LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Mira Sorvino: Harvard University
built 276 days ago
Mira Sorvino was contented to act in elementary school plays because acting in front of a huge audience was the only way of emotional fulfillment for her. She graduated from Harvard University in East-Asian Studies and continued to perform in backyard plays with childhood friend Hope Davis.
Source:
As her poised and articulate acceptance speech demonstrated, Mira Sorvino is a far different woman from the air-headed hooker she played to the Oscar-winning hilt in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite. In fact, Sorvino almost wasn't allowed to audition for Allen because the film's casting agents deemed her too refined to play a tacky call girl. Their concerns were not unfounded, as nothing on the actress's résumé spoke to her ability to fulfill the demands of the role. Raised in New Jersey, far from Hollywood's glittery distractions, Sorvino spent much of her childhood with her nose in a book. Her father, a character actor whose many credits include roles in Goodfellas and Nixon, had always discouraged Mira and her two siblings from acting professionally because he wanted them to grow up without the psychological strain of child stardom_the so-called "Danny Bonaduce Syndrome." So Mira concentrated on her studies and, after high school, she was accepted at Harvard University, where she earned a degree in East Asian Studies.
Source:
Sorvino's parents were very firm on her attending college, and luckily she wanted to attend college. She obviously capitalized on the opportunity to attend and graduate from Harvard University. She is the first person in her immediate family to graduate from college. Sorvino firmly believes that "it can never hurt to get more of an education than less of one. You will always have more confidence, more knowledge, and more areas in which you could sort of direct yourself, the more you know about the world".
Source:
Mira accepted her father's wishes and concentrated fully on her education, although the acting bug had bitten her at a very early age, and it was always something that was of great interest to her. Her strong devotion to her studies ultimately paid off... when she was accepted into Harvard University. Upon graduating in 1990 with a degree in East Asian Studies, Mira traveled to Beijing, and it was there that she learned to speak fluent Mandarin Chinese.
Source:
The real beginning was delayed for awhile, though, when Sorvino was accepted at Harvard, where she followed up a childhood fascination by majoring in East Asian studies. She auditioned for a few movies while she was there -- "I almost got 'Mystic Pizza,'" she says -- but eventually decided to concentrate on academics.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Harvard University