The resilient, intelligent, beautiful, complicated and mercurial mother of seventeen-year-old Norman Bates. A contemporary single mother, she is emotionally complex and utterly devoted to her son, constantly juggling her own needs and some hardcore baggage while trying to create a new home in a new town for herself and Norman.

An Oscar-nominated and award-winning actress, Vera Farmiga continues to captivate audiences with her ability to embody each of her diverse and engaging roles. In 2011, Farmiga made her directorial debut with Higher Ground, which she also starred in, opposite John Hawkes, Joshua Leonard, and Dagmara Dominczyk. The film opened to critical acclaim at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and was picked up for distribution by Sony Pictures Classics.

Farmiga starred in Jason Reitman's Up In The Air, opposite George Clooney, for which she has received critical praise and nominations for an Academy Award, BAFTA, Broadcast Film Critics' Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Golden Globe.

Most recently, Farmiga appeared opposite David Duchovny in the coming-of-age comedy Goats. She appeared opposite Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds In Universal Pictures' spy thriller Safe House, directed by Daniel Espinosa. She stars opposite Mark Strong in Closer to the Moon, Nae Caranfil's film set in post-war Romania, which is set to be released in 2013. In New Line's The Warren Files, directed by James Wan and also set for a 2013 release, she stars opposite Patrick Wilson as a paranormal investigator famous for having battled activity in the cases that inspired The Amityville Horror and The Haunting in Connecticut.

Farmiga will next star in Middleton opposite Andy Garcia and her sister, Taissa Farmiga. In this feature, written and directed by Adam Rodgers, Farmiga and Garcia play a man and a woman who fall in love while taking their kids on a college admissions tour.

Vera also starred in the dark thriller Orphan opposite Peter Sarsgaard; Miramax's Holocaust drama The Boy In The Striped Pajamas; and Rod Lurie's political drama Nothing But The Truth, which earned her a nomination for a Broadcast Film Critic Award. For her performance in The Boy In The Striped Pajamas she was awarded the Best Actress Award by the British Independent Film Awards.

Farmiga won the Best Actress Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics' Association for her performance in the independent film Down To The Bone, for which she also won Best Actress Awards from the Sundance Film Festival and the Marrakech Film Festival. She also earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for the role.

Other films include Martin Scorsese's The Departed, Anthony Minghella's Breaking & Entering, The Manchurian Candidate, Joshua, Quid Pro Quo, Henry's Crime, and Never Forever.