Kate Rooney Mara (born February 27, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for work in television, playing reporter Zoe Barnes in the Netflix political drama House of Cards (2013–2014; 2016), computer analyst Shari Rothenberg in the Fox thriller series 24 (2006), wronged mistress Hayden McClaine in the FX miniseries American Horror Story: Murder House (2011), Patty Bowes in the first season of the FX drag ball culture drama series Pose (2018) and Claire Wilson, a teacher who begins an illicit relationship with an underage student, in the FX on Hulu miniseries A Teacher (2020), for the last of which she received an Independent Spirit nomination for Best New Scripted Series as an executive producer.

She made her film debut in Random Hearts (1999). She has since appeared in Brokeback Mountain (2005), We Are Marshall (2006), Shooter (2007), Transsiberian (2008), Stone of Destiny (2008), The Open Road (2009), Transcendence (2014), The Martian (2015), Fantastic Four (2015), Morgan (2016), Megan Leavey (2017), My Days of Mercy (2017), and Chappaquiddick (2018).