Background
Born on March 16, 1967, in Honolulu, Hawaii. She was raised by her father after her parents divorced when she was five. Growing up in northern Virginia, Graham loved to ride horses and even competed in equestrian events.
Born on March 16, 1967, in Honolulu, Hawaii. She was raised by her father after her parents divorced when she was five. Growing up in northern Virginia, Graham loved to ride horses and even competed in equestrian events.
In Langley High School, where she took part in the drill team.
A graduate of Barnard College, Graham went on to earn a master of fine arts degree in acting from Southern Methodist University in 1992.
After a stint in Chicago, she moved to New York City. Graham landed some commercials and worked other jobs to make ends meet. In 1995, she moved to Los Angeles and started her television career with a recurring role on the first season of Caroline in the City, starring Lea Thompson. She played the mercilessly upbeat Shelly, girlfriend to one of the lead characters.
Over the next few years, Graham also appeared in several episodes of Law & Order (1997) and NewsRadio (1997). Her first attempts at series television, however, were met with failure. Good Company (1996), Townies (1996), Conrad Bloom (1998), and M.Y.O.B. (2000) all barely made out of the starting gate before they were taken off the air. The cancelation of the sitcom M.Y.O.B., in which Graham starred as an assistant principal suddenly responsible for a niece she never knew about, turned out to be good news. It left her free to take on a new series called Gilmore Girls in 2000.
Debuting in the fall of 2000, Gilmore Girls followed the lives of single mother Lorelai Gilmore (played by Graham) and her daughter Rory (played by Alexis Bledel). The two were more like sisters than the traditional mother-daughter dynamic, in part because Lorelai had been a teenage mother. Some of the show's dramatic moments have come from Lorelai's rollercoaster love life, including her relationships with Rory's father, and her strained relationship with her parents. Graham received numerous accolades for her work on the series, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Besides her work on Gilmore Girls, Lauren Graham has explored other acting opportunities. She appeared in the 2003 film Bad Santa opposite Billy Bob Thornton, 2005's The Pacifier with Vin Diesel, and 2007's Because I Told You So with Diane Keaton. Graham also appeared in the 2007 film Evan Almighty, a sequel to the divine hit comedy Bruce Almighty (2003). In 2010, Graham returned to series television in the role of Sarah Braverman on the family drama Parenthood.
Lauren Graham has also been working behind the camera.
Filmography
1995-96 Caroline in the City
1996 3rd Rock from the Sun
1996 Good Company
1996 Townies
1997 Nightwatch
1997 Law & Order
1997 Seinfeld
1997 NewsRadio
1998 Confessions of a Sexist Pig
1998 One True Thing
1998 Conrad Bloom
1999 Dill Scallion
2000 M.Y.O.B.
2000–2007 Gilmore Girls
2001 Sweet November
2001 Chasing Destiny
2002 Family Guy
2002 The Third Wheel
2004 Seeing Other People
2005 Lucky 13
2005 The Life Coach
2005 The Amateurs
2005 The Pacifier Principal Claire Fletcher
2005 Gnome Amanda
2006 Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
2007 Because I Said So
2007 Evan Almighty
2008 Birds of America
2008 Flash of Genius
2009 The Bridget Show
2009 The Answer Man
2009 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Fran Lockwood (voice)
2010 It's Kind of a Funny Story
2010 Parenthood
2012 Most Wanted
Family Television Awards -Actress, 2001
Teen Choice Awards-Choice television Parental Units, 2006
Teen Choice Awards-Choice television Parental Units, 2005
