Morena Silva de Vaz Setta Baccarin (Portuguese: ; born June 2, 1979) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Inara Serra in the sci-fi series Firefly and its follow-up film Serenity, Vanessa in the superhero comedy franchise Deadpool, Jessica Brody in the Showtime series Homeland, Dr. Leslie "Lee" Thompkins in the Fox series Gotham, and Elena Federova in the NBC series The Endgame. For Homeland, she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2013.

Early life
Baccarin was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the daughter of actress Vera Setta and Fernando Baccarin, a journalist. Through her father, she is of part Italian descent with roots in Veneto.

Baccarin attended Public School 41 and New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies, where her future Homeland co-star Claire Danes and she were classmates. She later attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music, Art, and Performing Arts before she entered the theater program at the Juilliard School, where she was in the drama division's Group 29 (1996~2000).