Despite her sex-symbol good looks, Mandarin-speaking Harvard graduate Mira Sorvino has demonstrated the unpretentious heart of a character actor inherited from her father Paul, whose resume includes critically-acclaimed turns in Martin Scorsese's "GoodFellas" (1990) and Oliver Stone's "Nixon" (1995, as Henry Kissinger) among his many roles. Adept at assuming accents, hair colors and varied ethnic identities, this bright, naturally brunette Italianate beauty received her first substantial exposure on film as an enigmatic, aristocratic Spanish translator in "Barcelona" (1994), Whit Stillman's
