Cara Buono

As a young girl growing up in New York City, Cara Buono took her family's blue-collar work ethic and began to turn it into an acting career that would later lead not only to starring roles but to screenwriting and directing. With no help from friends, family or mentors, she went out on her own, picked up a trade paper, saw an ad for a casting call and sneaked into an audition. She managed to land a role in Harvey Fierstein's play, "Spook House", despite her lack of experience. From there on, Cara's career blossomed. She continued stage work both on and off-Broadway, and started her film career opposite Ethan Hawke and Jeremy Irons in Waterland (1992).

Graduated from Columbia University in three years, class of 1993, with a double major in English and political science.

As well as acting, Cara has directed, produced and written films, including the short film, Baggage (1997), which starred Liev Schreiber.

Ran in three New York City Marathons--1998, 1999 and 2005. She was set to run the 2006 Marathon but had to drop about a week before due to an injury.

Much of her work has been in indie films such as Chutney Popcorn (1999), Happy Accidents (2000), Next Stop Wonderland (1998) and Two Ninas (1999), which she co-produced.

She co-wrote the screenplay, "When The Cat's Away" (1999), with Brad Anderson, and cut a deal with Miramax for a screenplay adaptation of one of F. Scott Fitzgerald's work.