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Taissa Farmiga

"Violet Harmon" in Murder House

Taissa Farmiga (born August 17, 1994) is an American actress. Her name is pronounced like "Ta-EE-sa". She portrayed "Violet Harmon" in American Horror Story. She has been confirmed to return with an all-new role in Season 3.

Bio Edit

Taissa was born and raised in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. Farmiga attended public school until the fourth grade when her mother began homeschooling her along with two of her siblings. In total, she has six siblings. Her parents are Ukrainian immigrants Mykhailo (Michal) L., a computer-systems analyst, and Lubomyra (Luba) Spas Farmiga, a schoolteacher. Taissa's father was born in 1942 and her mother in March 1949; thus they were already 52 and 45 years old respectively when they had Taissa, their youngest. The Farmigas first had four children (of which Vera is the second oldest) and then with a 10 year gap between child No. 4 and child No. 5, another three children. ^[1]Taissa speaks fluent Ukrainian, as this is the language that is mainly spoken in the Farmiga home. The Farmigas were originally Ukrainian Orthodox, but switched to Pentecostalism. Taissa's family are devout. Taissa's sister Vera says of Michal "My dad is someone who feels the breath of God on his face. He's tapping into something that I have yet to tap into — and yearn to." ^[2] Taissa's and Vera's mother Luba is a pro-life/anti-choice campaigner, who hosts "Pray for Life" sessions and supports the Tea Party.^{[according to whom?]}

Farmiga is an avid reader with a passion for novels. She adores nature and loves being outdoors. She enjoys snowboarding, hiking, and traveling. She can play the guitar, cook, and has mastered the art of making origami cranes.^[3]

Her only prior role was playing the teenage version of her older sister, Academy Award nominee Vera (who is 21 years older than Taissa), in Vera's directorial debut, Higher Ground. Her "salary" for acting in Higher Ground was a 2004 Toyota pick up truck that Vera still owned. ^[4]Another sister of Taissa, Laryssa, her grandmother, and her nephew (Vera's son) also star in the movie. ^[5] Laryssa is three years older than Taissa (20 years old) and was born with spina bifida.

Taissa on playing "Violet Harmon" Edit

“Emotional scenes are kind of fun for a while – it’s nice to get a good cry out – but Violet has been pretty emotional in the second half of this season. And all of that emotion gets to you.”

The downright scary scenes, meanwhile, “are fun to play,” she maintains, because the set pieces so easily set the mood. “That basement is kind of freaky!” Farmiga admits that “there have been moments” where she and TV mom Connie Britton might trade looks between takes à la “This is so crazy!” But thanks in part to a smiling crew and cast, she says, “You just jump back into it” for the next scene.

Working alongside the likes of acting vets such as Britton, Dylan McDermott and Frances Conroy, let alone two-time Oscar winner Jessica Lange, “has been great. Sometimes I wish I could just sit down and watch them, to see how they play out a scene, but then I remember, ‘Wait, I’m in this scene, too,’ and you’ve got to act.” ^[6]