Kate and Rooney Mara’s Childhood: 7 Interesting Facts You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Kate Mara and Rooney Mara as sisters were born separately with a considerable age difference between them, but when it comes to acting, the duo without a doubt bonded like twins who are both in the same walk of life. For this reason, their lives as actresses are quite eventful with a myriad of works to their credit both individually and as a pair. Though a lot is already known about them as adults, Kate and Rooney Mara’s childhood formed the foundation and building blocks of all we know the sisters for today. Find out more about the duo in these interesting 7 facts about their childhood.

Kate and Rooney Mara’s Childhood: 7 Interesting Facts You Need to Know

1. Their Births and Ages

Kate and Rooney Mara’s childhood lives as sisters have some similarities. The older Kate Mara was born on the 27th day of February in the year 1983 while her younger sister Rooney Mara was born on the 17th of April 1985. The sisters ( and Patricia Rooney Mara) were both born in Bedford, New York, a town in Westchester County, New York City to Timothy Christopher Mara and Kathleen McNulty (née Rooney). They have as their brothers: Daniel and Conor with a long list of about 22 aunts and 40 cousins with their dad being one of 11 children.

2. Family Football History

The actresses come from a family with a deep and rich history in American football. The duo has as their great-grandfather Timothy James Mara the founder of American football club New York Giants which is based in the New York metropolitan area and competes in the National Football League (NFL). On their maternal side, Kate and Rooney Mara’s great-grandfather is Art Rooney, the famous founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers, another American football club side which is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and also competes in the NFL and till date holds the record of the oldest franchise in the American Football Conference. Despite being born into such a football wealthy family, Kate and Rooney Mara’s childhood was devoid of affluence as they had a normal childhood in every sense of it.

3. Christian Upbringing

The Christian religious teachings form an integral part of most American homes and often comes with laid down precepts on how kids in such homes are to be raised up. Kate and Rooney Mara’s childhood was not bereft of this as their family was a religious one. They were raised in the Christian faith which till today, does a lot to mold their lives and the adults they have grown to become.

4. Education

Kate Mara and Rooney Mara both studied at Fox Lane High School, a public high school where they equally graduated from. Kate went on to study briefly at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University but soon deferred her studies to begin acting while her sister Rooney was a lot more committed to finishing college. The younger Mara was first at George Washington University before she transferred to New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study where she subsequently graduated in the year 2010 having studied psychology, international social policy, and nonprofits.

5. They Like Similar Things

One of the things that is quite common between some sisters is having a penchant for similar things. As kids, Kate and Rooney Mara’s childhood memories is not void of this and even as adults who now live separately, they sometimes get to buy separately, clothing items that are similar and at sometime wear them at the same time without each telling the other about what they would be wearing.

6. Child Stars or Not

As earlier stated, Kate and Rooney Mara are both actresses, however, while the former was more forthwith venturing into acting as early as she did, the latter was a lot more withdrawn from acting early on in her life. This notwithstanding, Kate and Rooney Mara’s childhood acting interest and subsequent experiences cannot be said to be entirely mutually exclusive.

While we can refer to Kate Mara as a child star being that she began appearing in theatre performances earlier, her sister Rooney Mara cannot rightfully be termed such as she began acting at a much later age.

7. Film and Television Credits

Kate recorded her first television role in NBC legal drama Law & Order in 1997 as Jenna Erlich in episode “Shadow” before going on to feature in other television works like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2004), 24 (2006) as Shari Rothenberg, House of Cards (2013-16) as Zoe Barnes. Her film credits include Random Hearts as Jessica Chandler in 1999, Transcendence (2014) as Bree and as herself in Time of Day (2018).

On the other hand, Rooney recorded her first film appearance in Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005), followed by many other works before The Social Network (2010) as Erica Albright, and the titular character in Mary Magdalene (2018). Her television credits include Jessica Delay in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2006) in the episode “Fat,” Megan in Er (2009) and a few others.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.