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Vera Farmiga is an American actress, director, and producer who made her film debut in Joseph Ruben's drama-thriller Return to Paradise (1998). She had supporting roles in Joan Chen's romantic drama Autumn in New York (2000), the crime drama The Opportunists (2000), and John Herzfeld's action thriller 15 Minutes (2001). Farmiga's breakthrough role came in 2004, when she was cast in Debra Granik's drama Down to the Bone. For her performance, Farmiga won the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for Acting and was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. She then starred in Jonathan Demme's political thriller The Manchurian Candidate (2004), and Wayne Kramer's crime thriller Running Scared (2006).
Farmiga's role in Martin Scorsese's The Departed (2006), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, brought her to worldwide prominence, and she was nominated for the Empire Award for Best Newcomer. She subsequently had a lead role in Gina Kim's romantic drama Never Forever (2007). In 2008, Farmiga starred in Mark Herman's historical drama The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, winning the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress for her performance. That same year, she appeared in Rod Lurie's political drama Nothing But the Truth, for which she was nominated for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress. She then starred in Jaume Collet-Serra's psychological thriller Orphan (2009), and gained critical acclaim for her role in Jason Reitman's comedy-drama Up in the Air (2009), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In 2011, Farmiga made her directorial debut with the drama Higher Ground, for which she was nominated for the Gotham Award for Best Breakthrough Director and the Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture. Also in 2011, she starred in Duncan Jones' science fiction film Source Code. The following year, she appeared in Daniel Espinosa's action thriller Safe House, and Christopher Neil's comedy-drama Goats. In 2013, Farmiga starred as Lorraine Warren in James Wan's horror film The Conjuring, for which she was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Scared-As-Shit Performance. The following year, she starred in David Dobkin's drama The Judge. In 2016, Farmiga reprised her role as Lorraine Warren in Wan's horror sequel The Conjuring 2, and co-starred in Ricky Gervais' comedy satire Special Correspondents.
Since 2013, she has starred in the A&E drama-thriller series Bates Motel as Norma Louise Bates. Her performance in the role earned her the 2013 Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television, and nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (2013), the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series (2013–15), and the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama (2013). Farmiga has also served as a producer/executive producer since the series' second season.