Born in Bristol, Pennsylvania, the daughter of two college professors, Lauren grew up in the upstate New York town of Geneva. Her childhood was split between experiences that contrasted. She was privy to the shelter of growing up in a rural town and also exposed due to the erudite sophistication of her parents' academic careers. Lauren spent time traveling in Europe and lived for a year in London, where she studied languages and flute at the famed Sarah Siddons School. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College in New York, Lauren credits her love of acting to her great-grandmother who bred a family tradition of "treading the boards" on the musical theatre stages of Liverpool and London. Lauren's breakthrough motion picture performance came in the New Line Cinema's box-office smash, Dumb & Dumber (1994), with Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels. Lauren captured the hearts of audiences, as "Mary Swanson", the woman who drove Jim Carrey to follow her across the country to pledge his love. Next, she received glowing reviews for her performance in the Edward Burns drama, No Looking Back (1998), as a woman whose life in a small seaside community is turned upside down by the reappearance of her ex-boyfriend. Lauren's other film credits include Oliver Stone's "Any Given Sunday," with Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz and Jamie Fox, Sydney Pollack's "Sabrina," starring Harrison Ford, the action-drama "Turbulence," co-starring Ray Liotta, the Miramax ensemble "Beautiful Girls," a lead role in the Universal production of "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story," "A Smile Like Yours," "The Adventures of Ford Fairlane," the comedy "Down Periscope," starring Kelsey Grammer, "Entropy" and "The Last Producer," starring and directed by Burt Reynolds.In television, Lauren's credits are no less impressive. Lauren recently starred in 2 films for Hallmark. She also boasts three seasons as Director Jenny Shepard in CBS/Paramount Television's top-rated drama series NCIS. Lauren was seen in the TNT movie "King of Texas," an adaptation of Shakespeare's "King Lear," playing opposite Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden and renowned actor Patrick Stewart, and in the NBC miniseries "Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot," alongside Jill Hennessy and Leslie Stefanson. Additionally, Lauren starred as plastic surgeon Jeremy Hanlon on David E. Kelley's Emmy Award-nominated CBS drama, "Chicago Hope," marking her second project with Kelley, following their successful collaboration on the critically acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning series, "Picket Fences." Lauren has worked on numerous Independent films. These feature films include the political thriller "Fatwa," in which she not only acted but also served as a producer, the Peter Schwaba penned and directed comedy "Godfather of Green Bay," "The Chumscrubber," an Arie Posen directed, independent film to be released by DreamWorks, "Pleasure Drivers," directed by acclaimed cinematographer Andrej Sekula and co-starring Angus McFadden, a Lifetime movie "Caught in the Act," which she also produced, and "Chasing 3000". Most recently, Lauren starred in "You're So Cupid" with Brian Krause and Jeremy Sumpter. Additional projects contributing to the broad and diverse body of motion picture work Lauren has compiled include the drama "Colored Eggs" with Faye Dunaway, the comedy "Raising Flagg" playing opposite Oscar winner Alan Arkin, the Darrell Roodt directed HBO thriller, "Pavement", co-starring Robert Patrick and Paramount Pictures', and "What Women Want" opposite Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. In addition, Lauren served a lead role in Disney's Oscar winning animated motion picture "Spirited Away" as the voice of Chihiro's Mother. Coming up she will play a lead in "Perfect Age of Rock and Roll," produced by Spike Lee. Lauren currently [march, 2014] makes her home in Toronto, Canada with her "three kings", sons Alexander, George, and Henry.
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