Lauren Graham

Saturday, September 27, 2008

A little-known entity who bounced around from one canceled television series to another, actress Lauren Graham finally came to prominence with her breakout role as Lorelei Gilmore, the wisecracking young mother who shares a sisterly bond with her teenaged daughter (Alexis Bledel) on “Gilmore Girls” (WB, 2000-07). Prior to that surprisingly popular series, Graham languished as a guest star on established series and as an occasional regular on shows that never made it out of their first season....

Filmography

Flash of Genius - ( Phyllis Kearns / 2008 / Lensing/Awaiting Release / )
Birds of America - ( Betty / / Lensing/Awaiting Release / )
Birds of America - ( - Cast / / Lensing/Awaiting Release / )
The Dream of the Romans - ( Elizabeth Danson / / Lensing/Awaiting Release / )
Because I Said So - ( Maggie / 2007 / Released / )
Evan Almighty - ( Joan Baxter / 2007 / Released / )
The Amateurs - ( Peggy / 2007 / Released / )
Lucky 13 - ( / 2005 / Released / )
The Pacifier - ( Principal Claire Fletcher / 2005 / Released / )
Seeing Other People - ( Claire / 2004 / Released / )
Bad Santa - ( Sue / 2003 / Released / )
Chasing Destiny - ( Jessy James / 2001 / Released / )
Sweet November - ( Angelica / 2001 / Released / )
Dill Scallion - ( Kristie Sue / 1999 / Released / )
Confessions of a Sexist Pig - ( Tracy / 1998 / Released / )
Nightwatch - ( Marie / 1998 / Released / Spentzos Films )
One True Thing - ( Jules / 1998 / Released / )

TV Credits

The 10th Annual Critics' Choice Awards ( 2005 / Released ): Actor
The 2005 Teen Choice Awards ( 2005 / Released ): Actor
The 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards ( 2005 / Released ): Actor
Gilmore Girls Backstage Special ( 2004 / Released ): Actor
The 9th Annual Critics' Choice Awards ( 2004 / Released ): Actor
TV Revolution ( 2004 / Released ): Actor
Sex in the Box ( 2004 )
TV Episode Commentary

Maids, Babes & Mothers ( 2004 )
TV Episode Commentary

Celebrity Poker Showdown ( 2003 / Released ): Actor
Lifetime's Achievement Awards: Women Changing the World ( 2003 / Released ): Actor
The 5th Annual Family Television Awards ( 2003 / Released ): Actor
TV Guide's Greatest Moments 2003 ( 2003 / Released ): Special Appearance
VH1 Big in 2002 Awards ( 2002 / Released ): Actor
The 3rd Annual Family Television Awards ( 2001 / Released ): Actor
The 53rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards ( 2001 / Released ): Actor
Gilmore Girls ( 2000 / Released ): Producer / Actor
Bon Voyage ( 2007 )
TV Episode Producer

Bon Voyage ( 2007 )
TV Episode Lorelai Gilmore

Unto the Breach ( 2007 )
TV Episode Producer

Unto the Breach ( 2007 )
TV Episode Lorelai Gilmore

Lorelai? Lorelai? ( 2007 )
TV Episode Producer

( 158 more)
M.Y.O.B. ( 2000 / Released ): Actor
Family Guy ( 1999 / Released ): Voice
The List ( 1999 / Released ): Actor
Conrad Bloom ( 1998 / Released ): Actor
Good Company ( 1996 / Released ): Actor
Townies ( 1996 / Released ): Actor
The Best Defense ( 1995 / Released ): Actor
Law & Order ( 1990 / Released ): Actor
Showtime (Part 3) ( 1997 )
TV Episode Lisa Lindquist

D-Girl (Part 1) ( 1997 )
TV Episode Lisa Lindquist

Seinfeld ( 1989 / Released ): Actor
3rd Rock From the Sun ( Released ): Actor
Caroline in the City ( Released ): Actor
Newsradio ( Released ): Actor

Full Biography

A little-known entity who bounced around from one canceled television series to another, actress Lauren Graham finally came to prominence with her breakout role as Lorelei Gilmore, the wisecracking young mother who shares a sisterly bond with her teenaged daughter (Alexis Bledel) on “Gilmore Girls” (WB, 2000-07). Prior to that surprisingly popular series, Graham languished as a guest star on established series and as an occasional regular on shows that never made it out of their first season. But ever since “The Gilmore Girls,” she used this leverage to make the jump from virtual unknown to a recognizable face and name, able to headline features alongside the likes of Diane Keaton and Steve Carell.
Graham was born an only child on March 16, 1967 in Honolulu, HI, but raised in northern Virginia after her parents divorced. Her dad, Lawrence, took a lobbyist position in Washington, D.C. and raised her on his own, while her mom, Donna Grant, remarried and moved to England. After attending Langley High School in Virginia where she was involved in competitive horseback riding, Graham began performing while an undergraduate with the a cappella/comedy troupe the Metronomes. After majoring in English at Barnard and graduating with a Master of Fine Arts from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, Graham moved to New York, where she landed an agent and began working steadily ever since. After a few stage appearances, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1995 and was cast in the recurring role of Shelley, the perky but needy girlfriend of artist Richard Karinsky on the sitcom, “Caroline in the City” (NBC, 1995-99).
Graham was offered her first regular as a young, ambitious copywriter on "Good Company" (CBS, 1995-96), an ensemble sitcom that followed the professional and personal lives of the creative team of a mid-Manhattan advertising agency. After that series came and went, she was cast as a new mom and bride-to-be who waitresses with a group of twentysomething New England women in "Townies" (ABC, 1996-97). While most praised the shows three female leads (Graham, Jenna Elfman and Molly Ringwald), Graham was singled out for her skill in negotiating her character's mercurial moods. Once again, however, Graham’s show failed to stay on air long enough for audiences to get to know her. Following a three-episode guest arc on "Law & Order" (NBC, 1990- ) and a subsequent one-shot as Jerry Seinfeld's speed-dial-obsessed girlfriend on "Seinfeld" (NBC, 1988-98), Graham won kudos for her playing the perky but ruthless efficiency expert Andrea in a recurring role on the NBC sitcom "NewsRadio" during the 1997-98 season.
Graham segued to the big screen in a supporting role in "Nightwatch" (1998); then landed a larger part as a soap opera actress in the independently made "Confessions of a Sexist Pig" (1998). She rounded out the year by appearing in support of Renee Zellweger in "One True Thing" and returning to series TV as Molly, the former girlfriend, now best buddy of an advertising executive on "Conrad Bloom" in the short-lived 1998 NBC sitcom. In 1999, she appeared opposite Billy Burke as the title character's girlfriend in "Dill Scallion," director Jordan Brady's low-budget mockumentary about a country-music star that steadily gains a devoted cult following over the years.
When she found out that she had been hired for ''Gilmore Girls'' in 2000,Graham was headlining a short-lived NBC show called ''M.Y.O.B.'' as Opal Marie Brown, a high school administrator trying to keep the lid on a rebellious niece. She was hired in ''second position'' for ''Gilmore Girls'' – meaning the producers would have to recast if ''M.Y.O.B.,'' to which she was legally bound, was picked up for a full season. Luckily the sitcom bombed after only five airings. Free to move forward with "Gilmore Girls," Graham finally found the perfect star vehicle for all of her comedic strengths, as well as her inherent ability to relate. Playing the fast-talking but financially struggling 30-ish mom Lorelai, who has to turn to the wealthy, proper and hypercritical parents whom she has been estranged from for 16 years in order to fund her bright daughter's education, Graham and her young co-star Alexis Bledel struck a chord with viewers – the warm, family-friendly but never saccharine "Gilmore Girls" became one of the WB's most reliable ratings-grabbers. The role would also earn Graham a Family Television Award as Best Actress, as well as nominations from the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild awards.
Thanks to the success of "Gilmore Girls" Graham continued to land movie roles as her schedule allowed, appearing in the indie romantic comedy "Lucky 13" and as Keanu Reeves' girlfriend in "Sweet November" (2001). Throwing her TV image aside, she had a memorable turn romping with a seedy Billy Bob Thornton as the sex-crazed department store Santa groupie Sue in director Terry Zwigoff's gleefully cynical comedy, "Bad Santa" (2003). She also played a high school principal who clashes with Navy SEAL-turned-government babysitter Vin Diesel in the surprising hit Disney comedy, "The Pacifier" (2005). In 2007, after months of speculation in the media, “Gilmore Girls” was finally canceled when both Graham and Bledel felt it was time to move on. Meanwhile, Graham continued making a name for herself in high profile features like “Evan Almighty” (2007), playing the concerned wife of newly minted U.S. Congressman Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) who is anointed by God (Morgan Freeman) to build an ark to prepare for a coming flood, while learning a thing or two about the value of helping others.

Profession(s):

Actor
Sometimes Credited As:

Family

father:Lawrence Graham (raised Graham as a single parent for ten years between 1971 and 1981)
mother:Donna Grant (lives in England; divorced from Graham's father c. 1971)
step-mother:Karen Graham (married Graham's father c. 1981)

Education

Langley High School Langley, Virginia
Barnard College, Columbia University New York, New York BA English
Southern Methodist University Dallas, Texas MFA acting 1992

Milestones

2007 Co-starred with Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore in "Because I Said So"
2007 Played Steve Carell's wife in "Evan Almighty," the sequel to the 2003 comedy "Bruce Almighty"
2006 Co-starred in "The Amateurs," an independent comedy about a sleepy town that comes together to film a porno
2005 Starred with Vin Diesel in "The Pacifier"
2004 Cast opposite Jay Mohr and Andy Richter in "Seeing Other People"
2003 Co-starred as a Santa groupie in "Bad Santa"
2000 Had lead in the short-lived NBC midseason sitcom "MYOB"
2000 - 2007 Starred as a single mother raising a teenage daughter in "Gilmore Girls" (WB/CW)
1998 Feature film debut, "Nightwatch"
1998 Had supporting role in "One True Thing"
1998 Returned to series TV as co-star of the NBC sitcom "Conrad Bloom"
1997 Played recurring role of the efficiency expert Andrea on the NBC sitcom "NewsRadio"
1996 TV series debut as a regular, played a copywriter on the short-lived CBS sitcom "Good Company"
1996 Co-starred in the short-lived ABC sitcom "Townines"
1995 Moved to L.A.
1995 Had recurring role of Shelley, the girlfriend of Malcolm Gets' Richard Karinsky on the NBC sitcom "Caroline in the City"
Raised in Northern Virginia
While at Barnard, performed with the female a capella/comedy troupe the Metronomes
After college, traveled by bicycle throughout France and Spain
Worked in summer stock in Augusta, Michigan
TV debut in the cable program "Hardcore TV" (HBO)