Laura Harrier

Laura Ruth Harrier is an American actress and model born on March 28, 1990. She is best known for her breakthrough role as Liz Allan in the superhero film Spider-Man: Homecoming, her performance as civil rights activist Patrice Dumas in the drama film BlacKkKlansman, and her starring role as Camille Washington in the Netflix miniseries Hollywood.

Harrier was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Evanston. Her father, Temujin Harrier, is African American and works in insurance, while her mother, Linda Sagan, is a speech pathologist of Polish and English descent. She has a younger brother named William. As a child, Harrier had a speech impediment that was cured by age three, and her mother enrolled her in acting classes to help her overcome shyness. She attended Evanston Township High School, where she participated in drama and sports and developed a strong interest in fashion.

At age 17, Harrier was discovered by a location scout and began modeling. After graduating high school in 2008, she moved to New York City to study art history at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, though she deferred enrollment to pursue modeling full-time. She was represented by agencies including IMG Models, Wilhelmina Models, and Elite Model Management. Throughout her modeling career, she appeared in magazines such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Glamour, and featured in campaigns for Urban Outfitters, Macy's, Target, Steve Madden, L'Oréal, and Garnier. She later became an ambassador for luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Bulgari.

Seeking a career change, Harrier studied acting in a two-year program at the William Esper Studio, graduating in 2015. Her first acting job came in 2013 as Destiny Evans in the web series revival of the soap opera One Life to Live. She went on to appear in television shows and films such as Unforgettable, The Last Five Years, and 4th Man Out. In 2017, she achieved international recognition when she was cast as Peter Parker's love interest, Liz Allan, in the blockbuster film Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Harrier gained further recognition in 2018 for her role as civil rights activist Patrice Dumas in Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman, earning a Black Reel Award nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for outstanding cast performance. In 2019, she starred as art student Caitlyn Walker in the independent film Balance, Not Symmetry. She received additional attention in 2020 for playing aspiring actress Camille Washington in Ryan Murphy's Netflix miniseries Hollywood.

In subsequent years, Harrier appeared in the Hulu biographical miniseries Mike, voiced a role in the Netflix animated special Entergalactic, and starred in the 2023 film remake White Men Can't Jump. She was also cast to portray Motown executive Suzanne de Passe in the biopic Michael. Outside of acting, Harrier is an advocate for civil rights, gender equality, and representation for people of color, frequently using social media to support organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, and the Time's Up movement.