Morena Baccarin Biography

Morena Silva de Vaz Setta Baccarin (born June 2, 1979) is a Brazilian-American actress. She is known for portraying Inara Serra in the series Firefly and the follow-up film Serenity, Adria in the series Stargate SG-1 and the follow-up film Stargate: The Ark of Truth, Anna in the 2009 version of the series V, Vanessa in the superhero comedy film Deadpool, and Jessica Brody in the Showtime series Homeland (for which she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2013). She plays the role of Dr. Leslie Thompkins in the Fox television series Gotham.

Early life

Baccarin was born in Rio de Janeiro, the daughter of Vera Setta, an actress, and Fernando Baccarin, a journalist. She is of Italian descent. When she was seven, she moved with her family to Greenwich Village, New York, as her father was transferred to work as an editor at Globo TV's headquarters. Baccarin attended Public School 41 and New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies, where she and her future Homeland co-star Claire Danes were classmates. She later attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts before she entered the theater program at the Juilliard School, where she was in the Drama Division's Group 29 (1996-2000).

Career

Baccarin landed her first film role in the improvised fashion-world comedy Perfume (2001). This was followed by a lead role in Way Off Broadway (2001).

She served as Natalie Portman's understudy in the Central Park production of The Seagull. The science-fiction drama Firefly (2002) was Baccarin's first television series, and she reprised her role of Inara Serra in the 2005 film Serenity.

In February 2005, Baccarin provided the voice for Black Canary in multiple episodes of the animated series Justice League Unlimited. She also guest starred in three episodes of the television series The O.C. in 2006. Baccarin also appeared in the unaired pilot episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, playing Carmen, a male-to-female transsexual. It was announced in April 2006 that Baccarin would be playing the adult version of Adria, a recurring villain in the tenth season of Stargate SG-1. She first appeared in season 10 episode "Counterstrike" as adult Adria (the younger versions of Adria were previously played by other actresses). Baccarin reprised her role as Adria in the movie Stargate: The Ark of Truth.

In May 2009, Baccarin made her Off-Broadway debut in Theresa Rebeck's television satire Our House at Playwrights Horizons in New York City. She landed the lead role of Anna, the leader of the alien Visitors, in ABC's 2009-11 series V, a remake of the 1984 series. In May 2011, shortly following the airing of the show's second season finale, it was announced that the show would not return for a third season. That same month, Baccarin joined the cast of the Showtime television drama Homeland, for which she received good notices for her role as the conflicted wife of a former prisoner of war. On July 18, 2013, she was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 2013 Primetime Emmy awards for her performance.

Baccarin appeared alongside Melissa McCarthy in the 2015 action-comedy, Spy, as the agent Karen Walker. In 2016, Baccarin appeared alongside Ryan Reynolds in the hit movie, Deadpool, as Vanessa Carlysle.

Personal life

Baccarin married American film producer and director Austin Chick in November 2011. Their son, Julius, was born on October 22, 2013. Chick filed for divorce in July 2015, citing irreconcilable differences. On March 18, 2016 Baccarin and Chick's divorce became official.

In September 2015, Baccarin said in a legal declaration involving her divorce that she planned to marry her Gotham co-star, Ben McKenzie, adding that she was pregnant with their child. The couple have a daughter, Frances Laiz Setta Schenkkan, born March 2, 2016.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Perfume	Monica
2001	Way Off Broadway	Rebecca
2002	Roger Dodger	Girl in Bar
2005	Serenity	Inara Serra	Reprised from Firefly
2008	Death in Love	Beautiful Woman
2008	Stargate: The Ark of Truth	Adria	Direct-to-DVD
2009	Stolen	Rose Montgomery
2014	Back in the Day	Lori
2014	Son of Batman	Talia al Ghul	Direct-to-DVD; voice role
2015	Spy	Karen Walker
2016	Batman: Bad Blood	Talia al Ghul	Direct-to-DVD; voice role
2016	Deadpool	Vanessa Carlysle
2016	Malevolent	Gamemaster	In post-production; voice role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002-2003	Firefly	Inara Serra	14 episodes
2005	It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia	Carmen	Episode: "It's Always Sunny on TV" (unaired pilot)
2005-2006	Justice League Unlimited	Black Canary (voice)	3 episodes
2006	'	Maya Griffin	3 episodes
2006	How I Met Your Mother	Chloe	Episode: "Swarley"
2006	Justice	Lisa Cruz	Episode: "Christmas Party"
2006-2007	Stargate SG-1	Adria	5 episodes
2007	Las Vegas	Sara Samari	Episode: "The Burning Bedouin"
2007	Heartland	Nurse Jessica Kivala	9 episodes
2007	Sands of Oblivion	Alice Carter	Movie
2008	Dirt	Claire Leland	Episode: "And the Winner Is"
2008	Numb3rs	Lynn Potter	Episode: "Blowback"
2009	Medium	Brooke Hoyt	Episode: "All in the Family"
2009-2011	V	Anna	22 episodes
2010	'	Beth Bancroft	Episode: "Unaired Pilot"
2011	Batman: The Brave and the Bold	Cheetah (voice)	Episode: "Triumvirate of Terror!"
2011	Look Again	Allison	Movie
2011-2014	'	Erica Flynn	3 episodes
2011-2013	Homeland	Jessica Brody	29 episodes
2012-2013	'	Isobel Swift	2 episodes
2014	Warriors	Tory	Pilot
2014-2015	The Flash	Gideon (voice)	7 episodes
2014	The Red Tent	Rachel	2 episodes
2014-present	Gotham	Dr. Leslie Thompkins	Main character

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
2001	Wine Country Film Festival	Best Actress	Way Off Broadway
2010	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actress on Television	V
	Scream Awards	Breakout Performance - Female
	NewNowNext Awards	Brink of Fame: Actor
2011	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actress on Television
2013	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series	Homeland
	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2016	MTV Movie Awards	Best Female Performance	Deadpool
		Best Kiss (with Ryan Reynolds)
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actress: Action