Stats Name: Lauren Anne D'Ambruoso Birthdate: February 20 1978 Birthplace: New Haven, Connecticut

 The Beginning
Lauren Anne D'Ambruoso was born 20th February 1978 in New Haven, Connecticut, where she and her younger brother, John, were raised by their parents, Frank, a caterer, and Annie, a design consultant.

Ms. Ambrose attended Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford and Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, but transferred and graduated from the high school in the community, a magnet school also in New Haven. She also attended the Educational Center for the Arts, New Haven's performing arts school, and spent summers studying voice at Tanglewood in Massachusetts. Lauren had roles in several off-Broadway productions, and studied piano and opera - even singing arias at weddings and funerals.

 Early Career
Lauren first landed supporting work in NBC's Law & Order back in the early 1990s. Her first episode, Skin Deep, aired 23rd September 1992. She portrayed another character in the same show a year later.

It was not until 1997 that Ms. Ambrose made her big-screen debut as one of Kevin Kline's students in Frank Oz's feel-goodIn & Out, and a year later won the role in the teen party flick Can't Hardly Wait. It saw Lauren as Ethan Embry's reclusive, sharp-tongued best friend, Denise. In 1998 she also starred in Summertime's Calling Me - a 25 minute film shot entirely on location at Camp Seafarer in Arapahoe, North Carolina - and made her third episode for Law & Order.

 On The Verge...
The late 90s had big plans for Lauren. Saving Graces was a comedy deleloped for the WB network that was unfortunately not picked up to air. Only a pilot was made and it saw Lauren as the leading lady as Grace Whitmore. Lauren also appeared in five episodes of Party of Five in late 1999 as Myra Wringler, a troubled student who accuses Matthew Fox' character of sexual harrasment just to get attention from her absent mother.

In 2000 Ambrose had a busy year, starring in both the independent drama Swimming and in the screen adaptation of Charles Busch's beloved and bawdy off-Broadway musical Psycho Beach Party. The former featured Ambrose as a teenager dealing with faltering friendships and questions surrounding her own sexuality, while the latter saw her inhabit the role of Chicklet, a teenage surfer chick with a split personality. The film premiered at Sundance and has a cult following till this day.

 Six Feet Under
Ambrose's notoriety increased significantly in 2001 as when she took on the character of Claire Fisher on HBO's critically-acclaimed and ground-breaking drama series Six Feet Under. The youngest child in a family of funeral-parlor owners, the role led to multiple shared Screen Actors Guild awards for Outstanding Ensemble as well as two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Not only was her career in bloom, but so was her personal life as she married her partner, photographer Sam Handel, in September 2001. "I just met the right person, and I really can't imagine my life being any different or any better," Lauren has said.

Lauren's next film credit would be the offbeat family drama Admissions, in which she stars as Evie. She blows a series of college-admission interviews, embraces loneliness, and gives mixed signals to a boy (Fran Kranz) who has loved her since forever. Admissions is graced by a number of strong, memorable individual scenes and some sensitive, deeply touching performances, including yet another one from Ambrose herself.

Between the fourth and fifth season of Six Feet Under, Lauren made her UK stage debut in a major revival of Buried Child by Sam Shepard. From September to December 2004, she was seen as Shelley at the National Theatre and gathered rave reviews for her performance.

 Life after Death
After five seasons of life and death, Six Feet Under saw its series finale in August of 2005. Lauren and her husband went to their house in New England to chill out before she flew to New York City for her next on-screen venture as Zoey in Katherine Dieckmann's Diggers, a coming-of-age story about four working-class friends growing up in Long Island as clam diggers.

January 2007 marked another milestone in Lauren's personal life. Her and husband Sam welcomed a son, their first child, Orson Handel.

With her new role as mother, Lauren has since worked on a string of independent films. In 2007, Starting Out in the Evening where she plays the ambitious seductress Heather Wolfe opposite the great Frank Langella and former Six Feet Under co-star, Lili Taylor.
Emma in A Dog Year and Mae in Tonight At Noon, both of which are awaiting release.

2007 also saw Lauren's return to the stage, this time in New York as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet as part of Shakespeare In The Park with the Public Theatre.

Lauren next briefly returned to television in Fox's short-lived sitcom The Return of Jezebel James the newest production by Amy Sherman. Lauren played Coco the younger free-spirited sister to Parker Posey's Sarah. The two siblings are polar opposites but Sarah is in need of Coco's assistance - She wants Coco to carry her child.
With even such exceptional talent on board of The Return of Jezebel James was doomed from the beginning and Fox pulled the plug after a mere three episodes.

Lauren spent the summer of '08 with another stint at the Public Theatre. This time as Ophelia in Hamlet. Again, as part of Shakespeare In The Park.

 The Road Ahead
2009 is geared up to be a promising year for Lauren. Having already starred in the heartwarming Loving Leah, up next is Cold Souls a Kaufman-esque surrealist film with Paul Giamatti. Lauren can then be heard lending her vocals to KW for the highly anticipated adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are by Spike Jonze. And has been cast in Don Roos' upcoming 17 Photos of Isabel with Natalie Portman and Lisa Kudrow. An adaptation of the novel Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman.

Whatever the role, or even the medium it's Lauren's ability to channel a character, subtleties and all that make her truly one of the most enchanting and compelling working actors.

"Being an actress is similar to trying to fit in with the popular kids in high school. You're expected to drive the right car, wear the right clothes and say the right things."