Morena Baccarin

Morena Baccarin: biography

Morena Baccarin is an American actress, who is famous for the sci-fi TV series Firefly, Stargate SG-1, and V. In 2013, Baccarin was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her participation in the TV series Homeland. During her career, the actress has been nominated for the Saturn Award twice for filming in the series V.

Morena was born in Rio de Janeiro. Her father Fernando Baccarin was a famous television journalist, and mother Vera Setta was a well-known Brazilian actress, the star of the melodrama A Noiva da Cidade and the comedy O Vampiro de Copacabana. When the girl was seven years old, her father was offered a job in the main department of the Globo TV channel, so the family moved to Greenwich Village, New York. There, Morena began to attend a public school where she also studied performing arts, and her classmates were future stars of American cinema, Wes Bentley, Glenn Howerton, and Claire Danes.

Later, Baccarin attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, after which she entered the prestigious Juilliard School, where she studied acting and drama. During her studies, Morena Baccarin took part in the famous New York Shakespeare Festival several times, and once she was Natalie Portman's understudy in the play The Seagull by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.

Movies

Morena Baccarin made her screen debut in the 2001 drama Perfume about the modeling business. The same year she was involved in the musical film Way Off Broadway, in which she showed the life path of a girl, Rebecca, dreaming of a big stage. For this role, the actress won the Wine Country Film Festival Award for Best Actress. For the next two years, the actress, whose height is 5.61 ft. (171 cm) and weight is 132.27 lbs. (60 kg), appeared in the comedy Roger Dodger, starring Isabella Rossellini, and the highly-rated series The O.C. and Las Vegas.

But Morena became really popular, playing in the space western Firefly, in which the girl landed the role of courtesan Inara Serra from the 26th century. It is noteworthy that actress Rebecca Gayheart was initially cast in this role. However, when the filming began, the director saw that she was not suitable for this character and invited Baccarin. The TV series was top-rated and was repeatedly broadcast by a television channel.

The popularity of the project led to the creation of the full-length movie Serenity, which took place six months after the events of the last episode. The filmmakers tried to make the script interesting not only to fans of the series but also to those who had never watched Firefly. Moreover, some storylines of the TV series were used in the new film to connect two projects.

The actress played the role of Brooke Hoyt in the fantasy thriller of the mid-2000s, Medium, about a girl who can communicate with the world of the dead. Then she joined the cast of sitcoms Kitchen Confidential and Numb3rs. Morena got a bit part in the comedy series How I Met Your Mother about romantic relationships. Over time, Baccarin became an in-demand television actress; directors began to invite her to the projects Justice, Dirt, Death in Love, Heartland.

Another science fiction TV series V, featuring Morena Baccarin, aired on television from 2009 to 2011. The actress played Anna, the ruthless and power-hungry commander of the alien army.

In the story, the heroine had a magnificent hairstyle, but just before the casting, Baccarin had changed her image and had her luxuriant hair cut. When she came to the director, the woman had a very short haircut. However, it turned out at the audition that such a look better conveyed the tough nature of the visitor queen, so the actress had to maintain a new image throughout the filming.

In 2011, the actress’s filmography included a role in the TV series The Mentalist about the psychologist Patrick Jane (Simon Baker), who brilliantly solved crimes using deductive reasoning. The project also starred Robin Tunney and Tim Kang. Morena Baccarin portrayed heroine Erica Flynn.

The same year, the actress appeared in the spy thriller Homeland, developed by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa. The series was broadcast on Showtime and immediately got high ratings, and also won an Emmy Award.

A year later, Morena appeared in the legal drama The Good Wife about the wife of the prosecutor, Alicia (Julianna Margulies), whose husband went to jail on corruption charges.

In 2014, The CW launched the fantasy drama The Flash, which focused on medical expert Barry Allen (Grant Gustin), who gained supernormal abilities after a lightning strike. Baccarin played the leading role of Rachel in the historical and drama series The Red Tent, based on the story from the Old Testament.

In 2015, Paul Feig's comedy-thriller Spy premiered, starring Jason Statham and Jude Law. Morena got a supporting role in the project.

Personal life

Morena Baccarin married at the age of 32 because she had focused exclusively on shooting and her acting career before. In 2011, the woman became the wife of director and screenwriter Austin Chick. It is noteworthy that Morena and Austin decided to celebrate a wedding on Thanksgiving weekend, counting on the symbolic date.

In 2013, their son Julius was born, and two years later, Baccarin and Chick decided to break up. Officially, the couple divorced in July 2015.

Soon after the divorce from her husband, Morena began to live together with actor Ben McKenzie, her Gotham co-star. In early spring 2016, the couple had a child, daughter Frances Laiz Setta Schenkkan.

On June 2, 2017, Morena Baccarin and Ben McKenzie got married. The wedding ceremony was held in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, surrounded by their relatives and close friends.

The spouses often appear at social events and also relax with their daughter at the seaside resort. The actors often post their photos on personal pages on Instagram.

Morena Baccarin now

In 2015, the actress landed the leading role in the new superhero comedy action movie Deadpool, which had some parody scenes. The actress’s heroine is a former prostitute, Vanessa Carlysle, a lover of the title character, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds). She appears as Copycat in the world of superheroes, who can duplicate another being down to the cellular level. The film, which is part of the X-Men universe, became one of the most anticipated new projects in early 2016 and grossed $780 million at the box office.

Now the actress is involved in the dubbing of animated movies Elliot the Littlest Reindeer and Batman: Bad Blood. Besides, Morena Baccarin participates in the filming of the sequel Deadpool 2, which is scheduled to premiere in May 2018. The director of the sequel is David Leitch, who replaced the retired director Tim Miller.

As of 2019, Morena Baccarin has a net worth of $8 million.

Filmography

• 2001 – Perfume
• 2002 – Roger Dodger
• 2005 – Serenity
• 2006 – How I Met Your Mother
• 2006 – The O.C.
• 2007 – Las Vegas
• 2008 – Numb3rs
• 2009 – Medium
• 2011—2014 – The Mentalist
• 2011—2013 – Homeland
• 2014—2016 – The Flash
• 2014 – The Red Tent
• 2015—2017 – Gotham
• 2015 – Spy
• 2016 – Deadpool