In 1991, she graduated from Hunterdon Central Regional High School. During her junior year there, she found acting after being benched during a varsity soccer game; her friend convinced her to audition for the school production of "The Vampire", and she won the lead role of Lady Margaret. Farmiga went on to study Theatre at Syracuse University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1995. In her final year at Syracuse, she portrayed Nina Zarechnaya in "The Seagull" at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, and the production won the top prize. Her drama professor, Gerardine Clark, stated: "We'd never have won had she not nailed the fourth act. A number of the judges told me that."