Vera Farmiga is an actress, producer, and director, known for her various performances in movies like the 2006 Boston-set gangster flick The Departed and the 2013 horror film The Conjuring (plus its numerous spinoffs). What fans may not know about the 48-year-old is she grew up in a large Ukrainian-American family — one that includes seven children!
Speaking with The Guardian in 2013, Vera revealed that her parents, Michael Farmiga, a systems-analyst-turned-landscaper and Lubomyra “Luba” Farmiga, a schoolteacher, are first-generation Ukrainian. They were born after the second world war, but her grandparents “went through hell, saw unimaginable things, stuff you shouldn’t have to bear.” The Many Saints of Newark actress shared that she considered herself “100% Ukrainian-American” and attended a Ukrainian Catholic school with all extracurricular activities in the Ukrainian community of Irvington, New Jersey. She even became a professional Ukrainian folk dancer!
As for her siblings, Vera is one of seven, with an older brother, Victor, and five younger siblings: Stephan, Nadia, Alexander, Laryssa, and Taissa. The parents wanted to keep the children rooted in their Ukrainian culture, so they didn’t know how to speak English until later in their lives, per The Things. They also moved around a bit in New Jersey, finally settling down on a large farmland in Wilmington. Speaking with Refinery29 in 2014, Vera said she and her siblings “grew up in a gentle and loving family” with “no deep or twisted secrets,” describing it as the potential reason why she ventured into “dark subject matter” for her various horror film roles.
Dsicover more below about Vera’s six siblings!
Nadia Farmiga
Nadia is Vera’s closest sister in age. After working in mechanical engineering, Nadia switched careers to the food and drink business. She now owns Misto with her partner, Wilson Costa, and the two have more than 25 years experience in the restaurant industry together. According to Hudson Valley magazine, the pair worked together in New York City at Le Garrett restaurant before settling in Kingston in the Hudson Valley region to work at various locales before creating their own restaurant.
Misto is described as mixing “Brazilian and Ukrainian flavors,” taking from each others’ respective ethnicities (Wilson was born in Brazil). The couple also described the project as “part pop-up, part private catering” with a focus on “healthy lifestyles, rich cultural heritages, and culinary creativity.” Nadia explained: “Wilson liked the name, its meaning in Portuguese, ‘mixed,’ and the fact that it was an easy name to remember,” she told the outlet. “Misto describes us. Misto describes our food, where we grew up, and our cultural heritages.”
Laryssa Farmiga
I love my lil sisters. #Nadia @t_farmiga #Laryssa pic.twitter.com/UP7cUVCE8C
— Vera Farmiga (@VeraFarmiga) April 30, 2014
Laryssa is Vera’s second youngest sister, and she stays out of the spotlight compared to her older sister and younger sibling, Taissa. Laryssa was born with spina bifida, which is a birth defect in which a developing baby’s spine doesn’t develop properly, resulting in an incomplete closing of the spine.
Although Vera doesn’t typically post pictures of her sibling on her social media, the Up in the Air actress shared a shot to her Twitter in 2014 of sisters Nadia and Taissa with Laryssa on the far right. Laryssa can also be found on Facebook, where she shares inspiring quotes and often posts with the Farmiga matriarch, Luba.
Taissa Farmiga
Taissa is the youngest child of the Farmiga family, and the only sibling of Vera’s who followed in her footsteps. The young actress was born August 17, 1994 and there’s a 21-year age gap between she and Vera, which is one reason why many have confused the two as having a mother-daughter relationship vs. a sibling one. Taissa — who was encouraged by her older sister to go into acting — made her debut in Vera’s directorial project, Higher Ground, and went on act in numerous movies and TV shows.
Taissa also followed in her older sister’s path with her participation in numerous horror projects, starring in the American Horror Story anthology for numerous seasons, including Murder House (2011), Coven (2013–2014), Roanoke (2016) and Apocalypse (2018), establishing her as a so-called “Scream Queen.” The 27-year-old also became a part of The Conjuring universe, appearing as Sister Irene in 2018’s The Nun. In addition to her popular horror roles, Taissa was cast in the HBO period drama The Gilded Age as the socialite Gladys Russell. Production was delayed on the film due to the COVID-19 pandemic and began filming in February 2021.
In terms of her personal life, Taissa tied the knot with screenwriter and director Hadley Klein in an intimate ceremony at their home on August 8, 2020. The pair live in Los Feliz, California.
Victor, Stephan, and Alexander Farmiga
Victor is Vera’s older brother, making him the eldest of seven children, while Stephan and Alexander fall in the middle of the family, younger than Vera. Compared to Vera and Taissa, the brothers like to stay out of the spotlight and keep their lives pretty private. Considering their generous family upbringing, perhaps the men have stayed closer to home in New Jersey and enjoy the time they spend with family outside of the public eye!