
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 stage while in her teens and early twenties, and earned a Daytime Emmy nomination as a young victim of sexual abuse in Abby, My Love (1991) (CBS, 1991), which aired as part of the CBS Schoolbreak Special (1984). She soon graduated to minor roles in Stephen Gyllenhaal's Waterland (1992), with Jeremy Irons and Ethan Hawke; as an illegal immigrant in The Cowboy Way (1994), with Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland; and in Noah Baumbach's much-loved indie comedy, Kicking and Screaming (1995), which reunited her with her "Abby, My Love" co-star, Josh Hamilton. While cultivating her acting career, Buono also graduated from Columbia University with a double major in English and political science in 1995, which she earned in just three years. After graduation, Buono concentrated largely on character roles in independent films and on television. She was the wife and confidante of prison guard Robert Sean Leonard, who served as an earpiece for monstrous 1930s criminal Carl Panzram (James Woods) in Killer: A Journal of Murder (1995), before playing an accident-prone opera singer in love with a young man (Gibson Frazier) with Jazz-Era affectations in the offbeat Man of the Century (1999). She soon added behind-the-camera credits to her expanding resume, including writer/director on the short, Baggage (1997), with Liev Schreiber and Minnie Driver, and served as co-producer and star of the comedy, Two Ninas (1999), about a pair of similarly monikered women (Buono and Amanda Peet) who fell for a very unlucky man. She continues to write and co-wrote "When the Cat's Away" (1999), with Brad Anderson, and wrote an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel, "This Side of Paradise". Buono's screen credits grew more obscure at the launch of the new millennium - art house and film festival circles saw the lesbian drama, Chutney Popcorn (1999), Attention Shoppers (2000), Happy Accidents (2000) with Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio. She soon turned to television for wider exposure, and earned it through supporting roles on high profile series like Third Watch (1999) and The Sopranos (1999). In 2007, she joined the cast of the cult favorite, The Dead Zone (2002) (USA, 2002-2007) as Sheriff Anna Turner, who investigated the death of her predecessor (Chris Bruno). During this period, Buono maintained her screen career in features as varied as Ang Lee's Hulk (2003), playing David Banner's mother, who was killed by his genetically-induced rage, and Beer League (2006), and Artie Lange's hapless lay-about love interest. In 2010, she appeared as the divorced mother of Kodi Smit-McPhee in Let Me In (2010), the critically-praised American remake of the Swedish vampire movie, Let the Right One In (2008). That same year, she landed her most widely seen role-to-date on Mad Men (2007), playing Dr. Faye Miller. For her efforts, Buono received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2011.

as Commander Sarah Resnick

as Rachel Zelinsky
1999

as Shelly Taggert
1990

as Commander Sarah Resnick
2003

as Tracy Logan
2000

as Karen Wheeler
2016

as Agent Allison Marsh
2010

as Martine Rousseau
2011

as Siobhan O'Doul
2009

as Kelli Moltisanti
1999

as Charlotte Caspari
2001

as Sarah Cushing
2012

as Charlene Peterson
2009
as Ida
2025

as Self - Karen Wheeler
2026

as Margie Kitlin
2025

as Ida
2025

as Bertha Burke
2025

as Holly Ayker
2024
as Cara
2024

as Debra
2023

as Heather McCalister
2023

as Stacey
2018

as Angela
2018

as Aimee Spurlock
2017
as Sonia
2016

as Emily (Segment 3)
2015

as Mrs. Jacobsen
2015

as Betty Pike
2014

as Nell
2014

as Kathleen Savio
2014
as Nicky
2012

as Owen's Mother
2010
as Amy Waite
2010

as Dannie
2008

as Julie Bishop
2008

as Linda
2006

as Joanne
2004
as Commander Sarah Resnick
1 ep.

as Rachel Zelinsky
1 episodes

as Shelly Taggert
1 episodes

as Commander Sarah Resnick
1 episodes

as Tracy Logan
1 episodes

as Karen Wheeler
38 episodes

as Agent Allison Marsh
1 episodes

as Martine Rousseau
9 episodes

as Siobhan O'Doul
1 episodes

as Kelli Moltisanti
6 episodes

as Charlotte Caspari
1 episodes

as Sarah Cushing
1 episodes

as Charlene Peterson
1 episodes

as Faye Miller
10 episodes

as Gamemnae / Gemma Cooper
9 episodes

as Grace Foster
24 episodes

as Rose
3 episodes

as Amaya Andrews
1 episodes

as Sheriff Anna Turner
6 episodes

as Carly Hanson
1 episodes

as Julia Davis
1 episodes

as Karen
1 episodes

as Christie
1 episodes

as Self
1 episodes

as Debbie Newman
1 episodes
Director