Mira Sorvino Dishes On Parenthood and "Finding Mrs. Claus"

Miro Sorvino has got a lot on her plate between juggling four kids ages 8, 6, 3 and six months, a film career and her activism on behalf of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime where she serves as a a UN Goodwill Ambassador who has testified before Congress to speak out against international human trafficking. The truth is I feel exhausted just thinking about taking care of four kids - but speaking to her about life as a mom and her recent film for Lifetime, "Finding Mrs. Claus" I found her to be an inspiration.  In my opinion she is the uber example of a mom who admits while she can’t have it all—she manages to find a way to incorporate her passion for her profession with breastfeeding, space camp, play dates and yes whipping out the cookie cutters for baking gingerbread men with her brood. She takes it all in stride and admits that this juggling act is as imperfect as the world we live in. And in speaking with her, I feel this renewed sense that as women can find our happy place if we learn to create the world we want for our kids.

Q: How do you balance your career with raising four kids? 

A: I'm not a professional, but I try to make everything meaningful for my kids. I’d say I do a lot of improvisation - trying to make it all happen as much as I can. I run on a lot of guilt and no sleep but I try to prioritize what will be most important and best for my kids. Here’s a perfect example: I had to shoot a pilot in Texas and they wanted me to come down early during the week of my daughter's 8th birthday. My daughter had made these big plans for a sleepover with a few girls and then a big birthday party for all her friends the next day and well, I  just couldn’t abandon her.  I had to be there to help with the jewelry making and red velvet cake, and so I rescheduled my shoot. I guess my main thing when it comes to my kids is trying to make sure I don’t miss out on these milestone events and that I am there for them.  My daughter will be in a production of the Nutcracker and her ballet teacher asked me to be a mom in the ballet scenes and even though I will be out of town and will miss the dress rehearsals, I will be a part of the show. I really try to make every possible effort to be there for my kids.

But my situation is unique in that I go from working mother to full-time stay at home mom for different periods of time. I also do a lot of activism on behalf of the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime. I’m a Goodwill Ambassador to combat human trafficking and I’ve worked for them since 2009. It has been a huge challenge and blessing in my life. I am incredibly lucky to be able to be a stay at home mom for months at a time, but of course it is a hard transition when I do have to travel for weeks at a time for work.

I’ve always said it is impossible to be that perfect supermom. I have to admit that I struggle with it a lot. The nice thing about working on this Lifetime movie was that we shot it over the summertime and I brought the kids to Canada and Vancouver to live with me. I did this movie for them, mainly because they are absolutely in love with the movie my dad Paul Sorvino did, where he plays Santa Claus! Unfortunately, most of the movies I’ve made are not so appropriate for kids at their age level so I jumped at the chance to play Mrs. Claus. And I brought them up to the set on the days we shot the North Pole scenes and when I was wearing the crazy old age makeup and they saw the house The Clauses lived in. I like taking my kids on location with me because they make emotional connections too. I even enrolled them in circus camp- where they learned how to fly on a trapeze and work with special silks. I try to make an adventure out of it. We even became members of the local aquarium. It's similar to the gypsy life I had as a kid when we traveled with my dad on location.