Mira Sorvino

Backus is an aspiring actor, who has appeared on the television show Will & Grace, but the couple met when he took her order at the restaurant where he was working as a waiter. Baker premiered her documentary on Olive Thomas' short life titled Olive Thomas: The Most Beautiful Girl in the World. On June 11, 2004 she married Christopher Backus in a private ceremony; the marriage did not become public knowledge for more than two weeks. In 2004, with funding from Timeline Films and with the help of Hugh Hefner and his film preservation organization, Sarah J. Sorvino dated Quentin Tarantino for several years and more recently French actor Olivier Martinez. Thomas Episcopal Church in New York and she was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. Since then she has had offers for co-leading and supporting roles, some of them having become box-office hits, such as Romy and Michele's High School Reunion opposite Lisa Kudrow, and At First Sight with Val Kilmer. Olive Thomas' funeral service was held at St.

The breakthrough role in Sorvino's early career was her portrayal of a squeaky-voiced, foul-mouthed prostitute in Woody Allen's 1995 movie Mighty Aphrodite, for which she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Jack Pickford brought her body home to the United States and on the return trip, family friend and film director Allan Dwan had to talk him out of committing suicide. Reviews of her first film performance were positive, which opened her doors for her following parts. A police investigation followed and her death was ruled accidental. Soon she was promoted to casting director and to assistant producer, and was finally offered the lead role in the movie. She was taken to the American Hospital in the Paris suburb of Neuilly, where her husband and former in-law Owen Moore stayed by her side until she succumbed to the poison a few days later. When the 1993 picture Amongst Friends entered pre-production, she was hired as third assistant director. Returning to their room in the Hotel Ritz at around 3:00 in the morning, an apparent drunken Olive Pickford accidentally ingested a large dose of mercury biochloride which had been prescribed for her husband's ongoing venereal disease.

One of her jobs was as production assistant in a film company. While doing film preparations mixed with a vacation in Paris, France, she and her husband went out for a night of entertainment at the famous bistros in the Montparnasse Quarter. Like so many other young actors, she worked at several jobs, waiting for an opportunity in show business. Florenz Ziegfeld hung the painting in his New Amsterdam Theatre office, much to the chagrin of his wife, actress Billie Burke. After graduating from college, she spent three years in New York trying to make a name for herself as an actress. By 1920, she had become one of the brightest young stars in America and renowned artist Alberto Vargas painted another portrait of her, nude from the waist up. She also speaks French. The following year, gossip columnists such as Louella Parsons were gushing about her career and the name Olive Thomas was emblazoned in electric lights on Broadway while magazines were filled with stories and photos of her soaring career.

She is also a political activist affiliated with Amnesty International. She spent a year abroad in China, and speaks Mandarin Chinese. In 1918, film mogul and master promoter, Myron Selznick signed her for Selznick Pictures Company. Her thesis was on anti-African sentiment in China (see Nanjing Anti-African protests). Alcohol began playing a larger and larger role in Thomas' life and in a short span crashed her automobile on three occasions. She was at Harvard University, where she graduated "summa cum laude" in East Asian Studies. They married in October of 1916, and although Olive was the love of his life, the marriage was a stormy one sometimes filled with highly charged conflict followed by lavish making up through expensive gifts. Nevertheless, Sorvino acted in theater productions while in high school and later in university. Through her work she met actor Jack Pickford (1896-1933), an alcoholic, drug-using, womanizer who lived extravagantly off the wealth and fame of his sister, Mary Pickford.

She was raised in New Jersey and dedicated most of her childhood to academic studies rather than preparing for an acting career, as her father did not want his three children to become young movie stars. She went on to appear in more than twenty Hollywood films over the next four years. Sorvino was born in Tenafly, New Jersey, and is the daughter of veteran actor Paul Sorvino (whose credits include Goodfellas, Oliver Stone's Nixon, and TV's Law & Order). Approached by an executive from Triangle Pictures, she was put under contract and in 1916 made her motion picture debut using her married name, Thomas. Mira Sorvino (born September 28, 1967) is an Oscar-winning American actress, who has appeared in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion,At First Sight, Blue in the Face, Summer of Sam and Mighty Aphrodite. Before long, the gorgeous Olive Thomas was the center of attention of the in-crowd such as those associated with Conde Nast and she was being pursued by a number of very wealthy and powerful men. Amongst Friends (1993). She then modeled for another famous artist Harrison Fisher and eventually wound up on the cover of "Saturday Evening Post." She was hired by the Ziegfeld Follies and then worked for the much racier revue, the Ziegfeld Frolics," a show staged after hours in the roof garden of the New Amsterdam Theatre for mainly male patrons with plenty of money to bestow on the young and beautiful lady performers.

Barcelona (1994). In 1914 she entered and won "The Most Beautiful Girl in New York City" contest run by the celebrated commercial artist, Howard Chandler Christy. Quiz Show (1994). A beautiful and ambitious girl, she went to stay with an aunt in New York City where she worked in a department store. The Dutch Master (1994). At the age of 16, she married Bernard Thomas but the marriage lasted only a short time. Mighty Aphrodite (1995). Born Oliva Elaine Duffy into a working class family in a Pittsburgh suburb, her father died when she was young and she had to leave school to help support her mother and siblings.

Blue in the Face (1995). Olive Thomas, born October 20, 1894 in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, United States – died September 10, 1920 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, was an actress. Beautiful Girls (1996). Tarantella (1996). Sweet Nothing (1996).

Tales of Erotica (1996). New York Cop (1996). Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997). Mimic (1997).

The Replacement Killers (1998). Too Tired to Die (1998). Lulu on the Bridge (1998). Free Money (1998).

At First Sight (1999). Summer of Sam (1999). The Triumph of Love (2001). The Grey Zone (2001).

The Great Gatsby (2001). Wisegirls (2002). Semana Santa (2002). Between Strangers (2002).

Gods and Generals (2003).