Vera Farmiga: "I Could Never Reclaim These First Precious Moments Of Maternity"

It is always difficult to bounce back mentally and physically post-baby, but Academy Award nominated actress Vera Farmiga had a few additional challenges to overcome. The Up In The Air star began filming only two weeks after welcoming son Fynn last January. The role called for a feisty business woman with George Clooney as a leading man, and Farmiga, 36, dishes to USA Today the challenges that she faced working so soon after welcoming her son.

On her character in the film: "It was strange having to portray that frank sexuality when I did not feel sexy in the least bit. But that's what I loved about her. I loved how daring she was. She makes sex, on screen, fun. She was curious and was gliding through life with grace and a sense of humor, and wit and self-possession and open-heartedness and femininity and sensuality and sexuality."

On the pressure she felt from the studio while pregnant: "We met when I was four months pregnant, six months pregnant, eight months pregnant. The studio was panicking. I felt that. And it destroyed me. I wanted to walk away from this career. I felt incredibly insecure."

On returning to work so quickly after giving birth: "I could never reclaim these first precious moments of maternity. (But) I needed to pay my mortgage. It wasn't an option. I had to do the role."

The down-to-earth actress, who married musician Renn Hawkey in 2008, has a laid back life in Upstate New York, two hours from the city. Farmiga says that the couple do not have a nanny, and depend on family for babysitting help. In fact, she says that she lives such a quiet life, that upon telling people that she is an Oscar nominated actress, she often hears, "'For what? Costumes? Production?' It's amusing and wonderful. I still have anonymity."

Photo: Bauer Griffin