Inspirational Women In Hollywood: How Lauren Elizabeth Harris Is Helping To Shake Up The Entertainment Industry

An Interview With Ming Zhao

… One, learn your brand. Learn who you are and what you want to be doing. I think I used to be so eager I would just say “I want to work on everything and play anything”. Now I know the kinds of projects I want to work on and what’s important to me to portray. This allows people to really see you.

As a part of our series about Inspirational Women In Hollywood, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Lauren Elizabeth Harris.

Lauren Elizabeth Harris, a Philadelphia native, graduated with honors from the University of Southern California with a double major in Dramatic Arts (emphasis on Acting) and Spanish. She has studied at the Berridge Conservatory in Normandy, France, The British American Dramatic Academy in London, England, and The Pig Iron Theatre Company in Philadelphia, PA. Locally, she has studied with Margie Haber, Judy Kain, Annie Grindlay, Ivana Chubbuck Studios, and Lesly Kahn and is currently in the Writer’s Lab of Groundlings. Lauren has portrayed numerous roles both on the stage and in film and television, and also wrote, produced, and co-starred in a feminist web-series titled It’s A Girl Thing, that was highly regarded in over 14 international film festivals. Most recently, she made her directing debut with Defining Dodo, a short film meant to shine a light on coming out of the closet in a machismo culture, and will be releasing a documentary on human trafficking in the Philadelphia area this fall. She is also a board member of SheNYC, that works to produce female & non-binary driven plays. Additionally, she co-hosts the modern comedic dating podcast, Damsels in the DMs. Lauren has traveled to over 35 countries and studied in 5. She is an avid hiker & skier, a certified scuba diver, a self-proclaimed foodie and a dog mom to a rescue named Ernest “Ernie” Worthing.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to share my story! I grew up in the Philadelphia area and went to Quaker school my entire life, which implemented some great values and has impacted many of my projects today. People outside of the east coast are usually surprised to hear about Quaker school, where we learned about having values like the SPICES (Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Service). We also had Meeting For Worship every Wednesday, which is where you sit in silence for 45 minutes unless you have something you’d like to share with everyone. I also was an avid softball player and was captain of my team. While I’ve always had a lot of Philly pride, I was also really excited to see what the rest of the world had to offer. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to study in France, Spain, and Peru, which really ignited my love of traveling. I later attended the University of Southern California where I studied Acting and Spanish. USC was my dream school, as my dad went to school there and I grew up with Trojan football.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I always knew I wanted to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. I started acting in my kindergarten playing, playing Strega Nona in Strega Nona, and sharing the title role with 5 other kindergartners. I was feeding my fellow Strega Nona’s their lines off stage, which is when my teachers told my parents to get me acting lessons. I’ve been acting since then, and probably love it even more now.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

While I was at USC, I studied abroad at the British American Drama Academy. I was having an identity crisis during my senior year, and took a leap of faith to go to London during my final semester of college. Before leaving for London, I was feeling anxious about pursuing a career in acting- would I ever be successful? Is it a waste of time? Why should I be deserving of success in such a coveted career? I had begun thinking of pursuing a career in politics, as my mom is a political scientist. Regardless of my doubts, I went to London anyway. In London, I learned that acting was something I must pursue if I wanted to be truly happy. While I was there, I met my co-producer of It’s A Girl Thing, Augusta Mariano, which I wrote, starred in, and produced. She was looking for a co-producer and writer to work on a project together upon graduating. I wrote, she directed, and the project ended up being featured in 15 international film festivals, allowed me to join SAG/AFTRA, and gave me my first writing/producing credit. I learned so much about the importance of persistence and betting on oneself through doing that, and it kick-started my producing career. I’ll be attending Columbia University in the fall to receive my MFA in Producing for film, as I learned that I want to be an actor who produces from that experience. We never know how fruitful the chances we take can be.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Oh gosh, where do I begin? Well for starters, I really had to learn how to be good at self-taping. Since the pandemic, everyone has basically developed their own home studio. However, when I first started self-taping, I had no idea what I was doing and would have my mom or boyfriend hold the camera while I was acting (in lieu of a tripod), while also making them read the other character’s lines. Their hands would be shaking, and I didn’t know how to edit videos yet to edit out any potential fingers that were getting in the frame. One audition was so bad, that a casting director reached out to my then-agent to tell her so. My apologies to the casting director, former agent, my mom, and my boyfriend. I promise my self-taping skills are much better now!

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Without a doubt, I feel immense gratitude to Terry Guerin, my high school drama teacher. Terry believed in me in ways that I wasn’t capable of believing in myself and advocated for me to push me to be my best. She selected my monologues for my college audition pieces, she would come into school early in the morning, which I’m sure I was late too, to help coach me for my college auditions and gave me the opportunity to play Lady Macbeth. Teachers have a life-long impact on what we think we’re capable of and who we’re capable of being, and I know I’m only where I am today with the help of Terry.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Take risks. Be persistent. For me, the greatest failure would be if I never would have tried. There are so many avenues and paths to success, and none look the same. Keep your blinders on and keep going.

What drives you to get up every day and work in TV and Film? What change do you want to see in the industry going forward?

I can’t imagine being happy in any other career path. How lucky are we to have the privilege to tell stories? To tell stories that can impact people to feel seen, heard, or understood? I think just the idea that someone could look at a character I played or a story I helped bring to the screen and say, “I see myself in them”, inspires me to keep going. I hope the industry continues to create more seats at the table for a wide range of communities. I hope it continues to tell the stories we haven’t heard before, from communities we don’t know enough about.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

I have a documentary on human trafficking, called The Black Hole, that will be making its’ way through the festival circuit this fall. Our project centers around the book A Shield Against the Monster, written by Anne Marie Jones and Carol Metzker, which details the experiences of victims of trafficking outside the Philadelphia area. It was incredibly eye-opening to work on; Carol and Anne Marie are two of the most incredible people I know. I was also in How to Hack Birth Control, directed by Sassy Mohen, and also currently on the festival circuit, whose mission becomes more and more prevalent in our current climate. As I mentioned, I’ll be heading to Columbia in the fall to receive my MFA in Producing, and I’m looking forward to taking on more projects that allow me to grow as both a producer and an actor.

We are very interested in looking at diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture and our youth growing up today?

There are infinite reasons that it matters. Representation matters, the impact of seeing oneself on-screen shows young people who and what they can be. It allows them to have aspirations and inspirations to achieve what they want. Different perspectives allow for more interesting ideas, just like you wouldn’t want to eat the same food forever, you shouldn’t watch the same content forever either. Finally, the more seats at the table we create for a variety of communities, the more access we have to one another, which I hope allows for more empathy to be shared for people who are different from us, which I think could have a massive societal impact.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

One, learn your brand. Learn who you are and what you want to be doing. I think I used to be so eager I would just say “I want to work on everything and play anything”. Now I know the kinds of projects I want to work on and what’s important to me to portray. This allows people to really see you. Two, don’t be afraid of failing. Every second you spend being afraid of failing is one second you could have been putting towards succeeding. I wish I had had that faith in myself to understand there was nothing to lose from the very beginning. Three, find what matters to you. Learn your priorities. Make a list of things you want to accomplish, and don’t be afraid to ask for help from people who are where you want to be. Four, take criticism and use it to grow. I’m very sensitive, and at times take what people say too personally. I wish I had learned to take everything with a grain of salt and keep going. Sometimes words that hurt are actually valuable lessons that allow us to grow and become the best versions of ourselves. Five, invest in yourself and your career, including a great self-tape setup, and above all, don’t use your mom or boyfriend as a double-purpose tripod and line reader.

Can you share with our readers any selfcare routines, practices or treatments that you do to help your body, mind or heart to thrive? Please share a story for each one if you can.

Yes! I recently read the Artists Way, which really helped me to outline an artistic routine that I believe really helps my creativity. Through that, I learned about morning pages, which means you write 3 streams of consciousness pages every morning. It can be about anything, and it really helps to cleanse negative thought patterns that you may be having. I also write 10 things I’m grateful for, which I try to switch up every day. I meditate every day, I see a therapist, and I exercise 6 times a week. I love hiking, skiing, and being outside as much as possible. I’m a huge advocate for therapy, as I really believe it allows us to have a deeper analysis of our lives and bring more happiness day to day. Any activity that allows you to get out of your head and take in the greater world really helps me to center myself and realize how much I have to be grateful for.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

It sounds silly, but one quote that really has stuck with me is, “Even the broken crayons in the box can still color”. It reminds me that through the traumas we’ve faced, it doesn’t brand us or mean we are unworthy of achieving what we dream to. We are all capable of achieving our dreams, and sometimes the biggest barrier we have to get by is ourselves.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

Wow! What a question. I think it would be free therapy starting in kindergarten. I think if we all had therapy, we’d have more empathy for one another, learn how to handle our feelings better, and overall be kinder to ourselves and each other.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

Reese Witherspoon. I am so inspired by the social action she took during the Me Too movement, how she works to bring the books she likes to screen, and how she gained control over her career by opening up a production company. I would love to follow in her footsteps as she has paved the way for so many women.

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

You can follow me at @laurenelizabetharris on Instagram, and listen to me weekly on Damsels in the DMs, which is on every podcasting platform, and on Instagram at @damselsinthedms.

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!