Laura Cayouette

Last updated

Laura Cayouette
Born
Alma mater University of South Alabama
OccupationActress
Years active1995present
Spouse
Andy Gallagher
(m. 2014)

Laura Cayouette is an American actress.

Early life

Cayouette was born in Washington, D.C., [1] and grew up in Maryland. Laura graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a BA in English, then graduated a year later from University of South Alabama with an M.A. in Creative Writing and English Literature. In 2014, Cayouette was made their Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient [2] and her name was added to the university's clock tower. Before pursuing a career in acting, Cayouette worked as a nightclub DJ, model, English professor, dress shop manager [3] and a ticket taker at Universal City Walk Hollywood. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York [3] before moving to Los Angeles in 1992. There, she studied with Milton Katselas at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, then with Ivana Chubbuck at her studio. [4]

Contents

Career

Best known as Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly, the sister of the main villain in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained , Cayouette's acting career started in 1996 with a role in The Evening Star (1996), the sequel to Terms of Endearment , opposite Shirley MacLaine and Juliette Lewis. The same year she worked with David Duchovny and Garry Shandling on an award-winning episode of The Larry Sanders Show and followed that with the Friends episode "The One with the Screamer".

Cayouette has worked with Tarantino four times. He first directed her in Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (2004), then produced as she acted in Daltry Calhoun , a 2005 film directed by Charles Bronson’s daughter, Katrina Holden Bronson. In 2008, Cayouette and Tarantino produced Hell Ride , a biker movie featuring Cayouette, Dennis Hopper, Michael Madsen and David Carradine, and followed that up with Django Unchained (2012). [1]

Cayouette directed Joanna Cassidy and Danica McKellar in the 2004 short film, Intermission then directed Richard Dreyfuss and Mircea Monroe in the 2011 short film, Lone Star Trixie. Cayouette is the first person to ever wear a Project Runway dress to the Oscars. Designer Austin Scarlett accompanied her to the event.

Cayouette has written seven books, including Know Small Parts: An Actor's Guide to Turning Minutes into Moments and Moments into a Career with foreword by Richard Dreyfuss and endorsements from Kevin Costner, Reginald Hudlin, and Lou Diamond Phillips. She is also the author of a coming of age novel, Lemonade Farm, and the amateur-sleuth Charlotte Reade Mysteries series set in New Orleans [3] [5] and highlighting cultural events like Jazz Fest, Southern Decadence, and the Mardi Gras Indians’ Super Sunday, as well as moments like the Saints Super Bowl victory during Carnival, the BP oil spill, and Hurricane Isaac.

Cayouette writes a blog, LAtoNOLA.com, [6] recounting many of those same events as well as dancing with the New Orleans Pussyfooters in the Mardi Gras parades and riding with Quentin Tarantino in the Monarch float after she arranged for him to preside over the Krewe of Orpheus parade during Mardi Gras 2014.

She was elected as a Convention Delegate in the 2019 SAG-AFTRA New Orleans Local election. [7] More recent acting roles include the recurring Marlene in Ava Duverney's Queen Sugar and John Schneider's wife in the film Hate Crime (2017).

Personal life

On May 24, 2014, Cayouette married Andy Gallagher in New Orleans. [8] [9]

Filmography

Films

YearFilmRoleNotes
1996 The Evening Star Becky
1997 Lovelife Woman in the Window
1998 Krippendorf's Tribe TV Studio Woman
Enemy of the State Christa Hawkins
1999 For Love of the Game Masseuse
2000Meeting DaddyHappy Ending GirlUncredited
Baby LuvMegan
2001Anacardium AKA DerangedAshley
2004 Kill Bill: Vol. 2 Rocket
Intermission (Short)Toilet Paper LadyWriter, director
2005 Daltry Calhoun Wanda Banks
2007 Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane Dr. Kelly
2008 Hell Ride DaniAlso associate producer
The Appearance of ThingsElizabeth
Pulse 2: Afterlife Amy Direct-to-video
Pulse 3
2011 Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown Vail
Green Lantern Party Guest No. 1
Brawler
Lone Star Trixie (Short)TrixieWriter, director
2012 Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Vadoma MaidUncredited
Django Unchained Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly
2013 Now You See Me Hypnotized Woman
2014 The Loft Mrs. Kotkin
American Heist Lone Officer
Dark Places Krissi Cates' Mother
2015 Maggie LindaUncredited
Shark Island (TV Movie)Dr. Palmer
Sex SchoolWanda Cox
2016 Convergence Ester
Like SonSusie Rugger
InadmissibleLibrarian
Summertime Paul's Mom
Ozark Sharks Diane
Cold Moon Ginny Darrish
2017Bad Stepmother (TV Movie)Jeanette
Camera Store Brenda Klammadge
Hate CrimeMarie Demarco
2018Cut OffBridget
The Domestics Connie
2023 The Dirty South

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1996 The Larry Sanders Show CarolEpisode: "Everybody Loves Larry"
Flipper Beth McKenzieEpisode: "Best of the Beach"
1997, 2004 Friends CailinEpisode: "The One with The Screamer"
"The One with All the Other Ones: Part 2" (archive footage)
1999 Fantasy Island Episode: "The Real Thing"
Diagnosis: Murder EvetteEpisode: "Murder on the Hour"
Nash Bridges Stephanie GreenEpisode: "Vendetta"
Martial Law Kay MorganEpisode: "Call of the Wild"
2000 The Pretender Jenna McGannEpisode: "Lifeline"
JAG Lieutenant Irene CharltonEpisode: "Body Talk"
20122013 Treme KayEpisode: "Knock with Me - Rock with Me"
"Episode #4.4"
2014 True Detective Theresa WeemsEpisode: "Who Goes There"
2017 House of Cards WomanEpisode: Chapter 57
20172018 Queen Sugar MarleneEpisode: "After the Winter"
Episode: "Caroling Dusk"
Episode: "Freedom's Plow"
Episode: "Dream Variations"
Episode: "Your Passages Have Been Paid"

References

  1. 1 2 "Outlying Areas for Dec. 28, 2012".
  2. "USA National Alumni Association Honors Alumni, Service Award Winners | USA News". www.southalabama.edu. Retrieved May 23, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 "Laura Cayouette shares her trials and tribulations with aspiring writers".
  4. "In Their Own Words….Laura Cayouette of "Convergence" ← One Film Fan" . Retrieved May 23, 2023.
  5. "Laura Cayouette". Amazon.
  6. "January 19th Speaker: Laura Cayouette". January 4, 2019.
  7. "2019 SAG-AFTRA New Orleans Local Election Results". SAG-AFTRA. August 19, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2023.
  8. Bill Capo [@BillCapo] (May 24, 2014). "Actress Laura Cayouette gets married in the heart of her favorite city, under the arch at Armstrong Park" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  9. "Our New Orleans Wedding and Second Line". June 17, 2014.