Name	Laura Allen
Height	5' 4
Naionality	American
Date of Birth	21 March 1974
Place of Birth	Portland, Oregon, USA
Famous for

After receiving her criminology degree, Laura Allen decided to test the water in New York and found work with the NYPD as a counselor in the domestic violence unit of the 24th Precinct on West 100th Street. Nine months later, Allen, who previously has acted in local

community and high school stage productions with her sisters and her father, began to "burn out" on the job and decided to take acting lessons. She was cast as Maid Marian in a tour of "Robin Hood" that went to the west coast and volunteered at an off-Broadway theatre, The Manhattan Class Company.

During the opening night party of "Wit," Allen met and got signed by an agent, who subsequently started submitting her for roles and pilots, one of which was FOX short-lived drama series "The $treet" (2000), starring Christian Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Giancarlo Esposito and Rick Hoffman. Not long afterwards, Allen landed a recurring role on ABC popular soap opera "All My Children," playing Laura Kirk English du Pres (2000-2002), taking over the role from Lauren E. Roman.

After "All My Children," Allen began breaking into films, starting with the short comedy "A Tale of Two" (2003), and then in that same year's romantic drama/comedy film, "Mona Lisa Smile," director Mike Newell's loose adaptation of Muriel Spark's novel "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" in which Allen played a Wellesley coed named Susan Delacorte, alongside Julia Roberts, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kirsten Dunst and Julia Stiles.

Following her feature film debut, Allen returned to television to star in the USA Network science fiction television series "The 4400," as Lily Moore Tyler, one of four thousand MIA people disgorged by a falling meteorite. She stayed on the show since its pilot in July 2004 until its fourth season in 2007. Meanwhile, Allen was spotted as a guest in an episode of CBS cop drama "Cold Case," FOX prime time soap opera "North Shore," FOX medical drama "House M.D.," CBS crime drama "Criminal Minds" and NBC cop/legal drama "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." She was also seen in Spike Lee-directed TV movie "Sucker Free City" (2004) and J. Miller Tobin's feature length drama "How You Look to Me" (2005), in which she played the female lead opposite Frank Langella. Additionally, she appeared in the TV commercial for Michelob Amber Bock.

Allen currently plays Julia Mallory, a former "America's Sweetheart" who is dating Josh Stewart's Holt McLaren, in the FX Networks serial drama series starring Courteney Cox Arquette, "Dirt." Premiered in January 2007, the show will return for a second season, tentatively scheduled to begin airing in early 2008, with Allen returning as the fallen movie star.

Moviegoers will soon catch her in the upcoming films "From Within," a horror/thriller by Phedon Papamichael, "Hysteria," a horror by Frank Lin, and "Old Dogs," a comedy by Walt Becker and stars John Travolta and Robin Williams.