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Cara Buono
Highest Rated: 95% All Saints (2017)
Lowest Rated: 20% 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- ).
Photos
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet |
|
The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story | Debra (Character) | - | 2023 |
74% |
|
She Came from the Woods |
Heather McCalister (Character), Producer |
- | 2022 |
95% |
|
All Saints | Aimée Spurlock (Character) | $5.8M | 2017 |
No Score Yet |
|
Outliving Emily | Emily (Character) | - | 2015 |
58% |
|
Paper Towns | Connie Jacobsen (Character) | $31.9M | 2015 |
32% |
|
A Good Marriage | Betty Pike (Character) | - | 2014 |
85% |
|
The Discoverers | Nell (Character) | $36.0K | 2012 |
No Score Yet |
|
Drew Peterson: Untouchable | Kathleen Savio (Character) | - | 2012 |
88% |
|
Let Me In | Owen's Mother (Character) | $12.1M | 2010 |
62% |
|
Cthulhu | Dannie (Character) | $15.2K | 2008 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Unquiet | Julie Bishop (Character) | - | 2008 |
29% |
|
Beer League | Linda Salvo (Character) | $475.0K | 2006 |
38% |
|
From Other Worlds | Joanne Schwartzbaum (Character) | - | 2004 |
63% |
|
Hulk | Edith Banner (Character) | $132.1M | 2003 |
No Score Yet |
|
Takedown | Jane (Character) | - | 2000 |
70% |
|
Happy Accidents | Bette (Character) | $688.5K | 2000 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Cybertraque | Christina Painter (Character) | - | 2000 |
No Score Yet |
|
Attention Shoppers | Unknown (Character) | - | 1999 |
67% |
|
Man of the Century | Virginia Clemens (Character) | $33.0K | 1999 |
No Score Yet |
|
In a Class of His Own | Sherry Donato (Character) | - | 1999 |
87% |
|
Chutney Popcorn | Janis (Character) | $2.3K | 1999 |
67% |
|
Two Ninas | Nina Cohen (Character) | $11.0K | 1999 |
No Score Yet |
|
Deep in My Heart | Young Gerry Cummins (Character) | - | 1999 |
73% |
|
Next Stop Wonderland | Julie (Character) | $3.4M | 1998 |
No Score Yet |
|
River Red | Rachel (Character) | $2.2K | 1998 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Made Men | Toni-Ann Antonelli (Character) | - | 1997 |
No Score Yet |
|
Killer: A Journal of Murder | Esther Lesser (Character) | $65.7K | 1996 |
57% |
|
Kicking and Screaming | Kate (Character) | $19.5K | 1995 |
20% |
|
The Cowboy Way | Teresa Salazar (Character) | $19.6M | 1994 |
47% |
|
Waterland | Judy Dobson (Character) | $1.1M | 1992 |
31% |
|
Gladiator | Dawn (Character) | $8.1M | 1992 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
91% | 90% | Stranger Things | Karen Wheeler (Character) | 2016-2017 2019 2022 |
91% | 50% | The Girl From Plainville | Gail Carter (Character) | 2022 |
88% | 47% | Supergirl | Gamenmae (Guest Star) | 2021 |
59% | 87% | God Friended Me | Karen (Guest Star) | 2019 |
49% | 63% | The Romanoffs | Debbie Newman (Character) | 2018 |
No Score Yet | 61% | Bull | Amaya Andrews (Guest Star) | 2017 |
92% | 78% | Person of Interest | Martine Rosseau (Guest Star) | 2014-2015 |
95% | 89% | Elementary | Sarah Cushing (Guest Star) | 2014 |
93% | 91% | The Good Wife | Charlene Peterson (Guest Star) | 2013 |
82% | 87% | Castle | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2013 |
66% | 75% | A Gifted Man | Carol Gordan (Guest Star) | 2011 |
No Score Yet | 69% | Hawaii Five-0 | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2011 |
79% | 84% | Brothers & Sisters | Rose (Guest Star) | 2011 |
94% | 96% | Mad Men | Faye Miller (Guest Star) | 2010 |
No Score Yet | 83% | NCIS | Navy Cmdr. Sarah Resnik (Guest Star) | 2009 |
No Score Yet | 85% | ER | Lisa Salamunovich (Guest Star) | 2009 |
78% | 83% | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Rachel Zelinsky (Guest Star) | 2008 |
No Score Yet | 67% | The Dead Zone | Sheriff Anna Turner (Character) | 2007 |
92% | 96% | The Sopranos | Kelli Lombardo (Guest Star) | 2006-2007 |
No Score Yet | 83% | Law & Order | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1996 1998 2007 |
No Score Yet | 72% | Third Watch |
Officer Grace Foster (Character), Unknown (Guest Star) |
2004-2005 |
83% | No Score Yet | Miss Match | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2003 |
No Score Yet | 80% | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Tracy Logan - Eric's Girlfriend (Guest Star) | 2002 |
No Score Yet | 71% | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2002 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Family Law | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2001 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | New York Undercover | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1996 |
75% | No Score Yet | The Single Guy | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1995 |