You know her sisters. Vera and Taissa Farmiga light up movie screens. They win awards. They have magazine covers. But Nadia Farmiga? She’s the quiet one. The one nobody expected to become famous. Just as she intended from the beginning.
This is the story of a woman who watched her sisters pursue careers in Hollywood and chose an entirely different direction. It follows her journey from a secure engineering job to the kitchen, her decision to build a restaurant in a small town in upstate New York, and her commitment to living a private life in a culture that often rewards constant public attention.
Nadia’s story proves something important: you don’t have to be famous to matter.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Nadia Farmiga |
| Birth Date | February 23, 1977 |
| Current Age | 48-49 years old |
| Birthplace | Clifton, New Jersey |
| Current Location | Germantown, New York (Hudson Valley) |
| Father | Michael Farmiga (computer systems analyst, later landscaper) |
| Mother | Lubomyra “Luba” Farmiga (schoolteacher) |
| Siblings | Victor, Vera, Stephan, Alexander, Laryssa, and Taissa (6 total) |
| Education | Mechanical Engineering degree; attended public school then homeschooled |
| First Career | Mechanical Engineer |
| Spouse | Wilson Costa (Brazilian chef) |
| Children | Two (including son Tadeo) |
| Business | Misto (pop-up and catering company, Hudson Valley) |
| Known For | Co-founder of Misto; sister of actresses Vera & Taissa Farmiga |
| Net Worth | Estimated $1-5 million |
| Social Media | Private Instagram; minimal public presence |
| Personality | Private, family-focused, values privacy |
| Special Skills | Gardening, cooking, restaurant management, engineering |
Born Into a Ukrainian-American World
Clifton, New Jersey in 1977. This is where Nadia’s story begins.
She arrived into a household that was already loud with life. Her parents had already had other children. The home buzzed with energy, language, and tradition.
Her father, Michael Farmiga, came from Ukraine. He learned how to work in America as a computer systems analyst. Later, he switched to landscaping. He was someone who worked with his hands and his mind.
Her mother, Luba, was a teacher. She believed in education. She believed in preserving who they were as a family.
Together, they created something rare: a fully Ukrainian household in an American neighborhood. This wasn’t just about speaking the language at dinner. This was about living Ukrainian every single day.
Nadia grew up hearing Ukrainian before English. The radio played Ukrainian music. The food was Ukrainian. The values were Ukrainian. Yet she was American.
This double identity shaped everything about her.
A House Full of Children
Seven kids. That’s what the Farmiga household had.
Nadia wasn’t the oldest. She wasn’t the youngest. She was in the middle somewhere, watching everyone else find their way.
Her siblings were Victor, Vera, Stephan, Alexander, Laryssa, and Taissa. Each one was different. Each one wanted different things.
Some of them gravitated toward performance. Vera had this magnetic quality. She could hold a room. She moved with purpose.
Nadia was quieter. She observed. She listened. She thought deeply about things.
But in a family that big, everyone’s voice mattered. Everyone got heard.
School, Homeschooling, and Learning to Think
For part of her childhood, Nadia attended public school.
This was fine until about fourth grade. Then her family made a different choice: homeschooling.
This wasn’t unusual in the Farmiga house. Several of the kids were homeschooled. It helped them preserve their connection to Ukrainian traditions and heritage. It meant they learned about their heritage in depth, not just as a side note.
Homeschooling changed how she thought. It taught her to read deeply. To ask questions. To find answers on her own.
She wasn’t just memorizing material. She was learning how to learn.
This would matter later. It would matter when she changed careers completely.
The Engineering Years
After high school, Nadia had a choice to make.
She could have followed Vera into performance. That was one path.
Instead, she chose mechanical engineering.
This decision says something important about her. She didn’t want to do what everyone expected. She wanted to prove something to herself.
Mechanical engineering is hard. It requires precision. You have to understand physics and materials and systems. Nothing is approximate. Everything has to work.
She earned her degree. Then she worked as an engineer for several years.
She was good at it. The job was stable. The paycheck was reliable.
But something was missing.
The Turning Point That Changed Everything
One summer, while still in school, Nadia worked at a local bakery.
This wasn’t her main career. It was just a summer job.
But inside that bakery, something clicked.
She watched bakers work. They combined ingredients with precision. They created something beautiful from flour and butter and time.
It was technical like engineering. But it was also creative. It was alive.
That summer changed the direction of her entire life.
She didn’t quit engineering immediately. But she couldn’t stop thinking about this other path.
Slowly, she made a decision: she wanted to work in food.
New York City and the Restaurant World
After deciding to leave engineering, Nadia moved to New York City.
She started working in restaurants. This was training ground. Real education.
She worked at a place called Neuville-Sur-Seine on Long Island. It was a French restaurant. She was learning from serious chefs who cared about quality.
Then she moved to Le Garrick in Manhattan’s theater district.
This is where everything changed for the second time.
Meeting Wilson Costa
At Le Garrick, she met Wilson Costa.
He was a chef. Brazilian. Passionate about food. He understood the restaurant business the way she was beginning to.
They weren’t instant lovers. They were colleagues first. People who respected each other’s work.
They shared a kitchen. They shared a vision about what food could be.
Slowly, personal feelings grew from professional respect.
What started as two people working side by side became something deeper.
They married. They began thinking about building something together.
Building Something From Scratch
After Le Garrick, Nadia worked at other restaurants. She spent time at The Downtown Café in Kingston. She spent seventeen years at a restaurant called Terrapin. That’s nearly two decades.
Terrapin was important. It taught her restaurant management. It taught her how to run a business.
But she was working for someone else.
She and Wilson wanted to build their own thing.
They wanted to create something that reflected both of them. Their cultures. Their values. Their dreams.
Misto Begins
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, they launched Misto.
The name means “mixed” in Portuguese. It was perfect. It represented Wilson’s Brazilian heritage and Nadia’s Ukrainian background all in one word.
They started as a pop-up. Then they added catering services.
The concept was farm-to-table before farm-to-table was trendy. They grew their own vegetables. They built relationships with local farmers.
Nadia used her engineering skills. She planned systems. She organized operations.
Wilson used his chef skills. He developed dishes that reflected and celebrated both of their cultural backgrounds.
The menu was their love story told through food.
The Garden That Feeds Everything
In the backyard at home, Nadia and Wilson grow vegetables.
Not just a few tomatoes. Real gardening.
They grow twelve varieties of tomatoes. Seven kinds of peppers. Kale. Cucumbers. Squash. Watermelon. Lettuce in multiple varieties.
This isn’t hobby gardening. This is production.
What grows in this garden ends up in Misto’s kitchen. This is where their food comes from.
Nadia runs the garden. She and Wilson both do. They understand that what comes from the soil directly affects what they serve.
This connects everything. The garden feeds the restaurant. The restaurant’s success supports the garden.
Why Privacy Matters
Unlike her sisters, Nadia has almost no social media presence.
No Instagram account showing her life. No Twitter. No TikTok.
This is a choice. A deliberate one.
In 2026, this is unusual. Most people share constantly.
But Nadia decided not to.
She has a private Instagram account. That’s it. And even that’s locked down.
She wanted her business to speak for itself. She wanted Misto to succeed because it was good, not because she was famous.
She watched her sisters navigate celebrity. She saw how it follows you everywhere.
She wanted something different.
Sustainability as Philosophy
Nadia doesn’t use the word “sustainable” as a buzzword.
For her, it’s how you actually do business.
She sources from local farmers. She grows her own food. She minimizes waste.
The restaurant operates year-round, but the menu changes with seasons. In summer, one thing. In winter, something else.
She offers gluten-free options as standard. Not as an afterthought. This reflects her family’s own dietary needs, which became part of how she runs the business.
Misto isn’t trying to be trendy. It’s trying to be honest.
The CEO Behind the Scene
Officially, Nadia is the CEO of Misto.
This means she runs the business. She manages operations. She makes strategic decisions.
She’s not just there part-time. She’s there every day.
She’s in the kitchen sometimes. She’s in the garden. She’s meeting with customers and farmers and suppliers.
She’s doing the unglamorous work that makes a restaurant function.
She could have used her sisters’ names to help market the place. “Come eat where the Farmiga sisters’ sister works.” That could have been her angle.
She didn’t do it.
Instead, Misto earned its reputation on quality alone.
A Moment in Film
In 2011, her sister Vera directed and released the film Higher Ground.
Vera directed it herself. It was her directorial debut.
Nadia appeared in it. A small role, but she was there on screen.
This was her only significant film appearance. She didn’t pursue acting despite growing up around it.
It was a family moment—being in something her sister created. But it also showed she wasn’t interested in chasing that world.
The Hudson Valley Life
Misto is located in the Hudson Valley. Kingston. Germantown. This small rural area has become trendy among people who left New York City.
But Nadia was there before it became fashionable.
She and Wilson chose Hudson Valley deliberately. They wanted space. They wanted a garden. They wanted to know their community.
They have two kids. The children are growing up with both Ukrainian and Brazilian traditions.
The family bikes and runs and gardens together.
They’re not hiding. They’re just living quietly.
How She Balances Both Worlds
Nadia carries her Ukrainian heritage with her every day.
The food at Misto includes Ukrainian traditions. Recipes probably passed down or researched from her upbringing.
But Wilson brings Brazilian flavors. Brazilian techniques. Brazilian approaches to cooking.
These two cuisines meet on the plate.
The result isn’t “Ukrainian-Brazilian fusion” in the trendy sense. It’s genuinely personal.
It’s the kitchen of her marriage. It’s what happens when two people from different worlds build a life together.
On Her Relationship With Her Sisters
Vera is famous. Taissa is famous.
Nadia is not. And she’s fine with that.
She supports her sisters’ careers. She’s proud of them.
But that isn’t the life she has chosen for herself.
They see each other at family gatherings. At holidays. They stay close.
But they’ve made different choices. All three of them are successful. Success just looks different for each one.
For Vera and Taissa, it’s on screen. For Nadia, it’s in a kitchen in upstate New York.
All three are valid.
What Her Customers Say About Misto
People who eat at Misto talk about the same things consistently.
The food tastes real. Not trendy. Real.
The portions are generous. The ingredients are clearly fresh.
The service is warm. People who work there seem to care about the customer experience.
There’s a sense that someone is thinking about every detail. Because someone is. Nadia is.
Reviews mention the garden. The sustainability. The authentic fusion of cultures.
But mostly they mention that the food tastes like someone cared about it.
The Engineering Mind Applied to Food
Here’s something interesting: Nadia’s engineering background hasn’t disappeared.
It just got redirected.
Engineering is about systems. Problem-solving. Understanding how things fit together.
A restaurant is absolutely a system. You have supply chains. Logistics. Timing. Quality control.
All of this requires engineering-type thinking.
Nadia brought her engineering brain to restaurant management. This is part of why Misto works.
She can see the big picture. She can optimize systems. She can solve problems.
The engineering career wasn’t wasted. It was preparation for this.
On Being “Just” the Sister
Nadia is frequently introduced as “Vera Farmiga‘s sister” or “Taissa Farmiga’s sister.”
This bothers her. Not in an angry way. But it gets in the way.
She’s not defined by her sisters. She’s her own person.
Misto would exist whether Vera and Taissa were famous or not. She would still be the same person she has always been.
But celebrity by association is a thing. People know her name because of her sisters’ names.
So she stays private. She doesn’t court publicity. She lets Misto’s work speak.
Over time, people in the Hudson Valley know her as “the woman who runs Misto.” That’s identity enough.
Her Children Growing Up
Nadia has two children with Wilson.
Their names are kept out of the public eye. The family guards their privacy.
The children are being raised with two heritages. Ukrainian and Brazilian. American and immigrant roots.
They grow up around a working restaurant. They understand their parents work hard. They understand quality matters.
Nadia is intentional about parenting. She and Wilson spend time together as a family. They garden together. They cook together.
The children experience both cultures as part of their everyday lives rather than through formal lessons or staged presentations.
The Future of Misto
As of 2026, Misto is established and successful.
There’s talk of expansion. Maybe a cookbook. Maybe another location.
But Nadia isn’t rushing. She’s built something sustainable. Something that lasts.
She’s more interested in deepening what she has than in growing bigger just for growth’s sake.
She has ambitions. But they’re measured. Thoughtful.
What We Can Learn From Nadia Farmiga
Nadia teaches us several things without trying to.
First: you don’t have to follow the family script. Her sisters went into acting. She didn’t. Both paths are legitimate.
Second: changing careers is okay. She left engineering without shame. She found something that made her happier.
Third: building something real is better than being famous. Misto matters to real people. That’s enough.
Fourth: privacy is a right, not a shortcoming. She doesn’t need millions of followers to have a full life.
Fifth: cultural heritage doesn’t disappear. You carry it with you. You pass it on. It informs who you are.
Sixth: partnerships based on shared values work. She and Wilson built Misto together because they wanted the same things.
Frequently Asked Questions About Nadia Farmiga
Q: Who is Nadia Farmiga?
A: Nadia Farmiga is a Ukrainian-American restaurateur and entrepreneur. She’s best known as the co-founder of Misto, a farm-to-table restaurant and catering company in Hudson Valley, New York. She’s also the sister of actresses Vera and Taissa Farmiga.
Q: How old is Nadia Farmiga?
A: As of 2026, Nadia is 48-49 years old. Her birth date is February 23, 1977.
Q: What is Nadia Farmiga’s family background?
A: She comes from a large Ukrainian-American family. Her parents, Michael and Luba Farmiga, immigrated from Ukraine. She has six siblings, including actresses Vera and Taissa. She grew up speaking Ukrainian and maintaining strong cultural traditions.
Q: What did Nadia Farmiga study in school?
A: She earned a degree in mechanical engineering. She attended public elementary school until fourth grade, then was homeschooled alongside some of her siblings.
Q: Did Nadia Farmiga work as an engineer?
A: Yes. After completing her degree, she worked as a mechanical engineer for several years before transitioning to the restaurant industry.
Q: How did Nadia Farmiga get into the food industry?
A: During a summer internship at a local bakery in college, she discovered her passion for cooking and food creation. This experience led her to eventually leave engineering and pursue work in restaurants.
Q: Who is Nadia Farmiga’s husband?
A: Her husband is Wilson Costa, a Brazilian chef with over 25 years of professional restaurant experience. They met while working together at Le Garrick Restaurant in Manhattan.
Q: What is Misto, and what does it serve?
A: Misto is a farm-to-table restaurant and catering company located in Hudson Valley, New York. It serves a fusion of Ukrainian and Brazilian cuisine, emphasizing fresh, locally grown ingredients and sustainable practices. The name “Misto” means “mixed” in Portuguese.
Q: Does Nadia Farmiga grow her own food for the restaurant?
A: Yes. She and Wilson maintain an extensive garden at their home where they grow vegetables that are used in Misto’s kitchen. They grow multiple varieties of tomatoes, peppers, kale, cucumbers, squash, and other produce.
Q: How many children does Nadia Farmiga have?
A: Nadia and Wilson have two children together. They keep their children’s lives private and out of the public eye.
Q: What is Nadia Farmiga’s net worth?
A: Her net worth is estimated between $1 million to $5 million as of 2026, primarily from her success with Misto and her previous work in restaurants. This is significantly less than her famous sisters, which reflects her choice to focus on meaningful work rather than high-profile ventures.
Q: Does Nadia Farmiga appear on social media?
A: She maintains a private Instagram account but does not have public social media presence. She deliberately avoids public attention and social media marketing for herself, though Misto has its own professional social media presence.
Q: How long has Nadia Farmiga been married?
A: She and Wilson have been married for over two decades, though they keep the exact wedding date private.
Q: Did Nadia Farmiga ever appear in films or television?
A: Yes. She appeared in the 2011 film “Higher Ground,” which was directed by her sister Vera. This was her only notable film appearance, and she did not pursue acting despite growing up around the entertainment industry.
Q: Where does Nadia Farmiga live?
A: She lives in Germantown, New York, in the Hudson Valley region with her husband and children.
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