Mira Sorvino is a star to her fans and to her family. The 56-year-old Oscar winner has been married to Christoper Backus for almost 20 years, and they have four children together. Mira and Christopher, 41, both work in Hollywood, and while that’s sometimes a recipe for disaster for many couples, they’ve made it work for 19 years and counting.
Mira, who is a contestant on the new season of Dancing With the Stars, has always had her husband’s support in her career. And Christopher gets the same from her. Keep reading to learn more about Christopher and his marriage to Mira.
Who Is Christopher Backus?
Christopher Backus is an actor, director, and screenwriter. He got his start in Hollywood in the early 2000s when he was living with Rob McElhenney in Los Angeles. He made his acting debut in Will & Grace, and from there, he landed roles in several popular television shows like The O.C., It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Sons of Anarchy, and Big Little Lies. Some of the movies he’s been in include Yellow Rock, Chloe & Theo, and Waterlily Jaguar.
Christopher and Mira worked together on the films Indiscretion and Mothers and Daughters. Since 2021, the couple has been working on a docuseries about survivors of human trafficking, according to Deadline. Mira’s sister, Amanda Sorvino, is also involved in the project, which “will look to help a group of people to get past their trauma using expert-led animal therapy, in which abused and neglected rescue animals will provide connection for the abused and neglected survivors of modern slavery.”
Mira Sorvino & Christopher Backus’ Marriage
Mira and Christopher met at a friend’s charade party in August 2003. After a year of dating, they got married at a Santa Barbara courthouse on June 11, 2004. They followed that up with a second wedding ceremony in Capri, Italy.
Mira talked about the Italy wedding in a March 2022 interview with The New York Times. “I had already had this dream of having a wedding on, like, a rocky promontory overlooking the ocean. I thought maybe I could achieve that in America. But I just fell in love with Capri. It was a way of inviting all of my ancestral ghosts to join us at the wedding,” she said.
Mira Sorvino and Christopher Backus at the 2022 Costume Designers Guild Awards (Photo: Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock)
After being married for 17 years, Mira revealed the secrets to the couple’s relationship in a 2021 interview with People.
“Date nights kids are absolutely essential when you have four children, because so much of your time is spent parenting,” the Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion star said. “You’re next to each other, but you’re relating to your kids, rather than to each other. So we’ll go on date nights where we’ll leave the kids with our trusted, wonderful, amazing nanny.”
Mira continued, “We’ll go to a hotel somewhere. This is our ritual. We’ll be like, ‘Where do you want to go tonight?’ We’ll pick up the phone, and we’ll see. Maybe we’ll go to Pasadena, or maybe we’ll go to downtown L.A., or maybe we’ll go to Beverly Hills, or Venice Beach, or just someplace out of our zone, and just go to a dinner … so that we get to be a couple, not a couple with children, just for that moment. That’s really important.”
Mira Sorvino & Christopher Backus’ Children
Mira and Christopher have four children: daughter Mattea, 18, and Lucia, 11, and sons Johnny, 17, and Holden, 14. And all four of Mira’s kids are extremely talented — just like their parents.
“I love watching my kids perform,” Mira told US Weekly in March 2022. “My oldest girl, Mattea, is a serious dancer/choreographer, my sons, Johnny and Holden, wow on the baseball field, and my 9-year old, Lucia, is fearless with a song and a mic,” she shared.
In that same interview, Mira revealed what her family does when they have free time together. “Weekends are spent with my family on the beach and eating together at a big table. Then it’s game or movie night,” she said.
