Cara Buono

ActorProducerDirectorWriter Mar 1 (age 55) The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA 1990–2026 (36 year career)

6.5 avg rating

Biography

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 stage while in her teens and early twenties, and earned a Daytime Emmy nomination as a young victim of s…

Known For

Film

Stranger Things

Karen Wheeler

Film

Paper Towns

Mrs. Jacobsen

Film

Let Me In

Owen's Mother

Film

Hulk

Edith Banner

Film

Gladiator

Dawn

Film

Third Watch

Grace Foster

Film

The Bad Seed

Angela

Film

The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story

Debra

Filmography

Acting (73)

Movies (43)

One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5

2026

as Self - Karen Wheeler

Queen of the Ring

as Bertha

Things Like This

as Margie Kitlin

V13

as Ida

Always, Already

as Cara

In Fidelity

2024

as Holly Ayker

6.5

The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story

2023

as Debra

7.2

She Came from the Woods

2023

as Heather McCalister

The Bad Seed

as Angela

Monsters and Men

as Stacey

All Saints

as Aimee Spurlock

Half the Perfect World

2016

as Sonia

Emily & Tim

as Emily (Segment 3)

Paper Towns

as Mrs. Jacobsen

A Good Marriage

as Betty Pike

Drew Peterson: Untouchable

as Kathleen Savio

The Discoverers

as Nell

Modern Love

as Nicky

Let Me In

2010

as Owen's Mother

6.8

Betrayed

2010

as Amy Waite

The Unquiet

as Julie Bishop

Cthulhu

as Dannie

Beer League

as Linda

From Other Worlds

as Joanne

Hulk

as Edith Banner

Chutney Popcorn

as Janis

Happy Accidents

as Bette

Takedown

as Christina Painter

Attention Shoppers

as Claire Suavez

Two Ninas

as Nina Cohen

In a Class of His Own

1999

as Sherry Donato

7.5

Deep in My Heart

1999

as Young Gerry Cummins

Man of the Century

as Virginia Clemens

Next Stop Wonderland

as Julie

River Red

as Rachel

Killer: A Journal of Murder

1996

as Esther Lesser

5.8

Kicking and Screaming

as Kate

The Cowboy Way

as Teresa Salazar

In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco

1993

5.2

Victim of Love: The Shannon Mohr Story

as Tracey Lien

Gladiator

as Dawn

Waterland

as Judy Dobson

No One Cares

as Cassie

Television (30)

The Girl from Plainville

2022

as Gail Carter

6.5

Talking Sopranos

2020

as Self

God Friended Me

as Karen

The Romanoffs

as Debbie Newman

The Blacklist: Redemption

as Anna Copeland

Stranger Things

as Karen Wheeler

Stranger Things

as Karen Wheeler

Bull

as Amaya Andrews

Supergirl

as Gamemnae / Gemma Cooper

7.3

The Mysteries of Laura

as Julia Davis

Elementary

as Sarah Cushing

Person of Interest

as Martine Rousseau

Hawaii Five-0

as Agent Allison Marsh

Castle

as Siobhan O'Doul

The Good Wife

as Charlene Peterson

Mad Men

as Faye Miller

Brothers and Sisters

as Rose

Six Months to Live

as Alice

NCIS

2003

as Commander Sarah Resnick

Miss Match

as Michelle Schiff

The Dead Zone

as Sheriff Anna Turner

7.3

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

2001

as Charlotte Caspari

7.6

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

2000

as Tracy Logan

7.6

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

as Rachel Zelinsky

The Sopranos

as Kelli Lombardo

Third Watch

as Grace Foster

Third Watch

as Grace Foster

Family Law

as Carly Hanson

The Single Guy

as Christie

Law & Order

as Shelly Taggert

Crew (4)

Movies (4)

She Came from the Woods

2023

Producer

5.6

Baggage

1997

Director

Baggage

1997

Producer

Baggage

1997

Writer