Vera Ann Farmiga ( far-MEE-gə; born August 6, 1973) is an American actress and singer. She began her professional acting career on stage in the original Broadway production of Taking Sides (1996). After expanding to television and film, her breakthrough came with her starring role as a drug addict in the drama Down to the Bone (2004). She then had roles in the political thriller The Manchurian Candidate (2004), the crime drama The Departed (2006), and the historical drama The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008). She was also established as a scream queen for her performances in the horror films Joshua (2007) and Orphan (2009). For her performance in the comedy-drama Up in the Air (2009), Farmiga was nominated for an Academy Award and other accolades. She then made her directorial debut with the drama film Higher Ground (2011), in which she had the leading role. She starred in the thrillers Source Code (2011) and Safe House (2012), before furthering her scream queen status by portraying paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the Conjuring Universe films The Conjuring (2013), The Conjuring 2 (2016), Annabelle Comes Home (2019), The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021), and The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025). She also starred in the legal drama The Judge (2014), the biographical drama The Front Runner (2018), the monster film Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), and the crime drama The Many Saints of Newark (2021). On television, Farmiga received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for playing Norma Louise Bates in the A&E drama horror series Bates Motel (2013–2017) and starring in the Netflix miniseries When They See Us (2019). She also appears in the Disney+ miniseries Hawkeye (2021) set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the Apple TV+ miniseries Five Days at Memorial (2022).