Laura Harring

Born on March 3, 1964, in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, **Laura Elena Harring Martínez**, known as **Laura Harring**, is an American actress and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 1985. Her early life was spent between Mexico and Texas until the age of 16 when she moved to Switzerland to study at Aiglon College. She studied theatre at the London Academy of Performing Arts, training in Italian commedia dell'arte and Latin dances before eventually settling down in El Paso, Texas where she began competing in beauty pageants. Harring began her acting career in 1987, making her debut in the NBC television movie The Alamo: 13 Days to Glory. She then moved on to film, with roles in movies including The Forbidden Dance (1990), John Q (2002), The Punisher (2004), and Inside (2016). She is best known for her performance in David Lynch's 2001 movie *Mulholland Drive*, for which she received critical acclaim. In 2006, she joined the cast of FX's crime drama, *The Shield*, and from 2009 to 2010, she appeared in *Gossip Girl*. Her most recent appearance was in the 2022 romantic comedy *Father of the Bride*.