Kate Mara - Early Life

Early Life

Mara was born and raised in Bedford, Westchester County, New York, to Timothy Christopher Mara, a scout and the vice president of player evaluation for the New York Giants and his wife, Kathleen McNulty (née Rooney). Her sister, Rooney Mara, is also an actress.

She is of Italian (from her maternal grandmother) and Irish descent. Her paternal grandfather, Wellington Mara, was the long-time co-owner of the Giants, succeeded by her uncle, John Mara. Her maternal grandfather, Timothy James "Tim" Rooney, has run Yonkers Raceway in Yonkers, New York since 1972. She is a great-granddaughter of both New York Giants founder Tim Mara and Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney, Sr. Her great-uncle, Dan Rooney, is chairman of the Steelers, the United States Ambassador to Ireland and the co-founder of The Ireland Funds charitable organization. An uncle, Art Rooney II, is the current President and co-owner of the Steelers. She has three siblings: Daniel, (Patricia) Rooney (also an actress), and Conor.

Mara began acting at the age of nine in a school musical, attended several youth theater-arts schools and appeared in community theater and in school plays. Mara described herself to Esquire magazine as "painfully shy" while growing up and said she only had one friend. Her first audition was for the television drama Homicide: Life on the Street. She did not get the role, but knew from then on that she just wanted to act. Mara was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University to study musical theater and graduated from Fox Lane High School a year early. She was getting work as an actress, so she deferred college before deciding not to go.