Mira Sorvino
- Academy Award-winning Actress
- #MeToo & Human Rights Advocate
Travels From
California
Mira Sorvino Speaker Biography
Mira Sorvino is an Academy Award-winning actress, documentary filmmaker, United Nations Goodwill Ambassador and lifelong champion of victims of social injustice. She has become one of the most passionate voices of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements since going on record in Ronan Farrow’s story-breaking New Yorker exposé. Now enjoying a career upsurge after years of confirmed blacklisting, Sorvino stars in the AT&T espionage drama, Condor with William Hurt, Brendan Fraser and Max Irons and a recurring role on ABC’s Modern Family. She also continues her social activism, advocating for stronger sexual harassment legislation, the Equal Rights Amendment, and her long-time causes of advancing cancer research, ending human trafficking and championing the rights of women and girls around the world. Sorvino has recently teamed up with her husband, Christopher Backus, her sister Amanda Sorvino, and Sky Studios-backed producer Catalina Content on Transformation Ranch, a series using expert-led animal therapy to help the survivors of human trafficking.
Sorvino first gained worldwide attention for her 1995 Oscar and Golden Globe-winning role in Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite. She followed with an Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in Norma Jean and Marilyn and the iconic comedy, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. In 2005, she combined her passion for human rights advocacy with acting, starring in the Lifetime miniseries Human Trafficking, for which she earned another Golden Globe nomination. The role also propelled Sorvino onto the world stage as an advocate for victims of human trafficking and sexual abuse. Sorvino served as official ambassador for Amnesty International’s “Stop Violence Against Women” campaign and was appointed a UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) Goodwill Ambassador in the global fight against human trafficking. She also hosted the award-winning CNN documentary on human trafficking, Every Day in Cambodia. Sorvino’s humanitarian efforts have earned multiple honors, including Amnesty International’s Artist of Conscience Award. In March of 2018, she was honored for her body of work and recent leadership in Time’s Up as the first recipient of UCLA’s Promise Institute Award honoring contributions to the to human rights through the arts. Sorvino is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University. During her time as an East Asian studies major, she spent a year in pre-Tiananmen Square Beijing, becoming fluent in Mandarin. She credits her love of acting to her father, actor Paul Sorvino and her passion for activism to her mother, Lorraine Ruth Davis, who marched with Martin Luther King. Along with her husband, actor, director and screenwriter Christopher Backus, she is the mother of four children.
A high level communicator known for preparing and researching her keynotes to make them highly relevant to each audience, Sorvino is also known for touching hearts and motivating action. Applauded for her intelligence, passion, eloquence and graciousness, her keynotes are an unforgettable encounter with one of Hollywood’s most courageous, committed and accomplished women.
#MeToo: From Silence to Worldwide Advocacy
“At the time I don’t think I even knew that what happened — him using business-related situations to try and press himself sexually on a young woman in his employ — qualified as sexual harassment. But as a woman who routinely advocates for women and girls who have been victimized in my role as Goodwill Ambassador with the United Nations, and as a mother of two daughters, I could no longer remain silent.” With these words, Academy Award-winning actress Mira Sorvino recounted her personal experiences in TIME magazine. As one of the earliest and most prominent women in Hollywood to confront years of predation, Sorvino helped empower a cascade of 90 silence breakers to come forward. Now one of the most passionate and articulate voices in the #MeToo movement alongside Tarana Burke, Sorvino fights to balance the playing field so that women and girls may pursue their goals without fear of sexual harassment in a true meritocracy, not a quid pro quo antiquated system. Her highly positive and solutions-based talk does not dwell long on the horrors of victimization. Linking #MeToo to the larger struggle of women worldwide and her longtime work fighting human trafficking, Sorvino shares what all men and women can do to end sexual harassment and patriarchal predation. Her inspiring point of view empowers all of us to stand up, speak out and forever end this ages-old injustice against women and girls.
Inspiring Women: The Individuals Who Have Shaped My Life
In this moving presentation, Mira Sorvino shares personal and professional stories of the incredible female mentors that empowered her to become an Oscar-winning actress, a wife and mother of four, an activist against prejudice and genocide, a UNODC Goodwill Ambassador against human trafficking, a breast cancer advocate, and prominent member of the #MeToo movement.
Beginning with a moving tribute to her own mother and grandmother, Sorvino’s profiles include:
Fellow victims of sexual harassment and abuse, including Anabella Sciorra, Tarana Burke, and Anita Hill.
Karla Jacinto, a human trafficking survivor who had been raped an estimate 43,000 times between the ages of 12-16, and went on to campaign for other victims.
Susie Cox, an African-American centenarian and daughter of slaves.
Champagne Joy, who turned her own fight against metastatic breast cancer into a campaign to increase resources to the latest-stage of the disease.
Lisa Kudrow, her co-star in the cult film Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.
From Harvard to Hollywood: Life Lessons Learned from a Woman on a Mission
As a successful Hollywood actress, Mira Sorvino has navigated Hollywood and found her passion in human rights advocacy—all while raising four children. Her life story and the lessons learned are both touching and inspiring. In this talk, Sorvino shares personal experiences and the challenges she faced from being bullied as a young child to losing her grandmother and close friends to cancer.
She is a firm believer that early influence can have a huge impact on your life. For her, helping other people was instilled at a young age by her parents. Through an engaging narrative with the right mixture of heart and reality, Mira will inspire you to get involved, give back to the community and find personal empowerment.
The Global Fight Against Human Trafficking: A Voice for Victims of Modern Day Slavery
According to the latest information, the trafficking of human beings currently claims 30 million victims and annual profits are upwards of $32 billion, tying for second place as the most lucrative criminal enterprise alongside arms trafficking (first place being illicit drugs). This form of transnational organized crime is a sophisticated, lucrative business where women and children are being bought and sold like commodities to the highest bidder.
The equivalent of modern day slavery, each of these faces of human trafficking violate the most basic human rights, freedom and dignity. Sorvino’s appointment as U.N. Goodwill Ambassador to combat human trafficking has given her rare insight. In this thought-provoking talk, Sorvino pulls back the curtain on the abduction and coercion of women, men and children for the purpose of sex exploitation, bonded labor, involuntary domestic servitude, debt bondage, forced child labor and child soldiering. She will captivate you with her passion and leave you inspired with her personal belief that it is our sacred human responsibility to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. She is an inspired speaker who is able to move an audience to stand up for others, get involved and create change.
From the College Campus to the Streets of Cambodia: Anyone Can Be a Target of Human Trafficking
Since childhood, Sorvino has consistently made activism and advocacy a part of her life. She is passionate about human rights and sees the issues that might be hiding in plain sight. In this speech, Sorvino shares the unbelievable truth: human trafficking is not confined to the developing world as most might believe.
Living with and Overcoming Illness: Why Family Support Matters to Recovery and Quality of Life
When Mira Sorvino lost her grandmother to cancer, she saw first-hand the difficulties a loved one faces when battling the disease. Out of that loss, Sorvino became an impassioned speaker on the need to find a cure. Her advocacy included marching in Washington DC alongside one of her dearest childhood friends and famed #Cancerland activist, Champagne Joy, who later lost her battle with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer.
Together, they made an impassioned plea to lawmakers to devote more focus and resources to this deadly killer of women. In this talk, Mira shares her personal loss and how family support can make a difference to a loved one with cancer. All cancers are devastating stealers of life, but the emotional support given to a family member dealing with complex feelings after a diagnosis can provide an important level of support that can help to improve all around quality of life.
Diabetes: A Family Matter
When Mira Sorvino’s father, beloved actor Paul Sorvino, was diagnosed with Type II diabetes, rather than being afraid of what may come, the entire family looked for solutions to tackle this disease together. In this talk, Mira shares her tips for family involvement and engagement, including creative strategies to support lifestyle changes.
