Rooney Mara Biography

Birth Name : Patricia Rooney Mara

Date of Birth : 17 April 1985, Bedford, New York, USA

Height : 5' 3" (1.60 m)

Occupation : Actress

Rooney Mara was born into professional football royalty in Bedford, New York in 1985. She is one of four children born to New York Giants executive Timothy Christopher Mara and Kathleen McNulty, the granddaughter of Art Rooney, Sr., the founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers football franchise. Her father's grandfather was Giants founder Tim Mara. Rooney is a 2010 graduate of New York University, where she studied psychology and international relations, focusing on non-profit organizations. Her family has a tradition of philanthropy.

A relative unknown for the first five years of her career, actress Rooney Mara became the object of major media attention in 2010 when she was cast in David Fincher's remake of the Swedish thriller "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (2011). The sister of actress Kate Mara, she was a notable presence in such indie films as "Dream Boy" (2008) and "Tanner Hall" (2009), where she delivered sensitive performances as troubled girls on the cusp of adulthood, while also appearing on the small screen in episodes of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (NBC, 1999- ) and "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009). Meanwhile, the remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (2010) brought her to the attention of a wider audience, thanks to that movie's relative success at the box office. Her first brush with celebrity came when she joined Fincher for a supporting role in the highly-anticipated drama, "The Social Network" (2010), which led to being cast in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," a film that poised the young actress to become a star. Now sought after by film's most respected directors, the talented Mara's career horizons looked very promising.