Wisegirls : About The Cast


MIRA SORVINO - Meg
Since her first leading role as a convict's loyal girlfriend in her friend Rob Weiss's debut film Amongst Friends (1993), Mira Sorvino has been on the fast track to stardom. Her breakthrough role as a crass New York streetwalker in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (1995), displayed not only her depth and range as an actress but her willingness to take on challenging roles.

Her risk paid off. Not only did her performance steal the show, it also earned Sorvino an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Born in Tenafly, New Jersey on September 28, 1967, Sorvino is the daughter of character actor Paul Sorvino, best known for roles in films like Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990). Sorvino earned a degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University.

Upon graduation, Sorvino moved to New York to pursue an acting career. Between small acting gigs, she waited tables and worked as a production assistant until 1992, when Weiss hired her as a third assistant director on the low-budget, independent Amongst Friends. Sorvino proved so adept at her job that Weiss promoted her to associate producer and eventually cast her as his leading lady. She appeared in two short films, Susan Seidelman's The Dutch and the satirical The Second Greatest Story Ever Told (both 1993), in which she played a contemporary Virgin Mary. In 1994, Whit Stillman hired her to play a two-faced party girl in Barcelona, while Robert Redford cast her as Rob Morrow's wife in Quiz Show.

After winning her Oscar for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite, Sorvino took a turn as Matt Dillon's anorexic girlfriend in Beautiful Girls (1996) and as Marilyn Monroe in the made-for-TV Norma Jean and Marilyn (1996), for which she received an Emmy nomination. Sorvino went on to star in Mimic, the comedy hit Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, and The Replacement Killers. Sorvino decided to try her hand at romantic drama in 1999, starring opposite Val Kilmer in At First Sight and finished the year with critical acclaim for her starring role as John Leguizamo's estranged wife in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam.

MARIAH CAREY - Raychel
Mariah Carey's career is truly the stuff of legend. Mariah is the best-selling female performer of all time, with an incredible 15 #1 singles and two Grammy Awards. Along the way she became the only artist to top the charts in each year of the 1990s, and, with "Heartbreaker," she pushed ahead of the Beatles as the artist with the most cumulative weeks spent atop Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart.

In May 2002, Carey signed an exclusive recording contract with the Universal Music Group's Island Records. In addition, Carey has formed her own label, MonarC Music. The first release for MonarC Music will be Carey's forthcoming studio album, Charmbracelet, set for release on December 3, 2002. Along with her musical talents, Carey has conquered Hollywood as well staring in various films including Glitter and The Bachelor.

Born in Long Island, N. Y. as the daughter of a former opera singer and vocal coach, Carey began singing at age four, and was writing her own songs by the time she was attending Oldfield Middle School. She moved to New York City the day after graduating from high school. Honing her songwriting skills and lending her vocals to several local acts, she first garnered industry attention when singing backup for Brenda K. Starr, who gave Carey's demo tape to Sony Music Entertainment chief Tommy Mottola at a party. As legend has it, Mottola played the demo on his ride home and ordered his driver to immediately return to the party so that he could meet the young singer. Soon afterwards, Mottola signed Carey to a Columbia Records contract.

Carey has garnered many accolades throughout her career including two Grammy Awards, eight American Music Awards, Billboard's "Artist of the Decade" Award and the World Music Award for "World's Best Selling Female Artist of the Millennium. " Mariah's many accomplishments and unprecedented career success stand as a testament to her creativity and talent.

MELORA WALTERS - Kate
A versatile actress who can bring a keen emotional edge to either comic or dramatic roles, Melora Walters is best known for her work with director Paul Thomas Anderson, who, more than anyone, seems to have known how to best utilize her gifts onscreen.

Melora Walters began her career in acting doing off-Broadway theater in New York in 1989 before made a name for herself in television, scoring a small recurring role as Debbi on the popular sitcom Roseanne. After making her film debut in an undistinguished low-budget thriller, 1988's Underground Terror, Walters earned her Screen Actors Guild card for her work as Gloria in the 1989 hit Dead Poets Society. Over the next several years, Walters made a number of appearances on episodic television shows, including such hits as The Wonder Years, Seinfeld, and NYPD Blue, while playing small roles in several films, including Cabin Boy, Ed Wood, Eraser, and the critically acclaimed Independent film Twenty Bucks.

In 1996, Walters was cast in a small role in the Independent film Hard Eight. The film's director, first-time feature filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, was so impressed with her performance he cast her in a much meatier role in his second feature. Walters played Jessie St. Vincent, a soft-hearted second-string porn actress in the breakthrough hit Boogie Nights. The film made a name for both Anderson and Walters and helped her land a regular role as Felicity on the television drama series L. A. Doctors.

Anderson once again had plans for Walters, casting her as Claudia, a cocaine-addled woman on the verge of emotional collapse in Magnolia. Her performance was one of the strongest in one of the year's most eagerly anticipated films, and the critical response to her intense portrayal led to a string of leading roles in independent films, including Rain, Desert Saints, and Jupiter City.

Author : Lions Gate Films