Cara Buono
Sign in to saveCara Buono is an American actress. She made her film debut in Gladiator (1992) and received recognition for her roles in various television shows including CBS Schoolbreak Special (1991), Law & Order (1996–2024), Mad Men (2010), and starred as Karen Wheeler in the Netflix series Stranger Things (2016–2025). Her roles earned her nominations for both a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series and a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming.
Film & TV
The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Born in The Bronx, New York, Buono was raised in a blue-collar family and decided at an early age to make acting her life's ambition. At 11, she showed her connection to her family's work ethic by answering a casting call ad for Harvey Fierstein's "Spookhouse" and landing the role, without any assistance from her family or other adults. Buono began landing roles on television and the New York…
Known for
- One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 — Self - Karen Wheeler2026
- Jane — Linda Carson2026
- The Debut — Cassie2026
- Queen of the Ring — Bertha Burke2025
- Things Like This — Margie Kitlin2025
- V13 — Ida2025
- Always, Already — Cara2024
- In Fidelity — Holly Ayker2024
- The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story — Debra2023
- She Came from the Woods — Heather McCalister2023
via TMDB
Wikipedia views (30d)
41,402 totalvia Wikimedia Pageviews API
Key facts
- Born
- ( 1971-03-01 ) March 1, 1971 (age 55) , New York City, U.S.
- Alma mater
- Columbia University
- Occupation
- Actress
- Years active
- 1989–present
- Spouse
- Peter Thum
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- female
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- The Bronx
- Occupation
- stage actor
- Educated at
- Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Notable work
- Stranger Things
- Official website
- www.carabuono.com
- Image
- Cara Buono at the Chiller Theatre Expo 2017.jpg
- Residence
- Greenwich Village
Show 5 more facts
- date of birth
- 1971-03-01
- start of work period
- 1992-00-00
- social media followers
- 161925
- Commons category
- Cara Buono
- name in native language
- Cara Buono
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Cara Buono (born March 1, 1971) is an American actress. She made her film debut in Gladiator (1992) and received recognition for her roles in various television shows including CBS Schoolbreak Special (1991), Law & Order (1996–2024), Mad Men (2010), and starred as Karen Wheeler in the Netflix series Stranger Things (2016–2025). Her roles earned her nominations for both a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series and a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming.
On film, Buono has appeared in a number of projects since her 1992 debut, with her most notable credits including Hulk (2003), in which she portrayed Edith Banner, Let Me In (2010), A Good Marriage (2014), Paper Towns (2015), All Saints (2017), Monsters and Men (2018), and She Came from the Woods (2022).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Cara Buono” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.