Morena Baccarin

"When I went to audition and Joss [Whedon] walked in
and we started talking, I just thought, "Wow! This is
amazing. This experience is going to be incredible." And
that's just how it worked, everything seemed so easy and it
just flowed. Believe me when I tell you it's not easy. It's
not easy auditioning day after day after day, but when something
falls into place like that it's just incredible."

The daughter of Brazilian actress, Vera Setta, Morena was born in Rio De Janero, Brazil in 1979 but raised in New York's Greenwich Village. Morena attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, the High School made famous in the movie Fame. After high school, she attended the Julliard School for the Performing Arts, and while there she was one of the subjects of the PBS series American Masters which focused on the school and the students.

Morena landed her first film role in 2001 in the independent film Perfume, which turned a critical eye on the fashion business and the lives of those who work in it. The same year she played the lead role of Rebecca in the film Way Off Broadway, which garnered rave reviews and earned Morena the "Best Actress" award at the Wine Country Film Festival.

After a minor role in the film Roger Dodger in 2002, Morena appeared in the Central Park production of The Seagull with Natalie Portman. She also was the understudy for Portman’s role. Later the same year, she got her first television role as Inara Serra on the critically acclaimed series Firefly. The series was cancelled after only eleven episodes were aired, but Universal Studios was so impressed with the show and the cast that they greenlighted a silver screen continuation of the story. The movie, Serenity, opened in September of 2005 to universal raves from critics.