Laura Harring

Laura Harring Early life

Harring was born Laura Martinez-Herring in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. Her mother, María Martínez, is a Mexican psychotherapist, real estate investor, and secretary, and her father, Raymond Herring, was a developer and organic farmer of 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 bullet wound to the head. At age 16, she convinced her family to let her study in Switzerland at one of the top schools, Aiglon College. She eventually returned to America, settling down in El Paso, Texas and entered the world of beauty pageants. She won the title of Miss El Paso USA, and soon after, Miss Texas USA. In 1985 she became the first Hispanic to win the Miss USA crown. She is the first of Texas Aces. She went on to make the top 10 at the Miss Universe 1985 pageant.

Harring spent the next year traveling through Asia, exploring Europe and working as a social worker in India. It was in Europe that she was introduced to the world of nobility and, in 1987, she married Count Carl-Eduard von Bismarck-Schönhausen. While she retains the title of Countess von Bismarck-Schönhausen, the couple divorced in 1989 but still remain friends. Harring studied theatre at the London Academy of Performing Arts and is skilled in the French style of Commedia dell'arte, as well as in most of the Latin dances, including the Argentine Tango.

Laura Harring Career

Harring had two recurring TV roles early in her career. During 1990-1991, she played Carla Greco on ABC's soap General Hospital, and during 1997, she played Paula Stevens on NBC's soap Sunset Beach.

She is best known for her performance in David Lynch's cult film Mulholland Drive (2001), opposite Naomi Watts and Justin Theroux. Controversy arose when Lynch pixelized Harring's pubic area in a nocturnal nude scene on the DVD release of the film – one of very few instances of cinematic nudity by a countess. Harring went on to work two more times with Lynch - as an anthropomorphic rabbit in Rabbits (2002) and in a cameo appearance in Inland Empire (2006). In 2003, she starred in Mi Casa, Su Casa together with Barbara Eden of I Dream of Jeannie fame.

In 2004, she starred as John Travolta's spoiled wife in the movie adaptation of Marvel Comics's The Punisher. In 2006, she joined the cast of the FX Networks crime drama, The Shield. She has most recently starred in Mike Newell's adaptation of Gabriel García Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera (2007).