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Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian and former fashion model.
Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison MacKenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra. An early film role, as the woman pregnant with Satan's baby in 1968's Rosemary's Baby, saw her portrayal nominated for many awards.
Farrow has appeared in more than 45 films and won numerous awards, including a Golden Globe award (and seven additional Golden Globe nominations), three BAFTA Film Award nominations, and a win for best actress at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.
Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian and former fashion model.
Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison MacKenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra. An early film role, as the woman pregnant with Satan's baby in 1968's Rosemary's Baby, saw her portrayal nominated for many awards.
Farrow has appeared in more than 45 films and won numerous awards, including a Golden Globe award (and seven additional Golden Globe nominations), three BAFTA Film Award nominations, and a win for best actress at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. Farrow is also known for her extensive humanitarian work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. She is involved in humanitarian activities in Darfur, Chad, and the Central African Republic. In 2008, Time magazine named her one of the most influential people in the world.
Farrow was born as María de Lourdes Villiers Farrow in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Australian film director John Farrow and Irish actress Maureen O'Sullivan. She was raised Roman Catholic. Her sisters are Prudence and actresses Stephanie and Tisa. She has three brothers: Michael Damien (1939–1958), Patrick Joseph (1942–2009) and John Charles (born 1946).She grew up in Beverly Hills, California, and often traveled with her parents as they worked on films that were produced on location. She made her film debut in a 1947 short subject with her mother; the short was about famous mothers and their children modelling the latest fashions for families. When she was nine she came down with polio but eventually recovered.
Farrow screen-tested for the role of Liesl von Trapp in The Sound of Music, but did not get the part. The footage has been preserved, and appears on the fortieth Anniversary Edition DVD of The Sound of Music. Farrow began her acting career by appearing in supporting roles in several 1960s films. However, she achieved stardom on the popular primetime soap opera Peyton Place as naive, waif-like Allison MacKenzie, a role she later abandoned at the urging of first husband Frank Sinatra. Her first leading film role was in Rosemary's Baby (1968), which was a critical and commercial success at the time and continues to be widely regarded as a classic of the horror genre.
Farrow's performance in Rosemary's Baby garnered numerous awards, including the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actress, and established her as a leading actress. Film critic and author Stephen Farber described her performance as having an "electrifying impact… one of the rare instances of actor and character achieving a miraculous, almost mythical match. If Ira Levin's story shrewdly taps into every pregnant woman's fears about the stranger growing inside her, Mia Farrow gives those fears an achingly real and human force".Ira Levin's story shrewdly taps into every pregnant woman's fears about the stranger growing inside her, Mia Farrow gives those fears an achingly real and human force". Film critic Roger Ebert noted that "the brilliance of the film comes more from Polanski's direction, and from a series of genuinely inspired performances… The characters emerge as human beings actually doing these things. A great deal of the credit for this achievement must go to Mia Farrow, as Rosemary". Following Rosemary's Baby, Farrow was to be cast as Mattie in True Grit and was keen on the role. However, prior to filming she made Secret Ceremony in England with Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Mitchum. While filming, Mitchum told her about True Grit director Henry Hathaway having a reputation for being rude to actresses. Farrow asked producer Hal Wallis to replace Hathaway, Wallis refused. Farrow quit the role which was then given to Kim Darby. Secret Ceremony divided critics, but has gone on to develop a devoted following. Farrow's other late '60s films include John and Mary, opposite Dustin Hoffman.
In the 1970s, Farrow appeared in a number of notable films, including the thriller See No Evil (1971), French director Claude Chabrol's Docteur Popaul (1972) and The Great Gatsby (1974), in which Farrow played Daisy Buchanan. She also appeared in director Robert Altman's cult classic A Wedding (1978). In 1977, she played the title role in The Haunting of Julia. Farrow also appeared in a number of made-for-television films in the 1970s, most notably portraying the title role in a musical version of Peter Pan (1976). In 1979, Farrow appeared on Broadway opposite Anthony Perkins in the play Romantic Comedy by Bernard Slade.
In the 1980s and early '90s, Farrow's relationship with director Woody Allen resulted in numerous film collaborations. She appeared in nearly all of Allen's films during this period, including leading roles in Zelig, Broadway Danny Rose, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters (playing the principal title role), Radio Days and Alice (1990), again as the title character. Farrow also played Alura, mother of Kara (Helen Slater), in Supergirl (1984) and voiced the title role in the animated film The Last Unicorn (1982). She also narrated several of the animated Stories to Remember.
Citing the need to devote herself to raising her young children, Farrow worked less frequently during the 1990s. Nonetheless, she appeared in leading roles in several notable films, including the Irish film Widows' Peak (1994), Miami Rhapsody (1995) and Reckless (also 1995). She also appeared in several independent features and made-for-television films throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. She also wrote an autobiography, What Falls Away (New York: Doubleday, 1997).
Farrow appeared as Mrs. Baylock, the Satanic nanny, in the remake of The Omen (2006). Although the film itself received a lukewarm critical reception, Farrow's performance was widely praised, with the Associated Press declaring "thank heaven for Mia Farrow" and calling her performance "a rare instance of the new Omen improving on the old one." Filmcritic.com added "it is Farrow who steals the show", and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer described her performance as "a truly delicious comeback role for Rosemary herself, Mia Farrow, who is chillingly believable as a sweet-talking nanny from hell."
Farrow worked on several films released in 2007, including the romantic comedy The Ex and the first part of director Luc Besson's trilogy of fantasy films, Arthur and the Invisibles. In 2008, in director Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind, she appeared opposite Jack Black, Mos Def and Danny Glover.
In 2011, Farrow worked in the film Dark Horse, directed by Todd Solondz. The film will be shown at the Venice Film Festival in September 2011, as well as the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival the same month.
Farrow has been a high profile advocate for children's rights, working to raise funds and awareness for children in conflict-affected regions, predominantly in Africa. She is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has worked extensively to draw attention to the fight to eradicate polio, which she survived as a child. She has traveled to Darfur three times to advocate for Darfuri refuges. She traveled there in November 2004 and June 2006, joining her son Ronan Farrow, who has also worked for UNICEF in Sudan. Farrow visited 2006 Berlin to be part of a charity auction of United Buddy Bears, which feature designs by artists representing 142 U.N. member states.
Her third trip was as part of a documentary film expedition in 2007. Farrow's photographs of Darfur appeared in People magazine in July 2006 and she authored an article on the crisis, published in the Chicago Tribune on July 25, 2006. On February 5, 2007, Farrow authored an editorial for the Los Angeles Times. On August 7, 2007, Farrow offered to "trade her freedom" for the freedom of a rebel leader being treated in a UN hospital, but afraid to leave. She wanted to be taken captive in exchange for his being allowed to leave the country.
Since 2007, Farrow has been involved with the Dream for Darfur campaign, which has made a major effort to focus public attention on China's support for the government of Sudan, with a special focus on the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing. Swayed by Farrow's campaign to pressure him, on February 12, 2008 filmmaker, Steven Spielberg withdrew as an artistic adviser to the 2008 Olympics broadcast. During the Olympics broadcast, Farrow televised via the internet from a Sudanese refugee camp to highlight China's involvement in the region.
Farrow has recently agreed to narrate a documentary film relating the struggle of many of the survivors of the Rwandan Genocide to forgive those who murdered family and friends. The documentary has been completed and is titled As We Forgive.
Farrow has set up her own website, miafarrow.org, which features a guide on how to get involved with Darfur activism, along with her photographs and blog entries from Darfur, Chad, and the Central African Republic.
The International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on March 4, 2009, after which Sudan expelled 13 international aid agencies from Darfur. To raise awareness of this situation, Farrow began a water-only fast on April 27. Farrow's goal was to fast for three weeks. On May 8, after 12 days of fasting, she called a halt to the fast due to a downturn in her health.
In 2008, Farrow received three awards: the France Legion of Arts and Lettres award, the Refugees International McCall-Pierpaoli Humanitarian Award for "extraordinary service to refugees and displaced people"; and the Tiannamen Square Award.
In 2009, Farrow was the recipient of the Leon Sullivan International Service award. She testified in the trial against former Liberian President Charles Taylor in August 2010.
Farrow married singer Frank Sinatra on July 19, 1966. During the production of Farrow's 1968 film Rosemary's Baby, after she refused Sinatra's demand that she quit the film to work on his movie The Detective, he served her with divorce papers on the Rosemary's Baby set. The divorce was finalized in 1968.
Also in 1968, Farrow traveled to India, where she spent the early part of the year at the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, studying Transcendental Meditation. Her visit received worldwide media attention because of the presence of all four members of The Beatles, Donovan, and Mike Love, as well as her sister Prudence Farrow, who inspired John Lennon to write the song "Dear Prudence".
In 1970, Farrow married the conductor/composer André Previn. His former wife, songwriter Dory Previn, blamed Farrow for the end of her relationship with Previn and wrote a scathing song, entitled "Beware of Young Girls", about the incident. Farrow and Previn had three biological children (twins Matthew and Sascha, born February 26, 1970, and Fletcher, born March 14, 1974). In 1973 and 1976, respectively, they adopted Vietnamese infants Lark Song and Summer "Daisy" Song (born October 6, 1974), followed by the adoption of Soon-Yi (born c. October 8, 1972) from Korea around 1978. Soon-Yi's precise age and birth date are not known, but a bone scan estimated her age as being between 5 and 7 years old at the time of her adoption. André and Mia divorced in 1979. Lark died on Christmas Day of 2008.
In 1980, Farrow began seeing film director Woody Allen. Together they adopted Moses "Misha" Farrow (born January 27, 1978, adopted 1980) and Dylan "Eliza" Farrow (born July 11, 1985, now called Malone). On December 19, 1987, Mia gave birth to Satchel Ronan O'Sullivan Farrow, now known as Ronan Farrow. During their relationship, Farrow starred in many of Allen's films, and several of their children also made appearances.
Farrow and Allen parted after Farrow discovered a sexual relationship between Allen and her adopted daughter Soon-Yi. During the subsequent custody battle involving Farrow's and Allen's three children, Farrow filed charges that Allen had molested their daughter Dylan, then seven years old. Allen has adamantly denied the charges. A doctor concluded that Dylan "either invented the story under the stress of living in a volatile and unhealthy home or that it was planted in her mind by her mother" because of the inconsistent presentation of the story by Dylan. In September 1993, Connecticut State Attorney Frank Maco announced that, while he had "probable cause" to prosecute Allen on charges of sexual molestation of Dylan, he was dropping the case to spare her the trauma of appearing in court. Farrow has been estranged from Soon-Yi since Soon-Yi's 1997 marriage to Allen.
Between 1992 and 1995, Farrow adopted 6 more children: Tam Farrow (born 1979); Quincy Farrow, now known as Kaeli-Shea Farrow; Frankie-Minh (born 1991); Isaiah Justus (born 1992); Thaddeus Wilk Farrow (born 1988); and Gabriel Wilk Farrow, adopted in 1995 and named after Elliott Wilk, the judge who oversaw Farrow's 1993 legal battle with Allen. Her adopted daughter Tam Farrow died of heart failure in 2000 at the age of 19. On Christmas Day 2008, her adopted daughter Lark Previn died after a long illness. As of March 2012, Mia Farrow has thirteen living children and nine grandchildren.
In November, 2012 Farrow's youngest brother, John Charles Villers-Farrow, was charged with sexually abusing several children near his home in Edgewater, Maryland. Anyone with additional information or anyone who may have also been a victim is asked to contact Detective Josh Williams of the Child Abuse Unit at 410-222-3484.
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