Nothing but the Truth," then "The Whole Truth," "The Life and Lies of Sam Leonard," back to "The Whole Truth" and finally settling on "Full of It." The movie was also aired on TV later as “Big Liar on Campus.”
- She was voted at #43 in the “Hot 100” list by Maxim magazine in the year 2007.
- In the year 2008, she played the role of Kay Matheson in the movie “Stone of Destiny,” opposite Charlie Cox, who was cast as Ian Hamilton, a dedicated nationalist. The story was about Hamilton and his friends outwitting the British authorities and bringing back the Stone of Scone - a beloved symbol of Scottish pride, back to its country of origin.
- In the movie, a lot of scenes were originally shot at Paisley Abbey instead of Westminster Abbey.
- She had to master a Scottish accent for the role, which she found very difficult.
- Mara said that she was proud to play such a character that was important to people's heritage.
- She played the role of Brittany, assistant to Eric “E” Murphy, in the HBO’s comedy drama “Entourage.”
- In the year 2010, she played the role of hiker Kristi Moore, in the movie “127 Hours,” which was based on a true story. She beat Katie Featherston to land the role.
- She started dating actor Max Minghella, who was introduced to her by her sister Rooney Mara on the set of “The Social Network.” The duo broke up after 4 years of relationship.
- She appeared as Hayden McClaine in the FX horror series “American Horror Story,” and as Zoe Barnes in “House of Cards.”
- She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, for her performance in “House of Cards.”
- She was considered for the role of Catwoman/Selina Kyle in the “The Dark Knight Rises,” but it was Anne Hathaway who got the role.
- In the year 2015, she was cast as Susan Storm in the “Fantastic Four” movie. She wanted to read the comic books in order to prepare for the role, but the filmmakers have said it to be unnecessary as it was an original story and not based on the comics. She has never read a comic book.
- Besides her, Saoirse Ronan, Allison Williams, Emmy Rossum, Sasha Pieterse and Margot Robbie auditioned for the role, but it was Mara who bagged it.
- It was reported that director Josh Trank wanted Allison Williams in the role of Susan Storm, but Mara was cast as per Fox’s demand. Because of this, Trank is said to have mistreated Mara on the set during filming.
- She played the role of Beth Johanssen in the movie “The Martian,” a sci-fi movie based on the novel of the same name by Andy Weir.
- For the shooting, it was reported that Mara and fellow actor Sebastian Stan, who played the character of Chris Beck, will come to the set even before sunrise and will leave only after the sun had already set.
- She has a few projects in the pipeline including “Morgan” and “Megan Leavey,” scheduled for a release in 2016.
- Being one among the faces of the Humane Society of the United States, she was even featured in “Meatless Monday,” one of the campaign videos.
