The Stunning Transformation Of Mira Sorvino

Some Hollywood stars may claim that they've seen it all, but unless they are Mira Sorvino, that is almost unlikely. Sorvino started in the industry quite early, having made an uncredited appearance in Larry Cohen's horror comedy "The Stuff" where she played one of the drones that turned evil as a young teen. While the actress didn't pursue any roles for several years after that, she eventually made her way back to the big screen, rising to fame in just a short time, and winning accolades very early on in her career.

Just like a good Hollywood film, however, Sorvino's story comes with a plot twist, one that the actress probably never saw coming until it was too late. That said, Sorvino has reemerged since then, staging a long-overdue comeback in both film and television. At the same time, the actress has also become a force for social change, serving as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to help fight human trafficking. Over the years, the Hollywood star has also become an inspiration to many, proving to everyone that a second act can be more interesting (and meaningful) than the first.

While Mira Sorvino explored acting as a young girl, she also pursued other interests as she got older. In particular, she took up East Asian literature and culture while attending Harvard. At this point in her life, she still wasn't sure if she would become a full-time actor. One summer, Sorvino went to California to visit her father, Paul Sorvino. That's when she learned that she just lost out on roles in "Mystic Pizza" (one of the female roles went to Julia Roberts, who was still relatively unknown at that time) and "Dead Poets Society". 

As she thought about whether she should continue with college or focus on acting more, Paul Sorvino also asked his good friend, Hollywood star Warren Beatty, to give his daughter advice. And while Beatty recommended staying in school, he also had another suggestion. "Warren Beatty told me I should transfer to Columbia, where I could at least go out on more auditions," Mira recalled during an interview with the Associated Press (via NJ.com). "But I knew that if I did get a part, I'd never finish Harvard, and what a waste that would be." 

After weighing her options, she decided to finish her course at Harvard. "I figured acting would still be waiting when I got out," Mira added. The actress went on to graduate from Harvard with magna cum laude honors.

Mira Sorvino caught the attention of director Woody Allen, who cast her in his 1995 comedy fantasy, "Mighty Aphrodite." Also starring Allen himself and Pamela Blair, the film tells the story of a sportswriter (Allen) who looks for his adopted son's birth mother after discovering that he is a genius. The birth mother is a woman named Linda Ash (Sorvino) who works as a sex worker. 

Much to Sorvino's surprise, she won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the film. "I was actually sitting there preparing myself to smile for someone else when they called my name. I still don't know how I got up on stage," the actor told the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Allen became embroiled in controversy after his daughter, Dylan Farrow, accused him of sexual abuse. In 2018, Sorvino penned an open letter to Farrow, published by HuffPost. The actress apologized to Farrow for initially assuming that such allegations were brought on by a custody battle between Allen and her mother, actor Mia Farrow. 

Sorvino later added, "But this does not excuse my turning a blind eye to your story simply because I wanted desperately for it not to be so." The Oscar winner also clarified that nothing inappropriate occurred between her and Allen on the set of the film. Sorvino said later on that if she had known about the allegations against Allen, she would not have taken her "Mighty Aphrodite" role (via The Guardian).

Compared to other stars, Hollywood success came early for Mira Sorvino. However, she would later realize that her breakout success came with a price. In 1995, Sorvino ended up in a hotel room with now-disgraced Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein while promoting "Mighty Aphrodite." During an interview with Ronan Farrow — the son of equally disgraced filmmaker Woody Allen and brother of Dylan Farrow — for the New Yorker, Sorvino recalled, "[Weinstein] started massaging my shoulders, which made me very uncomfortable, and then tried to get more physical, sort of chasing me around." 

Weeks later, Weinstein also tried to set up a private meeting with Sorvino in New York City, showing up outside her apartment after midnight. Despite these interactions, Sorvino admitted that she was hesitant about coming forward at first, because Weinstein and his company, Miramax, helped launch her into Hollywood stardom. Sorvino eventually told an unnamed Miramax employee what happened, and soon after, the big roles gradually stopped coming. 

Director Peter Jackson later revealed that Miramax discouraged him from casting Sorvino in his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. "The idea that there was this malevolent hand that actually had changed the course of my professional life was devastating to me," Sorvino told the Los Angeles Times. The actor added, "I just felt iced out." That said, she still booked a starring role alongside legendary actor Robin Williams in "The Final Cut."

One might say that the #MeToo Movement started in 2006 when activist Tarana Burke started using the phrase "Me Too" on MySpace. But it would take several years before the movement gained significant momentum with comedian Bill Cosby's 2014 sexual assault allegations, and Roger Ailes' 2016 ousting from Fox after several women in the network accused him of sexual harassment.

In 2017, more sexual allegations came to light with Ronan Farrow's piece in The New Yorker detailing 13 women's disturbing experiences with Hollywood mega-producer Harvey Weinstein. This included Mira Sorvino, who provided a shocking account of her encounters with the now-disgraced movie mogul early on in her career. Since then, more women in the film industry have come forward with their horrific accounts of Weinstein, including Paz de la Huerta, Salma Hayek, Rosanna Arquette, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Angelina Jolie. As the #MeToo Movement grew, Sorvino told CBS News, "I could not have imagined that I would be joined by a chorus of like-minded people from around the world who would raise their voice and say, 'Me Too,' and 'Time's Up,' and 'we want change.'"

As Mira Sorvino kept booking roles, the actress caught the attention of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, who were casting for their Netflix miniseries, "Hollywood." Set in post-war America, the show explores what might have happened in the late 1940s if a top Hollywood studio had been run by a woman. And when it came to casting for the role of Jeanne Crandall — a B-film actress who'd like nothing more than to land a career-defining movie role — they couldn't think of anyone better than Sorvino. "She is the platonic ideal for that character, so getting her was such a coup," Brennan told Vogue. "Ryan and I have both admired Mira for a long time, so casting her was an excuse to fill out that character's story."

Not long after, Sorvino worked with Murphy again, this time on the FX anthology series "American Crime Story: Impeachment," which delved into the events that transpired after former U.S. President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky became public. On the show, Sorvino played Marcia Lewis, the protective mother of Beanie Feldstein's Monica Lewinsky. In preparing for her role, Sorvino spoke extensively with Lewinsky, who served as a producer on the show. "She tried to shield her daughter and do everything she could to change the situation for her, but she couldn't," Sorvino said of Lewis in an interview with Vanity Fair.