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Lauren Graham extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Lauren Graham
Lauren Graham, 2007
Born	Lauren Helen Graham March 16, 1967 (1967-03-16) (age 42) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, producer
Years active	1995–present

Lauren Helen Graham (born March 16, 1967) is an American actress and producer, best known for her starring role as Lorelai Gilmore on the WB Network dramedy series Gilmore Girls.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Filmography 4 Awards and nominations 5 References 6 External links

Early life

Graham, an Irish American, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Donna Grant, a fashion buyer, and Lawrence Graham, a candy industry lobbyist¹ who was the former President for the chocolate and confection industry association. Her parents divorced when she was five, and Graham moved to Washington, D.C., where her father became a congressional staffer. She traveled extensively with her father while growing up.

Graham discovered acting while in elementary school and further honed her talent at Langley High School, where she took part in the drill team.² Graham quickly took to acting in community theatre and other small productions. She earned her actor's equity card in 1988 after two years in summer stock at the Barn Theatre in Augusta, Michigan. Graham graduated from Barnard College in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. After moving to Texas in 1992, she earned a Master of Fine Arts in Acting Performance from Southern Methodist University.

Career

After completing her education, Graham moved to New York City where she became a cocktail waitress and aspiring actress, including her first paid work doing publicity appearances wearing the costume of Striker, the dog mascot of the US-based 1994 FIFA World Cup.³ In 1995, she relocated to Hollywood, California. She appeared in various commercials for products such as Dimetapp and Lean Cuisine and hosted free preview weekends on The Movie Channel.

In addition to her many guest starring and co-starring roles on prime-time television, Graham starred in three failed sitcoms, including Townies (with Molly Ringwald and Jenna Elfman) and the short-lived sitcom Lush Life (with Lori Petty and Karyn Parsons). Between 1996 and 1997 Graham became a regular guest star on several hit NBC shows. She played a graduate student who caught the eye of Dick on 3rd Rock from the Sun, Richard's dim-witted girlfriend on Caroline in the City, and Jerry's speed-dial ranking girlfriend on Seinfeld. She played a Hollywood producer who had a love interest in Rey Curtis in a three-part episode of Law & Order, where she acted opposite Scott Cohen, who would later play one of Graham's love interests, Max Medina, on Gilmore Girls. She also portrayed a highly-inept efficiency expert on Newsradio.

In 2000, Graham landed her breakthrough role as Lorelai Gilmore on Gilmore Girls, the program that would finally launch her to stardom. For her work she received a nomination for Best Actress in a Television Series (Drama) at the 2001 Golden Globe Awards. Beginning with Season 7 episode "To Whom It May Concern" and continuing throughout the rest of the season, Graham served as a producer on Gilmore Girls. TV Guide reported that she received the position in an attempt to persuade her to sign for an eighth season.⁴⁵

Graham returned to her guest-starring roots when she portrayed herself in two episodes of NBC's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Graham has also appeared on Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown, co-hosted by Dave Foley of Newsradio. After winning her preliminary match, she came in second to another former Newsradio star, Maura Tierney, in the championship game. On June 26, 2002, Graham was the last guest interviewed by Rosie O'Donnell on her daytime talk show.

Graham's film roles encompass several NYU student films and multiple major studio releases, including Sweet November, Bad Santa, The Pacifier, Because I Said So, and Evan Almighty.

Graham has said that she enjoys playing in short films, and acting in the Williamstown Theatre Festival.⁶ She has performed in numerous short films, including the 15-minute long Gnome, viewable on YouTube and the iTunes Store. In 2007, Graham signed a seven-figure development deal with NBC in one of the year's richest TV talent pacts.⁷

Graham has also worked as the voiceover announcer in national advertising for Kellogg's various Special K products, and in American Express ads introducing the Plum Card, which is targeted towards small and growing businesses.⁸

Graham made her Broadway debut as Miss Adelaide in the revival of Guys and Dolls, which began preview performances at the Nederlander Theatre on February 5, 2009 and opened on March 1, 2009. Initial reviews for this performance have been mixed, but generally regard her fresh take on the character as a success. The production closed June 14, playing 113 shows and 28 previews.⁹¹⁰

It was announced in January 2009 that Graham would star in the comedy pilot, The Bridget Show (previously Let It Go) for ABC playing a talk show host and self-help guru who fails to follow her own advice during a breakup. However, the pilot was not given a series order.¹¹¹²

On October 9, 2009, it was announced that Graham will replace Maura Tierney in the upcoming series Parenthood as single mother Sarah Braverman. Tierney left the show to seek treatment for cancer.¹³

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1997	Nightwatch	Marie
1998	Confessions of a Sexist Pig	Tracy	Alternative title: Taste of Love
	One True Thing	Jules
1999	Dill Scallion	Kristie Sue
2001	Sweet November	Angelica
2002	The Third Wheel	Woman at party	Uncredited
2003	Bad Santa	Sue
	Something More	-	Executive producer
2004	Seeing Other People	Claire
2005	Lucky 13	Abbey
	The Life Coach	Dr. Sue Pegasus
	The Amateurs	Peggy	Alternative title: The Moguls
	The Pacifier	Principal Claire Fletcher
	Gnome	Amanda
2007	Because I Said So	Maggie
	Evan Almighty	Joan Baxter
2008	Birds of America	Betty Tanager
	Flash of Genius	Phyllis Kearns
2009	The Answer Man	Elizabeth	Alternative title: Arlen Faber
	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	Fran Lockwood	Voice
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995-1996	Caroline in the City	Shelly	5 episodes
1996	Good Company	Liz Gibson	Unknown episodes
	Townies	Denise Garibaldi Callahan	Unknown episodes
	3rd Rock from the Sun	Laurie Ives	1 episode
1997	Law & Order	Lisa Lundquist	3 episodes
	Seinfeld	Valerie	1 episode
	NewsRadio	Andrea	5 episodes
1998	Conrad Bloom	Molly Davenport	1 episode
2000	M.Y.O.B.	Opal Marie Brown	2 episodes
2000-2007	Gilmore Girls	Lorelai Gilmore	153 episodes
2001	Chasing Destiny	Jessy James	Television movie
2002	Family Guy	Mother Maggie (Voice)	1 episode
2006	Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip	Studio 60 Host	2 episodes Uncredited
2010	Parenthood	Sarah Braverman	? episodes

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Result	Category	Series
2001	Family Television Awards	Won	Actress	Gilmore Girls (Tied with Jane Kaczmarek for Malcolm in the Middle)
2002	Golden Globe Award	Nominated	Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama	Gilmore Girls
2005	People's Choice Awards	Nominated	Favorite Female Television Star	-
2002	Satellite Award	Nominated	Best Performance by an Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical	Gilmore Girls
2003		Nominated		Gilmore Girls
2004		Nominated		Gilmore Girls
2005		Nominated	Best Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical	Gilmore Girls
			Outstanding Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical
2001	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Nominated	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series	Gilmore Girls
2002		Nominated	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series	Gilmore Girls
2005	Teen Choice Award	Won	Choice TV Parental Units	Gilmore Girls
2006		Won	Choice TV Parental Units	Gilmore Girls
2002	Television Critics Association Award	Nominated	Individual Achievement in Drama	Gilmore Girls
2006		Nominated	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Comedy	Gilmore Girls

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lauren Graham

• Lauren Graham at the Internet Movie Database
• Lauren Graham at TV.com
• Lauren Graham cast bio on The CW Official Site
• Lauren Graham returns to primetime

Persondata
NAME	Graham, Lauren
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Graham, Lauren Helen
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Actress, producer
DATE OF BIRTH	March 16, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH	Honolulu, Hawaii
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH