Laurie Holden

Heather Laurie Holden (born December 17, 1969), best known as Laurie Holden, is an American-Canadian actress, producer, and human rights activist. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Marita Covarrubias in The X-Files, Adele Stanton in The Majestic, Cybil Bennett in Silent Hill, Amanda Dumfries in The Mist, Olivia Murray in The Shield, and Andrea in The Walking Dead. Early life and education Born in Los Angeles and raised in Toronto, Holden holds dual citizenship in both the U.S. and Canada. After her parents, actors Glen Corbett (aka Lawrence Holden) and Adrienne Ellis, divorced, her mother married director Michael Anderson. Laurie then split her time between Los Angeles and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She has a younger brother named Christopher Holden and a half sister. She received her first film role when she was a young child. While on the set visiting her step-father, director Michael Anderson, a child actress hired to play Rock Hudson's daughter in The Martian Chronicles never made it and Laurie filled in. "All of a sudden, I'm Rock Hudson's daughter."As a teenager, she won The Look of the Year modeling contest in Toronto and was given a minor role as a babysitter in Anderson's comedy Separate Vacations (1986). After graduating from the Bishop Strachan School, she attended McGill University, where she studied economics and political science. She transferred to University of California, Los Angeles and received a degree in theater and film in 1993. At UCLA, she was a member of the National Honor Society and received the prestigious Natalie Wood Acting Award. She pursued a Master of Human Rights degree at Columbia University. Career Early in her career, Holden made a name for herself by costarring opposite Burt Reynolds in Physical Evidence (1989), Vanessa Redgrave in Young Catherine (1991), and William Shatner in the TV Movie TekWar: TekLab (1994). She also played Mabel Dunham in the TV Movie The Pathfinder (1996) (based on the novel of James Fenimore Cooper). Onstage, she starred in Time and the Conways, written by J. B. Priestley, and The Winter's Tale, based on the play by William Shakespeare. Other stage roles include Regina in Ghosts and Procne in The Love of the Nightingale. After making various guest appearances on Due South, Murder, She Wrote, and Poltergeist: The Legacy (when she played a dual role), Holden found some success playing a memorable recurring role on the seminal sci-fi series The X-Files: Marita Covarrubias, a mysterious government worker who becomes an informant to Special Agent Fox Mulder, from seasons four through the final one (1996–2002). She also had a supporting role, as Mary Travis, opposite Michael Biehn and Ron Perlman, in the CBS TV series based on the MGM classic, The Magnificent Seven (1998–2000) and a role as Debra Campbell on Highlander: The Series. Some of Holden's most notable roles include starring opposite Jim Carrey in Frank Darabont's film The Majestic (2001) (It was while performing on stage in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, that Holden was discovered by Darabont). As Carrey's long lost love, she received critical acclaim and praise for her performance. In 2002, she played Marita Covarrubias for the final episode of The X-Files. She also co-starred alongside Dean Cain, Jennifer Tilly, and Tim Curry in the Canadian comedy Bailey's Billion$. Other movies roles of hers include those of Michael Chiklis' former love interest in Fantastic Four (2005), Cybil Bennett in Christophe Gans' artistic-horror video game adaptation of Silent Hill (2006), Amanda Dumfries in The Mist (2007), and Olivia Murray in The Shield.