Morena Baccarin has gained recent success and recognition for her lead role in ABC’s television show, V. In this 2009 remake of the 80’s mini-series, she stars as Anna, the leader of a cult of aliens known as the Visitors. In interviews, Baccarin has revealed that she was a childhood fan of the original V, which the new series manages to pay homage to while still updating with contemporary concerns.

In 2009, Baccarin made her off-Broadway debut in Theresa Rebeck’s television satire, Our House, at Playwrights Horizons in New York City where she played a news reporter whose affair with a television executive lands her a gig as the host of a hit reality show.

In April 2006, it was announced that Baccarin would be reprising her role as adult Adria in the movie Stargate: The Ark of Truth. A recurring villain in the tenth season of Stargate SG-1, Adria first appeared in season 10 episode, “Counterstrike.”

In February 2005, Baccarin provided the voice for Black Canary in multiple episodes of the animated series Justice League Unlimited. In 2006, she guest starred in two episodes of the hit television series, The O.C. Baccarin also appeared in an unaired pilot episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, playing Carmen, a male-to-female transsexual. Although the episode never aired on television, it was used in the pitch to FX executives and can be viewed on the show’s DVD’s of Seasons 1 & 2.

Her first movie role came in 2001 in the improvised fashion world comedy Perfume. Following that, she landed a lead part in film festival hit, Way Off Broadway (2001). Shortly before moving to Los Angeles, Baccarin appeared with Natalie Portman, and understudied for her role, in the acclaimed Central Park production of The Seagull. The science fiction drama Firefly was Baccarin’s first television show, and she later reprised her role in the 2005 film Serenity, a continuation of the cancelled series.

Born in Rio de Janeiro and raised in New York, Morena Baccarin is the daughter of Brazilian stage actress Vera Setta and Brazilian Record TV News Coordinator, Fernando Baccarin. She moved to Greenwich Village at the age of 7, and later studied theatre at the prestigious Julliard School.

Facts about Morena

• Morena was born on June 2, 1979 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; her full name is Morena Silva de Vaz Setta Baccarin.
• Morena’s mother is the famous Brazillian stage actress, Vera Setta. Her father, Fernando, works as news editor for a television company. She has a younger brother, who lives in New York and is “quite the artist.”
• Her first name – Morena – means “brunette” in her native Portuguese.
• Morena loves to read, and she loves Shakespeare. She also loves older movies, such as Casablanca. She is a fan of the television series “Grey’s Anatomy”
• She attended PS 41 and the New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies, where she and Claire Danes were classmates. She later attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts where after graduating, she entered the theater program at the Julliard School for the Performing Arts. While at Julliard, she was one of the subjects of the PBS series American Masters which focused on the school and the students.
• Gave birth to her 1st child at age 34, a son named Julius Chick on October 22, 2013.
• Morena was the maid of honor in fellow Firefly/Serenity co-star Jewel Staite’s wedding. The two are best friends.
• Morena currently lives in both New York and Los Angeles, splitting her time between the cities depending on whether she is working on stage or screen.
• Morena’s film Way Off Broadway, her first lead role, won the “Audience Choice Award” for “Best Feature” at the Stony Brook Film Festival in 2001. In 2002, Morena won the “Best Actress” award at the Wine Country Film Festival for her role in the film Way Off Broadway.
• Morena is 5′ 7 1/2″ tall.
• Morena’s ancestry is Italo-Brazilian; she speaks Brazilian Portuguese.
• She enjoys cooking.
• As a child, she was big on the Sci-Fi genre, watching the TV shows and reading books, but she grew out of it later on.
• Her favorite episode of Firefly is “Out of Gas”; her favorite episode of Stargate SG-1 is “Dominion”.
• Morena’s favorite costume from her Firefly wardrobe was her dress from the episode “Shindig” (1×06) because it was the Costume Designer’s wedding dress.
• She got the role of Adria in Stargate because the writers loved her as Inara in Firefly.