Laura Elena Herring Martínez was born in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico on March 3, 1964^[1] Her mother, María Elena Martínez-Cairo, is a Mexican spiritual teacher, real estate investor, and former secretary. Her father, Raymond Herring, was a Mexican developer and organic farmer of Austrian-German descent.^[2] The two divorced in 1971. Harring lived the first ten years of her life in Mexico, before her family relocated to San Antonio, Texas. Harring suffered a head wound from a .45 bullet when she was caught by stray fire from a driveby shooting at age 12.^[3][4] At age 16, she convinced her family to let her study in Switzerland at Aiglon College. Harring studied theatre at the London Academy of Performing Arts, having trained in the Italian commedia dell'arte, as well as Latin dances, including the Argentine tango.^[5] She eventually returned to the United States, settling down in El Paso, Texas and began competing in beauty pageants.

Pagentry edit

Harring won Miss El Paso USA, Miss Texas USA, then Miss USA 1985 becoming the first Hispanic woman to do so.^[6][7][8] Harring then spent the next year traveling through Asia, exploring Europe and working as a social worker in India.^[9]

Acting edit

Harring began acting in 1987, in the NBC television movie The Alamo: 13 Days to Glory (1987).^[6] She played Raúl Juliá's character's wife, having been cast by NBC producers after they saw her on the Miss USA broadcast and contacted her with the role.^[10] In 1989, appeared in her first movie Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!,^[11] in the supporting role of Jerri, a flight attendant.^[12]

In 1990, Harring was lead actress in the Columbia Pictures release The Forbidden Dance, in which she played the role of Nisa, a Brazilian princess.^[13] That same year, she began a recurring role on the ABC daytime soap General Hospital, as Carla Greco.^[14] The next few years, she had supporting roles in movies - Exit to Eden (1994),^[15] and Black Scorpion II: Aftershock (1997).^[16] In 1997, she played the role of Paula Stevens in the NBC soap opera Sunset Beach.^[17] After leaving the show, she guest-starred on Frasier in the episode "Dial M for Martin", and appeared in the comedy film Little Nicky.^[18]

Harring is best known for her performance in David Lynch's 2001 movie Mulholland Drive, opposite Naomi Watts and Justin Theroux. She played both the characters of Rita (an amnesiac who names herself after Rita Hayworth when seeing the name on a poster for the movie Gilda) and Camilla.^[19] In response to her performance and the choice of her for the role, film critic Roger Ebert wrote, "Not many actresses would be bold enough to name themselves after Rita Hayworth, but Harring does, because she can. Slinky and voluptuous in clinging gowns, all she has to do is stand there and she's the first good argument in 55 years for a Gilda remake."^[20] Comparisons were also made between Harring and Ava Gardner by the International Herald Tribune.^[21][22] In 2002, she was awarded the American Latino Media Arts (ALMA) Award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film for her performance. Harring went on to work twice more with Lynch—as an anthropomorphic rabbit in the limited series Rabbits (2002)^[23] and in a cameo appearance in Inland Empire (2006).^[24]

In 2002, she appeared in John Q,^[25] and was female lead opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in Derailed.^{[citation needed]} In 2003, she starred in Mi Casa, Su Casa together with Barbara Eden.^{[citation needed]} In 2004, she was the spoiled wife of antagonist Mr. Saint (John Travolta), Livia Saint^[26] in the movie adaptation of Marvel Comics's The Punisher.^[27] In 2005, Harring starred in the independent film The King,^{[citation needed]} and later had roles in Nancy Drew,^{[citation needed]} Love in the Time of Cholera,^{[citation needed]} The Caller,^[21] and Drool, in which she plays an abused wife fleeing her husband.^[28]

In 2006, Harring joined the cast of FX's crime drama, The Shield, as defense attorney Rebecca Doyle,^[29] appearing in nine episodes of season five. In the role, she is hired by lead character Vic Mackey to protect his team of corrupt police officers against an Internal Affairs investigation.^[29] From 2009 to 2010, she also appeared in four episodes as Evelyn Bass/Elizabeth Fisher in The CW series Gossip Girl.^[30][31] In the show, she plays a woman posing as the long-lost mother of the character Chuck Bass, before her deceit is discovered by the other characters. She also guest-starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2003, Law & Order: Criminal Intent in 2010, and NCIS: Los Angeles in 2012 and 2016.^[32] Harring was also cast in the independent film The Loner directed by Daniel Grove.^[33] In 2016 she was cast in the English-language remake of the film Inside,^[34] and in Legendary's first digital film The Thinning, alongside Logan Paul and Peyton List.^{[citation needed]} In 2022, she appeared in the romantic comedy Father of the Bride playing Diego Boneta's mother.^[35]

In 1987, Harring married Count Carl-Eduard von Bismarck-Schönhausen, great-great-grandson of Otto von Bismarck. Though the couple divorced in 1989, she retains the courtesy title of Gräfin (Countess) von Bismarck-Schönhausen.^[7]

Film edit

Television edit

• Official website
• Laura Harring at IMDb