She was born Louise Mikel Henrietta Marie Curram in 1967, the elder daughter of actors Sheila Gish and Roland Curram. She was raised in London and originally wanted to be an artist rather than an actor. She trained in Camberwell and earned a bachelor's degree at the Camberwell College of Arts.^{[citation needed]}

A role in a play in Paddington brought her to the attention of an agent, and this convinced her to follow her family into a career in the theatre, taking roles on stage, in television series, and in film. She appeared with her sister, Kay Curram, in King Lear at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2005.^{[citation needed]}

Gish was in a relationship with actor Nicholas Rowe from 2000 until her death from cancer at the age of 38 in February 2006.^[1] Her death came less than a year after that of her mother, who also died of cancer.

Both she and her mother are buried on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery.^{[citation needed]}

• Tejas Verdes (Gate Theatre 2005)
• King Lear (Chichester Festival Theatre 2005, as Goneril)

• Lou Gish at IMDb