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Cara Buono

Highest Rated: 95% All Saints (2017)

Lowest Rated: 25% The Cowboy Way (1994)

Birthday: Mar 1, 1974

Birthplace: Bronx, New York, USA

Born March 1, 1971 in The Bronx, New York, Buono was raised in a blue-collar family and decided at an early age to make acting her life's ambition. At 12, she showed her connection to her family's work ethic by answering a casting call ad for Harvey Fierstein's "Spookhouse" and landing the role without any assistance from her family or other adults. Buono began landing roles on television and the New York stage while in her teens and early twenties, and earned a Daytime Emmy nomination as a young victim of sexual abuse in "Abby, My Love" (CBS, 1991), which aired as part of the "CBS Schoolbreak Special." She soon graduated to minor roles in Stephen Gyllenhaal's "Waterland" (1992), with Jeremy Irons and Ethan Hawke; as an illegal immigrant in "The Cowboy Way" (1994) with Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland; and in Noam Baumbach's much-loved indie comedy "Kicking and Screaming" (1994), which reunited her with his "Abby, My Love" co-star, Josh Hamilton. While cultivating her acting career, Buono also graduated from Columbia University with a double major in English and political science in 1993, which she earned in just three years. After graduation, Buono concentrated largely on character roles in independent films and on television. She was the wife and confidante of prison guard Robert Sean Leonard, who served as an earpiece for monstrous 1930s criminal Carl Panzram (James Woods) in "Killer: A Journal of Murder" (1996), before playing an accident-prone opera singer in love with a young man (Gibson Frazier) with Jazz Era affectations in the offbeat "Man of the Century" (1999). She soon added behind-the-camera credits to her expanding resume, including a stint as director on the short "Baggage" (1997) with Liev Schreiber and Minnie Driver, and served as co-producer and star of the comedy "Two Ninas" (1999), about a pair of similarly monikered women (Buono and Amanda Peet) who fell for a very unlucky man. Buono's screen credits grew more obscure at the launch of the new millennium - few outside of art house and film festival circles saw the lesbian drama "Chutney Popcorn" (1999), "Attention Shoppers" (2000) or "Happy Accidents" (2000) with Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio. She soon turned to television for wider exposure, and earned it through supporting roles on high profile series like "Third Watch" and "The Sopranos." In the former, she played paramedic Grace Foster, whose hard exterior held in a troubled childhood with an addict mother, while in the latter, she was Kelli Moltisanti, wife to Michael Imperioli's troubled mobster Christopher Moltisanti. A dutiful wife and mother during the early years of their relationship, she soon suffered the same fate as many mob spouses: betrayed by her philandering husband, terrified by his violent business partners, and ultimately left alone after his murder by his own cousin, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini). In 2007, she joined the cast of the cult favorite "The Dead Zone" (USA, 2002-2007) as Sheriff Anna Turner, who investigated the death of her predecessor (Chris Bruno). During this period, Buono maintained her screen career in features as varied as Ang Lee's "Hulk" (2003), playing David Banner's mother, who was killed by his genetically induced rage, and "Beer League" (2006), and Artie Lange's hapless lay-about love interest. In 2010, she appeared as the divorced mother of Kodi Smit-McPhee in "Let Me In," the critically praised American remake of the Swedish vampire movie "Let the Right One In" (2008). That same year, she landed her most widely seen role to date on "Mad Men," playing Dr. Faye Miller, a cool, cerebral market research consultant who joins Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Initially resisting the advances of Don Draper (Jon Hamm), she eventually falls for his charms. Their relationship, however, foundered when she grew too close to the truth behind his secret identity, whereupon he left her emotionally crushed by impulsively marrying his younger secretary, Megan Calvert (Jessica Pare). For her efforts, Buono received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2011. Buono next appeared in the family comedy "The Discoverers" (2012), followed by a supporting role in the Stephen King thriller "A Good Marriage" (2014). Buono returned to television with a story arc on the procedural drama "Person of Interest" (CBS 2011-16), followed by a series regular role as suburban mother Karen Wheeler on the streaming hit "Stranger Things" (Netflix 2016- ).

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Highest-Rated Movies

95% 72% All Saints Watchlist 88% 76% Let Me In Watchlist
87% 50% Chutney Popcorn
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85% 53% The Discoverers
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73% 74% Next Stop Wonderland
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73% 26% She Came from the Woods Watchlist
70% 75% Happy Accidents
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67% 52% Two Ninas
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67% 77% Man of the Century
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63% 29% Hulk
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Filmography

Movies TV Shows
Queen of the Ring 2024 Bertha Actor In Fidelity 2024 Actor The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story 70% 2023 Debra Actor She Came from the Woods 73% 26% 2022 Heather McCalister Actor, Producer All Saints 95% 72% 2017 Aimée Spurlock Actor Outliving Emily 17% 2015 Emily Actor Paper Towns 58% 47% 2015 Connie Jacobsen Actor A Good Marriage 32% 20% 2014 Betty Pike Actor The Discoverers 85% 53% 2012 Nell Actor Drew Peterson: Untouchable 47% 2012 Kathleen Savio Actor Let Me In 88% 76% 2010 Owen's Mother Actor Cthulhu 62% 29% 2008 Dannie Actor The Unquiet 0% 2008 Julie Bishop Actor Beer League 31% 58% 2006 Linda Salvo Actor From Other Worlds 38% 20% 2004 Joanne Schwartzbaum Actor Hulk 63% 29% 2003 Edith Banner Actor Takedown 57% 2000 Jane Actor Happy Accidents 70% 75% 2000 Bette Actor Cybertraque 2000 Christina Painter Actor Attention Shoppers 43% 1999 Actor Man of the Century 67% 77% 1999 Virginia Clemens Actor In a Class of His Own 50% 1999 Sherry Donato Actor Chutney Popcorn 87% 50% 1999 Janis Actor Two Ninas 67% 52% 1999 Nina Cohen Actor Deep in My Heart 77% 1999 Young Gerry Cummins Actor
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