Patricia Rooney Mara, born on April 17, 1985, is an American actress and fashion designer. She began her career playing supporting roles in several independent films, including the coming-of-age drama movie Tanner Hall, before starring as Nancy Thomas in the 2010 remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street and as Eric Albright in the biographical drama movie The Social Network. Take a look below for 27 more interesting and awesome facts about Rooney Mara.

1. In 2011, Mara had a career breakthrough when she portrayed Lisbeth Salander, the title character in David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, based on Stieg Larsson’s Millennium book series.

2. Mara received critical acclaim for her performance as Lisbeth Salander and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.

3. In 2013, she starred in the thriller Side Effects, the independent drama Ain’t Them Bodies Saints and the acclaimed sci-fi romantic drama, Her.

4. In 2014, she starred in the adventure drama movie Trash.

5. In 2015, she garnered further acclaim for her performance in Todd Haynes’ romantic drama Carol, for which she tied for the Best Actress Award at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, SAG Award, BAFTA Award and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

6. Mara is known for her charity work and oversees the charity Uweza Foundation, which supports empowerment programs for children and families in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya, one of the largest slums in Africa.

7. Mara’s mother’s family, the Rooneys, founded the Pittsburgh Steelers and her father’s family, the Maras, founded the New York Giants.

8. Her father, Timothy Christopher Mara, is the vice president of player evaluation for the New York Giants, and her mother, Kathleen McNulty, is a part-time real estate agent.

9. Mara is the third of four children. She has an older brother, Daniel, an older sister, Kate, who is also an actress, and a younger brother, Conor.

10. Mara’s father has Irish, German and French-Canadian ancestry, and her mother is of Irish and Italian descent.

11. Her paternal grandparents were Wellington Mara and Ann Mara. Wellington was the long time co-owner of the New York Giants, who was succeeded in by his son, John Mara.

12. Her paternal grandfather, Timothy James “Tim” Rooney, has run Yonkers Raceway in Yonkers, New York since 1972.

13. Mara’s granduncle, Dan Rooney, was chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the former United States Ambassador to Ireland, the co-founder of The Ireland Funds charitable organization, and the architect of American Football’s Rooney Rule.

14. After graduating from Fox Lane High School in 2003, she went to Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia for four months as part of the Traveling School, an open learning environment.

15. She went to George Washington University for a year and then transferred to New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where she studied psychology, international social policy and nonprofits, graduating in 2010.

16. Mara was inspired to act by seeing musical theater and classic movies like Gone with the Wind, Rebecca and Bringing Up Baby, with her mother.

17. Mara resisted pursuing acting as a child, stating to The Journal News that, “it never seemed that honorable to me, and I guess I was always afraid that I might fail.”

18. Her first and only role in high school was Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, which she got after being signed up to audition by a friend.

19. Mara acted in a few student movies while at New York University, and then began her acting career by auditioning at age 19.

20. She considers Gena Rowlands to be her favorite actress and A Woman Under the Influence to her favorite movie.

21. Rooney and her sister Kate Mara both appeared in Best Picture Oscar nominated movies in 2011. Rooney was in The Social Network and Kate was in 127 Hours.

22. She learned to play the guitar for her role in the romantic drama Song to Song.

23. She turned down the role of Estella in Great Expectations. Holliday Grainger was eventually cast.

24. She hated A Nightmare on Elm Street and her performance in the horror remake.

25. In an interview with W Magazine in 2016, she said that her favorite love scene is the one between Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts in Rust and Bone.

26. She began dating Joaquin Phoenix on the set of Mary Magdalene.

27. She was originally cast as Maya Hansen in Zero Dark Thirty, but dropped out to do Side Effects and was replaced by Jessica Chastain.