Lauren Graham (born March 16, 1967) is an American actress and author. She is best known for her roles as Lorelai Gilmore on The WB/CW television series Gilmore Girls (2000–2007), for which she received nominations for Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globe and Satellite Awards, and as Sarah Braverman on the NBC television drama Parenthood (2010–2015).
Graham's film work includes roles in Sweet November (2001), Bad Santa (2003), The Pacifier (2005), Because I Said So (2007), and Evan Almighty (2007). She published her debut novel with Ballantine Books in 2013, Someday, Someday, Maybe. In 2016, Graham reprised her role as Lorelai Gilmore on Netflix's reunion miniseries Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life and published a memoir, Talking as Fast as I Can.
Early life
Graham was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her mother, Donna Grant, was a fashion buyer, and her father, Lawrence Graham, a candy industry lobbyist who was president of the National Confectioners Association. Graham was raised in her father's Catholic faith (her maternal grandfather was a Baptist minister); she is of Irish, English, and Scottish descent. When Graham's father worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Vietnam, Graham lived for a few years in Japan (her mother also grew up there, as the daughter of a missionary).
Graham was five years old when her parents divorced, and she moved to the Virginia suburbs of the Washington, DC metropolitan area with her father, who became a congressional staffer. Her mother left to pursue a music career and lived in London until her death in 2005, at the age of 61. Graham was raised by her father and they had a close relationship. She said, "I thought I kind of had it best. My dad has a very mellow way about him and I was a self-starter as a kid. I liked a certain amount of being on my own. It just worked great for me." Graham also spent a few of her childhood years in Southampton, New York. Graham has a half-sister and a half-brother from her father's second marriage. Her British half-sister from her mother's second marriage, Shade Grant, works at a talent agency.
As a girl, Graham rode horses competitively, but soon switched to acting, honing her talent at Langley High School, where she took part in the drill team and graduated in 1984. She earned her actor's Equity Card in 1988 after two years in summer stock at the Barn Theatre in Augusta, Michigan. Graham went to New York University, but then transferred to Barnard College. She graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature. After moving to Texas in 1992, Graham earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting Performance from Southern Methodist University.
