Laura Bell Bundy

Laura Ashley Bell Bundy-Hinkle is an American actress, singer-songwriter, and activist born on April 10, 1981. She is best known for originating the Broadway roles of Amber Von Tussle in the musical adaptation of Hairspray and Elle Woods in Legally Blonde: The Musical, as well as for her recurring roles on television and her country music releases. Outside of her creative career, she is an advocate for women's rights and co-founded the organization Womxn of Tomorrow.

Bundy was born in Euclid, Ohio, and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. Her mother worked as a Lancome Beauty Advisor at Ulta, and her father was an electrical engineer. She took dance lessons in Paris, Kentucky, and began performing after her mother entered her into beauty pageants as a child. Finding success as a child actress and model, she signed with the Ford Modeling Agency in 1986 and appeared in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular at age nine. Bundy attended the Professional Children's School in New York and later graduated from Lexington Catholic High School. She was diagnosed with celiac disease around age 18. While performing in Hairspray, she enrolled at New York University as a sociology major, though she did not graduate.

Bundy made her Off-Broadway debut in 1992 originating the role of Tina Denmark in Ruthless! The Musical, which earned her nominations for a Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award. In 2002, she made her Broadway debut originating Amber Von Tussle in Hairspray. She later served as a standby for Glinda in Wicked and starred in Rock of Ages in Los Angeles. From 2007 to 2008, she originated the lead role of Elle Woods in Broadway's Legally Blonde: The Musical, earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. She later reprised the role during the show's 2009 national tour.

Her screen career includes film appearances in The Adventures of Huck Finn, Life with Mikey, Jumanji as the young Sarah Whittle, and Dreamgirls. On television, she played Marah Lewis on the soap opera Guiding Light from 1999 to 2001. Bundy later appeared in recurring roles as Becky on How I Met Your Mother and How I Met Your Father, and as Shelby on Hart of Dixie. She also starred as Dr. Jordan Denby on Anger Management, appeared in the television film Becoming Santa, and played Rachel Raskin on The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder.

As a musical artist, Bundy released her debut country album, Longing For a Place Already Gone, in 2007. She signed with Mercury Records Nashville and released Achin' and Shakin' in 2010, featuring the singles "Giddy On Up" and "Drop on By". She later released the albums Another Piece of Me in 2015 and Women of Tomorrow in 2021. Bundy has also worked as a director, helming a regional production of Legally Blonde: The Musical in 2017, music videos, and web series such as Cooter County and Skits-O-Frenic.

In October 2020, Bundy launched the Women of Tomorrow podcast alongside music producer Shea Carter. In her personal life, she married TBS executive Thom Hinkle in June 2017, and the couple welcomed a son in May 2019. Bundy returned to Broadway in 2023, starring in the play The Cottage at the Hayes Theater.