Laura Harring is a Mexican-American actress and former Miss USA

Miss USA

The Miss USA beauty contest has been held annually since 1952 to select the United States entrant in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operates both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA...

 (1985). She is known for her role as Rita in Mulholland Drive

Mulholland Drive (film)

Mulholland Drive is a 2001 American neo-noir psychological thriller written and directed by David Lynch, starring Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, and Laura Harring. The surrealist film was highly acclaimed by many critics and earned Lynch the Prix de la mise en scène at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival...

.

Early life

She was born in Los Mochis

Los Mochis

Los Mochis is a coastal city in northern Sinaloa, Mexico. It serves as the municipal seat of the municipality of Ahome. As of the 2010 census, the population was 256,613, which was 61 percent of the municipality's population....

, Sinaloa

Sinaloa

Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....

, Mexico. Her mother, María Elena Cairo, is a spiritual teacher, real estate investor, and secretary. Her father, Raymond Herring, was a developer and organic farmer

Farmer

A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...

 of Austrian-German descent. The two divorced in 1971. Harring lived the first ten years of her life in Mexico, before her family relocated to San Antonio, Texas. Caught by stray fire from a driveby shooting at age 12, Harring suffered a head wound from a .45

.45 ACP

The .45 ACP , also known as the .45 Auto by C.I.P., is a cartridge designed by John Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic .45 pistol and eventually the M1911 pistol adopted by the United States Army in 1911.-Design and history:The U.S...

 bullet. At age 16, she convinced her family to let her study in Switzerland at Aiglon College

Aiglon College

Aiglon College is a private English-style boarding school in Switzerland, registered as a not-for-profit charitable institution, with an international student intake . The school gathers funds from full fee-paying students, from donations and via registered charitable trusts in different countries...

. She eventually returned to America, settling down in El Paso, Texas

El Paso, Texas

El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...

 and entered the world of beauty pageants. She won the title of Miss El Paso USA, and soon after, Miss Texas USA

Miss Texas USA

The Miss Texas USA competition is the pageant who selects the representative for the state Texas in the Miss USA pageant. In turn, the winner of Miss USA competes for the title of Miss Universe....

. In 1985, she became the first Hispanic

Hispanic

Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

 to win the Miss USA

Miss USA 1985

Miss USA 1985, the 34th Miss USA pageant, was televised live from the Lakeland Civic Auditorium in Lakeland, Florida on May 13, 1985. At the conclusion of the final competition, Laura Harring of Texas was crowned Miss USA 1985 by outgoing titleholder Mai Shanley of New Mexico- Results :*Miss USA...

 crown, and the first of 5 consecutive Texan winners. She went on to make the top 10 at the 1985 Miss Universe pageant

Miss Universe 1985

Miss Universe 1985, the 34th Miss Universe pageant, was held at James L. Knight Convention Center, Miami, USA on July 15, 1985. Seventy-nine contestants competed in the 1985 Miss Universe Pageant...

.

Harring spent the next year traveling through Asia, exploring Europe and working as a social work

Social work

Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...

er in India. In 1987, she married Count Carl-Eduard von Bismarck-Schönhausen, great-great-grandson of Otto von Bismarck

Otto von Bismarck

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...

. While she retains the title of Countess von Bismarck-Schönhausen, the couple divorced in 1989. Harring studied theatre at the London Academy of Performing Arts and is skilled in the Italian style of Commedia dell'arte

Commedia dell'arte

Commedia dell'arte is a form of theatre characterized by masked "types" which began in Italy in the 16th century, and was responsible for the advent of the actress and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. The closest translation of the name is "comedy of craft"; it is shortened...

, as well as Latin dances, including the Argentine

Culture of Argentina

The culture of Argentina is as varied as the country's geography and mix of ethnic groups. Modern Argentine culture has been largely influenced by European immigration although there are lesser elements of Amerindian and African influences, particularly in the fields of music and art...

 Tango

Tango (dance)

Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....

.

Career

Harring had two recurring television roles. During 1990-1991, she played Carla Greco on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

's soap General Hospital

General Hospital

General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....

, and during 1997, she played Paula Stevens on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

's soap Sunset Beach

Sunset Beach (TV series)

Sunset Beach was an American television soap opera, first broadcast in the United States on NBC on January 6, 1997, and last airing on December 31, 1999. The show followed the loves and lives of the people living in a fictional coastal city named Sunset Beach, on the coast of California...

.

She is perhaps best known for her performance in David Lynch

David Lynch

David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...

's cult film Mulholland Drive

Mulholland Drive (film)

Mulholland Drive is a 2001 American neo-noir psychological thriller written and directed by David Lynch, starring Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, and Laura Harring. The surrealist film was highly acclaimed by many critics and earned Lynch the Prix de la mise en scène at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival...

(2001), opposite Naomi Watts

Naomi Watts

Naomi Ellen Watts is a British actress. Watts began her career in Australian television, where she appeared in series such as Hey Dad..! , Brides of Christ , and Home and Away . Her film debut was the 1986 drama For Love Alone...

 and Justin Theroux. Harring went on to work two more times with Lynch - as an anthropomorphic rabbit in Rabbits

Rabbits (film)

Rabbits is a 2002 series of short video films written and directed by David Lynch. It depicts three humanoid rabbits in a room, played by Scott Coffey, Laura Elena Harring and Naomi Watts. Their disjointed conversations are interrupted by a random laugh track. Rabbits is presented with the tagline...

(2002) and in a cameo appearance

Cameo appearance

A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

 in Inland Empire

Inland Empire (film)

Inland Empire, sometimes styled as INLAND EMPIRE, is a 2006 mystery film written and directed by David Lynch. It was his first feature-length film since 2001's Mulholland Drive, and shares many similarities with that film. It premiered in Italy at the Venice Film Festival on September 6, 2006...

(2006). In 2003, she starred in Mi Casa, Su Casa together with Barbara Eden

Barbara Eden

Barbara Eden is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early years:...

 of I Dream of Jeannie

I Dream of Jeannie

I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...

fame.

In 2004, she starred as John Travolta

John Travolta

John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...

's spoiled wife in the movie adaptation of Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

's The Punisher

The Punisher (2004 film)

The Punisher is a 2004 American comic book action film, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, starring Thomas Jane as the antihero Frank Castle / The Punisher and John Travolta as the villain Howard Saint, a money launderer who orders the death of Castle's entire family...

. In 2006, she joined the cast of the FX Networks

FX Networks

FX is the name of a number of related pay television channels owned by News Corporation's Fox Entertainment Group...

 crime drama, The Shield

The Shield

The Shield is an American television drama series starring Michael Chiklis which premiered on March 12, 2002 on FX in the United States and concluded on November 25, 2008 after seven seasons...

. She has most recently starred in Mike Newell

Mike Newell (director)

Michael Cormac "Mike" Newell is an English director and producer of motion pictures for the screen and for television. After the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005, Newell became the third most commercially successful British director in recent years, behind Christopher Nolan...

's adaptation

Love in the Time of Cholera (film)

Love in the Time of Cholera is a 2007 film directed by Mike Newell. Based on the novel of the same name by Gabriel García Márquez, it tells the story of a love triangle between Fermina Daza and her two suitors, Florentino Ariza and Doctor Juvenal Urbino which spans 50 years, from 1880 to...

 of Gabriel García Marquez

Gabriel García Márquez

Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...

's Love in the Time of Cholera

Love in the Time of Cholera

Love in the Time of Cholera is a novel by Nobel Prize winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez first published in the Spanish language during 1985. Alfred A. Knopf published the English translation during 1988...

(2007). Later film projects include Bitter Grapes and Kluge

Kluge

Kluge is a German-derived surname. Among German-speakers, it is pronounced "KLOO-guh" and is derived from the German adjective klug .Those bearing it include:* Friedrich Kluge , German linguist...

.

Since 2010, Harring appears as Evelyn Bass, but uses the alias Elizabeth Fisher on Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl (TV series)

Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007...

.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1987		Santa Anna's bride	as Laura Martinez Harring
1988	Desperado: Avalanche at Devil's Ridge	unknown
1988	Beauty and the Beast Beauty and the Beast (TV series) Beauty and the Beast is an American drama series which first aired on CBS in 1987. Creator Ron Koslow's updated version of the fairy tale has a double focus: the relationship between Vincent , a mythic, noble man-beast, and his Catherine , a savvy assistant District attorney in New York; and a...	Carmen	1 episode
1989	Alien Nation	Female Newcomer	1 episode, as Laura M. Herring
1989	Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! is a 1989 slasher film directed by Monte Hellman. A direct-to-video release, the film is the second sequel to the 1984 film Silent Night, Deadly Night and centers around the Christmas-obsessed killer Ricky Caldwell awakening from a coma and stalking a...	Jerri	as Laura Herring
1990		Nisa	as Laura Herring
1990	General Hospital General Hospital General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....	Carla Greco	unknown episodes, 1990–1991
1991	Dead Women in Lingerie	Marcia	as Laura Herring
1992	Baywatch Baywatch Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...	Princess Catherine Randenberg	1 episode, as Laura Herring
1993	Rio Diablo	Maria Benjamin
1993	Blossom Blossom (TV series) Blossom is an American sitcom broadcast on NBC from January 3, 1991 to May 22, 1995. The series stars Mayim Bialik as Blossom Russo, a teenage girl living with her father and two brothers. It was created by Don Reo.- Synopsis :...	Nurse	1 episode
1994	Exit to Eden Exit To Eden (film) Exit to Eden is a 1994 American comedy-thriller loosely based on the Anne Rice novel of the same name, directed by Garry Marshall and adapted to the screen by Deborah Amelon and Bob Brunner. The original music score was composed by Patrick Doyle....	MC Kindra
1995	Empire	Gabriella Cochrane	un-aired TV series
1995	Flipper Flipper (1995 TV series) Flipper, is an American revival television series of the original 1964 Flipper television series. The first two seasons aired in first-run syndication; seasons 3 and 4 aired on the PAX network....	Garcia	3 episodes, 1995–1996
1996	Baywatch Nights	Charlotte 'Charlie' McBride	1 episode
1996	Silk Stalkings Silk Stalkings Silk Stalkings is a TV crime drama originally shown on CBS in 1991 as part of the network's late-night Crimetime After Primetime programming package, and rebroadcast on the USA Network. After CBS ended the Crimetime experiment in 1993, the series ran exclusively on USA until its finale in the...	Paula Houston / Yvette	2 episodes, 1996–1999
1997	Sunset Beach Sunset Beach (TV series) Sunset Beach was an American television soap opera, first broadcast in the United States on NBC on January 6, 1997, and last airing on December 31, 1999. The show followed the loves and lives of the people living in a fictional coastal city named Sunset Beach, on the coast of California...	Paula Stevens
1997	Black Scorpion II: Aftershock Black Scorpion II: Aftershock Black Scorpion II: Aftershock, also known as Black Scorpion II: Ground Zero, is a 1997 comedy-action film starring Joan Severance as a crime fighting superhero. Roger Corman was the executive producer....	Babette
1997	Hoover Park	unknown
1997	California	Christina Guevara	unknown episodes
1998	Frasier Frasier Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...	Rebecca Wendell	1 episode
2000	A Family in Crisis: The Elian Gonzales Story	Marisleysis Gonzalez	as Laura Elena Harring
2000	Little Nicky Little Nicky Little Nicky is a 2000 American comedy film directed by Steven Brill. It stars Adam Sandler as Nicky, one of Satan's three sons.-Plot:The story revolves around a struggle to determine which of Satan's three sons will succeed their father as ruler of Hell...	Mrs. Dunleavy
2000	Black Scorpion Black Scorpion (TV series) Black Scorpion is an action-crime TV series that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2001. The series is based on two Roger Corman movies, Black Scorpion, and the sequel Black Scorpion II: Aftershock. The show focuses on a female police officer, who, by night, takes to the streets and fights crime as...	Ariana	1 episode
2000	Final Payback	Gina Carrillo
2000	Feather Pimento	Woman in Red
2001	Mulholland Drive Mulholland Drive (film) Mulholland Drive is a 2001 American neo-noir psychological thriller written and directed by David Lynch, starring Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, and Laura Harring. The surrealist film was highly acclaimed by many critics and earned Lynch the Prix de la mise en scène at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival...	Rita	as Laura Elena Harring
2002	John Q John Q John Q is a 2002 film directed by Nick Cassavetes starring Denzel Washington as John Quincy Archibald, a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it...	Gina Palumbo
2002	Derailed Derailed (2002 film) Derailed is a 2002 action movie directed by Bob Misiorowski and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Tomas Arana.- Plot:NATO operative Jacques Kristoff is summoned into action—on his birthday, no less—to track down Galina Konstantin , who has stolen an extremely valuable and dangerous top-secret...	Galina Konstantin
2002	Rabbits Rabbits (film) Rabbits is a 2002 series of short video films written and directed by David Lynch. It depicts three humanoid rabbits in a room, played by Scott Coffey, Laura Elena Harring and Naomi Watts. Their disjointed conversations are interrupted by a random laugh track. Rabbits is presented with the tagline...	Jane
2003	Willard Willard (2003 film) Willard is a 2003 horror film loosely based on the novel Ratman's Notebooks by Stephen Gilbert and a remake of the 1971 film of the same name...	Cathryn
2003		Paula
2003	SVU Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...	Joan Quentin	1 episode, as Laura Elana Harring
2003	Mi Casa, Su Casa	Catalina
2004		Livia Saint
2005	All Souls Day: Dia de los Muertos All Souls Day (film) All Souls Day, or All Souls Day: Dia de los Muertos, is a 2005 zombie film written by Mark A. Altman and directed by Jeremy Kasten. It premiered 11 June 2005 on Sci Fi Channel. There is also an uncut version on dvd.-Plot Overview:...	Martia
2005		Twyla
2006	Inland Empire Inland Empire (film) Inland Empire, sometimes styled as INLAND EMPIRE, is a 2006 mystery film written and directed by David Lynch. It was his first feature-length film since 2001's Mulholland Drive, and shares many similarities with that film. It premiered in Italy at the Venice Film Festival on September 6, 2006...	Jane Rabbit
2006	Ghost Son	Stacey
2006	Walkout	Francis Crisostomo
2006		Rebecca Doyle	8 episodes
2007	My Neighbor's Keeper	Kate Powell
2007	Nancy Drew	Dehlia Draycott	as Laura Elena Harring
2007	Love in the Time of Cholera Love in the Time of Cholera (film) Love in the Time of Cholera is a 2007 film directed by Mike Newell. Based on the novel of the same name by Gabriel García Márquez, it tells the story of a love triangle between Fermina Daza and her two suitors, Florentino Ariza and Doctor Juvenal Urbino which spans 50 years, from 1880 to...	Sara Noriega
2008	One Missed Call	Beth's Mom	uncredited
2008	Return to Babylon Return to Babylon Return to Babylon is an upcoming silent film. It was directed by Alex Monty Canawati and written by Matt Riddlehoover. It stars an ensemble cast of Jennifer Tilly, María Conchita Alonso, Ione Skye, Debi Mazar, and Tippi Hedren.-Plot:...	Alla Nazimova
2008		Eileen
2008	Drool Drool (film) Drool is a 2009 American film.-Plot:The relationship between an abused housewife and her neighbor yields tragedy in his thought-provoking drama. Anora Fleece who had lovable memories with her husband Cheb Drool is a 2009 American film.-Plot:The relationship between an abused housewife and her...	Anora
2009	Gossip Girl Gossip Girl Gossip Girl is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite...	Evelyn Bass/Elizabeth	4 episodes

External links