Kate Rooney Mara ( MAIR-ə; born February 27, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for her work in television, playing reporter Zoe Barnes in the Netflix political drama House of Cards (2013–2014; 2016), computer analyst Shari Rothenberg in the Fox thriller series 24 (2006), wronged mistress Hayden McClaine in the FX miniseries American Horror Story: Murder House (2011), Patty Bowes in the first season of the FX drama series Pose (2018), and a teacher involved with an underage student in the FX miniseries A Teacher (2020).
Mara made her film debut in Random Hearts (1999). She has since appeared in Brokeback Mountain (2005), We Are Marshall (2006), Shooter (2007), Transsiberian (2008), Stone of Destiny (2008), The Open Road (2009), Ironclad (2011), Transcendence (2014), The Martian (2015), Fantastic Four (2015), Morgan (2016), Megan Leavey (2017), My Days of Mercy (2017), Chappaquiddick (2018), and Friendship (2024).
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Early life
Kate Mara was born on February 27, 1983, in Bedford, New York. Her parents are Timothy Christopher Mara, an NFL scout and vice president of the New York Giants for player evaluation, and Kathleen McNulty Mara (née Rooney). She is the second of four siblings, with an older brother, Daniel; a younger sister, the actress Patricia "Rooney"; and a younger brother, Conor. Her ancestry is mostly Irish, a quarter Italian, and smaller amounts of German and French-Canadian. Her father is one of 11 children. Through him she has 20 aunts and uncles and 40 cousins.
She is a great-granddaughter of both New York Giants founder Tim Mara and Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney. Her mother's side of the family has held ownership in the Steelers since its formation in 1933, and her father's side of the family has held ownership in the Giants since its formation in 1925. Her paternal grandparents were Wellington Mara and Ann Mara. Wellington co-owned the Giants from 1959 until his death in 2005, and was succeeded by his son (Kate Mara's uncle) John Mara, who is now president, CEO, and co-owner of the team. Kate Mara's maternal grandfather, Timothy James "Tim" Rooney, has operated Yonkers Raceway in Yonkers, New York, since 1972. Her granduncle Dan Rooney, chairman of the Steelers, was the United States Ambassador to Ireland and co-founded the charitable organization The Ireland Funds. Her first cousin once removed Art Rooney II is president and co-owner of the Steelers.
Mara began acting at the age of nine in a school musical. She attended several youth theater-arts schools and appeared in community theater and in school plays. In an Esquire magazine interview, she says she was "painfully shy" growing up and had only one friend.
Career
Television and stage
Mara's first recurring television role was in the FX drama Nip/Tuck in a love triangle with her boyfriend Matt McNamara (John Hensley) and another cheerleader (Sophia Bush). Mara also appeared on Cold Case, Boston Public, CSI: Miami and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
Mara was cast as the lead in the 2004 The WB pilot Prodigy, about a teenage child prodigy. She had a recurring role on the WB's Jack & Bobby in 2005 and a five-episode arc on the Fox TV series 24 in 2006, playing computer analyst Shari Rothenberg. Mara joined the cast of the HBO comedy-drama Entourage for the series' sixth season in 2009. She played Brittany, Eric "E" Murphy (Kevin Connolly)'s assistant at his talent-management company and a potential love interest. Mara filmed four episodes for the series in 2009. In 2011, she guest starred on the FX horror series American Horror Story, as Hayden McClaine, a student who becomes Dr. Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott)'s dead mistress, a spirit trapped in the Harmon house. Mara was offered the role by Ryan Murphy, her former producer on Nip/Tuck.
In 2012, Mara joined the cast of House of Cards, playing the part of Zoe Barnes, an intrepid reporter from Washington, D.C. who becomes a major ally to Frank Underwood by leaking stories that undermine his rivals. She filmed a second season of the series, which was released on February 14, 2014. On July 10, 2014, she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. She played a teacher who begins an illicit relationship with an underage student in the FX miniseries A Teacher (2020). For it, she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best New Scripted Series as an executive producer.
Mara's stage debut, in 2003, was at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in John Guare's Landscape of the Body with Lili Taylor. Mara starred in The Alice Complex, a play by Peter Barr Nickowitz, at Dixon Place in New York City in 2005, and at the Blank Theatre in Los Angeles in 2006. The production co-starred Tony Award-winner Harriet Sansom Harris. In 2006, she told WFAN radio that theater is a "dream" because it was "all I really wanted to do as a kid. I didn't care about movies or TV, I just wanted to do Broadway".
Film
Mara made her film debut in Random Hearts in 1999, directed by Sydney Pollack. She played Jessica Chandler, the daughter of a congresswoman (Kristin Scott Thomas). She next appeared in the Sundance Film Festival award-winning films Joe the King (1999) and Tadpole (2002), alongside Sigourney Weaver. Mara co-starred in Peoples (2004), a drama and coming-of-age story filmed in Louisville, Kentucky. She starred in the direct-to-video horror film Urban Legends: Bloody Mary and appeared with Noah Wyle and Illeana Douglas in the 2005 film The Californians. Her supporting role as the daughter of Heath Ledger's character in the Oscar-winning film Brokeback Mountain that year brought her more widespread critical notice.
Mara signed with the William Morris Agency, and was included on the New York Daily News's list of "10 young actors who have a shot at making it big" at the start of 2006. She appeared in Zoom that year as Summer Jones (aka Wonder), a 16-year-old girl with telekinetic and empathic powers. She next appeared in We Are Marshall, starring Matthew McConaughey, which recalled the aftermath of the 1970 Marshall University plane crash that took the lives of most of the football team. Mara played cheerleader Annie Cantrell.
In 2007, she appeared in the comedy Full of It with Ryan Pinkston for New Line Cinema. The film later aired on television as Big Liar on Campus. Mara was also featured in an advertising campaign for clothing retailer Gap called, "khakis with attitude." She appeared in Shooter, a thriller about a master sniper portrayed by Mark Wahlberg, lured out of retirement to prevent an assassination. Mara played a Kentucky widow, Sarah Fenn, adopting a southern accent for the role.
Also in 2007, she finished her work in the film Transsiberian, by Brad Anderson, which takes place on the Trans-Siberian Railway that runs from China to Moscow. She spent three months shooting the thriller in Vilnius, Lithuania, starting in December 2006. The film also shot on location in Beijing and Russia. Mara played Abby, a 20-year-old runaway from Seattle.
Mara starred in the 2008 film Stone of Destiny, written and directed by Charles Martin Smith, about the theft of the Stone of Scone on Christmas Day, 1950. Mara played Kay Matheson, one of four students that removed the stone in a Scottish nationalist plot. The period adventure-comedy co-starred Billy Boyd, Robert Carlyle and Charlie Cox. Filming began in June 2007 in locations around Glasgow. Mara felt lucky and proud to play a role that was important to people's heritage. She stayed near the Botanic Gardens in the city's West End while filming. The film was shown at the Edinburgh and Toronto International Film Festivals.
Personal life
Mara was in a relationship with Max Minghella between 2010 and 2014. In 2014, Mara had a brief relationship with Elliot Page before beginning a relationship with her Fantastic Four co-star Jamie Bell in 2015. In January 2017, the couple was engaged. On July 17, 2017, the couple announced that they had married. As a result, Mara became the stepmother to Bell's son from his marriage to Evan Rachel Wood. In May 2019, the couple's daughter was born. On November 17, 2022, Mara announced on Instagram that she had given birth to a son the week before. Mara lives in Los Angeles and Manhattan.
Mara credits her vegan diet and regular workouts for keeping fit. "I'm a massive animal lover, too," she has said. "Being vegan has been so good for me. I never felt better." Mara is one of the faces of the Humane Society of the United States. In 2015, she was featured in one of its campaign videos to promote Meatless Monday.
As a descendant of the owners of the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers, Mara is a fan of both teams; she joked, "If I'm mad at my mom, I root for the Giants, and if I'm pissed at my dad, I root for the Steelers." This relationship contributed to her role in We Are Marshall. Mara has sung the national anthem at both teams' games, and since she missed the Steelers' 2006 victory at Super Bowl XL due to work, her contracts have stipulated that she may attend if either team goes to the Super Bowl. She was in attendance for the Giants' victory in Super Bowl XLII, the Steelers' victory the next year in Super Bowl XLIII, and the Giants' victory in Super Bowl XLVI.
