After filming Tanner Hall, the debut film by writing/directing team Tatiana von Furstenberg and Francesca Gregorini, actress Patricia “Tricia” Mara took on a new identity, dropping her first name to become Rooney Mara. “I never really liked my first name,” Mara says. (Rooney is her middle name.) “I never felt like a Tricia. And Rooney is more memorable.”

As Patricia growing up in the tony Westchester town of Bedford, Mara says she was a “loner” who shied away from team sports, even though in her family, football was everything. (Her great-grandfather Tim Mara founded the New York Giants.) “I was dragged to football games every week,” she says. “I just started liking it a few years ago, but I really hated it growing up.”

For a different, less all-American experience, after highschool Mara lived in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. From there, she headed to Kenya where she started a non-profit children”s relief charity called Faces of Kibera. “I needed to get out of the bubble of Westchester. I wanted to finish high school and experience other parts of the world before I tried acting.” Mara moved to Los Angeles two years ago, staying at first with her sister Kate Mara (also an actress). And since then, she”s been working non-stop. After she sexes up Tanner Hall as the precocious teen Fernanda, she”ll star in Youth in Revolt (with Michael Cera) and The Social Network, David Fincher”s buzzy Justin Timberlake-starring feature about the creators of Facebook. “In the movie I break up with Mark [Zuckerberg], which is the inspiration for him to start Facebook,” she explains. Good luck finding Mara on the social networking site. “I do have a Facebook account, but I very rarely use it,” she says. “I have my profile on private — so no one can find me.”

Source: Paper.com

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I’ve added new photoshoots portraits of Rooney for TIFF ‘Tanner Hall’ taken for last year, 2009.

GALLERY LINK:

• (x005) Photoshoots In 2009: 2009 TIFF B&W Tanner Hall Portraits

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• Rooney Mara TIFF ‘Tanner Hall’ Portraits
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• Rooney Mara at 15th Annual Gen Art Film Festival ‘Tanner Hall’ Premiere Photos
• Rooney Mara ‘Tana Hall’ Stills

I’ve added two new photoshoots of Rooney taken by Scott MerDermott.

GALLERY LINK:

• Photoshoots In 2009: Scott McDermott

RELATED POSTS:

• Rooney Mara Photoshoots Updates
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• Rooney TIFF ‘Tanner Hall’ Portraits
• Rooney Mara TIFF ‘Tanner Hall’ Portraits
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I’ve added new photoshoots of Rooney for Glamour Magazine and By Thomas Whiteside.

GALLERY LINKS:

• Photoshoots in 2009: Glamour
• Photoshoots in 2009: Thomas Whiteside

RELATED POSTS:

• Rooney Mara Photoshoots for Nylon Magazine
• New Rooney Mara Photoshoots
• Rooney TIFF ‘Tanner Hall’ Portraits
• Rooney Mara TIFF ‘Tanner Hall’ Portraits
• Rooney Teen Vogue Magazine Outtakes

I’ve addded new portraits of Rooney taken for Toronto Internatinal Film Festival for her movie Tanner Hall.

GALLERY LINK:

• Photoshoots in 2009: Henny Garfunkel [TIFF Tanner Hall]

RELATED POSTS:

• Rooney TIFF ‘Tanner Hall’ Portraits
• Rooney Mara TIFF ‘Tanner Hall’ & ‘Youth In Revolt’ Premiere Photos
• Rooney Mara ‘Tanner Hall’ Trailer Video & Captures
• Rooney Mara at 15th Annual Gen Art Film Festival ‘Tanner Hall’ Premiere Photos
• Rooney Mara ‘Tana Hall’ Stills

I’ve added new outtakes & behind the scenes video of Rooney taken for Teen Vogue magazine.

In the next year, Rooney (younger sister of actress Kate) will star in the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street and the comedy Youth in Revolt, but for right now, she’s focused on her humanitarian efforts. After traveling to Africa with a volunteer group, Rooney established the nonprofit Faces of Kibera to benefit kids in a small village in Kenya. “We’ve already been able to do so much,” she says. While most ingénues struggle to balance fame with a career, she seems markedly poised. “It makes you a better actor if you have real-life experiences that you can draw from.”—S.J-D.

GALLERY LINK:

• Photoshoots in 2009: Bruce Weber [Teen Vogue]

RELATED POSTS:

• Rooney Mara features in Paper Magazine
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• Rooney TIFF ‘Tanner Hall’ Portraits