Laura Vandervoort

Laura Dianne Vandervoort is a Canadian actress born on September 22, 1984. She is widely recognized for her television roles, including playing Lisa in the ABC science fiction series V, Sadie Harrison in the CTV teen drama Instant Star, and Kara Zor-El, also known as Supergirl, in The CW drama series Smallville. She is also known for her portrayals of Arla "The Bolt-Gun Killer" Cogan in Haven and Elena Michaels in the drama series Bitten.

Vandervoort was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, to a Canadian mother and a Dutch father. During the first weeks of her life, she contracted severe meningitis that lasted a few months, and her parents were initially told she would not survive. Growing up, she participated in numerous sports, including football, basketball, tennis, gymnastics, baseball, and karate, in which she earned a second-degree black belt. She has an older sister, Sarah, and is related to Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent.

She made her acting debut at age 13 in 1997. After taking acting classes and doing background work on Canadian shows such as Road to Avonlea and Harriet the Spy, she earned her first speaking roles in the children's horror anthology series Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark?. At age 19, while studying Psychology and English at York University, Vandervoort landed the lead role of Sadie Harrison in Instant Star, which ran for four seasons. During this period, she also appeared in Disney Channel original films like Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire and Alley Cats Strike, as well as guest roles on television series such as Doc, Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye, and The Dresden Files.

In 2006, Vandervoort made her feature film debut in The Lookout. Following a guest role on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, she was cast as Kara Kent in Smallville, serving as a regular in season seven and returning for guest appearances in seasons eight and ten. She subsequently starred in the feature film sequel Into the Blue 2: The Reef and the independent film The Jazzman alongside Michael Ironside and Corey Sevier.

Vandervoort portrayed the extraterrestrial Visitor Lisa in the 2009 reboot series V. She later starred in the 2010 miniseries Riverworld, the 2011 suspense thriller The Entitled alongside Ray Liotta, and the 2012 comedy feature Ted. In 2014, she starred as Elena Michaels in Bitten, a television adaptation of Kelley Armstrong's book series Women of the Otherworld.

Her subsequent television projects include playing the supervillain Indigo/Brainiac 8 in CBS's Supergirl in 2016 and appearing in the 2019 Netflix series V Wars. Outside of acting, she participated in PETA advertising campaigns in 2011 and 2014 to raise awareness regarding exotic skins and marine mammal captivity. Vandervoort lives in Toronto, Ontario. Following an earlier engagement to actor Oliver Trevena that ended in 2015, she became engaged to Adam Coates in 2023 and married him on September 6, 2025.