Lauren Holly, born in Bristol, Pennsylvania, grew up in Geneva, a cozy upstate New York town—pretty much as small-town as it gets. With both parents being college professors, her world basically split right down the middle: rural simplicity on one hand, and the cultured, academic crowd on the other. She bounced between those two worlds, spending time in Europe and even a year living in London, picking up languages and learning flute at the Sarah Siddons School. After finishing up at Sarah Lawrence College, she credits her great-grandmother for sparking her acting bug, since theater ran in the family. She hit it big with “Dumb and Dumber” back in ‘94—yeah, that goofy comedy with Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels. People totally fell for her as Mary Swanson, the woman who basically set the whole ridiculous road trip in motion. After that, she kept the momentum going with a killer performance in “No Looking Back,” playing a woman whose life gets totally upended by her ex showing up in her quiet seaside town. Her film credits are all over the map, from working with Oliver Stone on “Any Given Sunday,” to “Sabrina,” “Beautiful Girls,” “Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story,” and even lending her voice to Chihiro’s mom in “Spirited Away.” On TV, she’s been a fixture too—remember her as Jenny Shepard in “NCIS”? She’s also starred in “Chicago Hope,” “Picket Fences,” and a bunch of Hallmark movies. These days, she’s living in Toronto with her three sons, juggling life and work like a pro.
movies trivia nFunny thing—she actually passed up the part Courteney Cox snagged in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective back in ’94. Wild, right? I mean, that movie’s outrageous and Cox is basically everywhere in it. But here’s the twist: that same year, she ended up sharing the screen with Jim Carrey anyway, just not chasing a missing dolphin. Instead, she went the road trip route and joined him in Dumb and Dumber—yeah, that legendary comedy with the tuxedos and the most ridiculous van in movie history. People still quote that flick nonstop. So, while she skipped out on the pet detective gig, she still landed in one of the most iconic buddy comedies of the ‘90s. Kind of a win, if you ask me. Imagine how different those movies could’ve been if she’d gone the other way. Hollywood’s full of these wild what-ifs and near-misses, but hey, it sure worked out for everyone involved.
Okay, so apparently I got called in for Sister Act back in ‘92 because they couldn’t find their perfect shy nun. Except… it’s a singing part. And I cannot sing. At all. They go, “Yeah, yeah, we know you don’t sing, it’s fine.” So I read the scene, feeling pretty decent about it, then the director hits me with, “Will you sing a song for us?” My brain just goes, “Nope. Abort mission.” But I’m standing there, so what do I do? I just belt out the loudest “Happy Birthday” you’ve ever heard, flailing my arms and making faces like I’m channeling Whitney Houston or something. When I open my eyes, everyone just looks like I’ve committed some kind of crime. Total silence—until someone in the back mutters, “Wow, that girl’s got balls.” Yeah, it was mortifying. Never again.
October 28, 1963
5′ 5″ (1.65 m)
Konidela Ram Charan
Bristol, Pennsylvania, USA
Yes, Alexander Joseph Greco
Grant Holly and Surekha
61 years old