Main Facts

Mira was born in New York on November 8^th, 1967. She won an academy award for best supporting actress in Woody Allen’s film Mighty Aphrodite. She is a human rights advocate and has worked for Amnesty International. She is involved in activism, film production, and acting. She has interpreted a remarkably wide range of roles over a period of three decades. In June 2004, she became the spouse of actor John Backus and they have four children together.

Early Years

Her father is also an actor, but he discouraged her from pursuing an acting career, because she would have to deal with a lot of rejection. She was inspired to fight for social justice by her mother, a middle-class woman who participated in the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King. At school, she achieved top performance. As a student at Harvard, she wrote an essay on racial conflict in China. After finishing her studies, she directed a documentary on anti-Semitism in Russia and worked in various positions.

Career Establishment

She made great efforts to establish herself as an actress for many years. The opportunity she was looking for came with her participation in the film Mighty Aphrodite. The first time she auditioned for the part she was rejected, but the second time, she won over director Woody Allen with her provocative style and singular voice, that were suitable for the role of a kindhearted prostitute. In Los Angeles magazine, she confessed that working for this role has been a nerve-wracking experience. In 1996, she played Marilyn Monroe in Norma Jean and Marilyn and was nominated for an Emmy Award.

Versatile Work

She has played versatile characters. In 1999, she appeared in Summer of Sun by Spike Lee. She has also worked behind camera, as a producer. More recently, in 2005, she appeared in Human Trafficking, a miniseries which particularly resonates with her interest in social issues, as it presents the lives of women and children who have been abducted and forced to become slaves. This role has enabled her to combine social activism and art.  In one of her interviews, she has talked about her involvement in Amnesty International as a Stop Violence Against Women spokesperson; the problem of trafficking has been focal.

In 2012, she acted in Trade of Innocents. She plays a woman who fights together with her husband against the trafficking of children after the loss of their own child. This is also an issue that particularly affects her, as she has been a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime for a long time. She is a woman recognized both for her activism and her artistic talent.

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