The following year, Farmiga had her breakthrough role as a drug-addicted mother, Irene Morrison, in the independent drama film "Down to the Bone", which premiered at Sundance in January 2004. Praising her performance, Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" wrote: "If there were an ounce of taste left in Hollywood, the magnificent Vera Farmiga would be a front-runner for the Best Actress Oscar". She won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, and earned a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. Farmiga next appeared alongside Hilary Swank and Anjelica Huston in the HBO drama film "Iron Jawed Angels" (2004), as the Polish-American suffragette Ruza Wenclawska. Soon after, she had a supporting role in the 2004 film "Mind The Gap", in which she portrayed a woman who left her fiancé at the altar. She then starred as Detective Susan Branca in the short-lived USA Network adaptation of the British crime drama series "Touching Evil".