Laura Cayouette

Laura Cayouette (born July 11, 1964) is an American actress, writer, producer, and director.

Cayouette was born in Washington, D.C.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 Recipientand 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 managerand a ticket taker at Universal City Walk Hollywood. Laura studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New Yorkbefore moving to Los Angeles in 1992.There, she studied with Milton Katselas at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, then with the highly regarded Ivana Chubbuck at her studio.

Best known as Leonardo DiCaprio's sister 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 Ben Stiller episode of Friends as Ross’ first date after the Rachel break-up.

Cayouette has worked with Quentin 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).

During her 25-year career, Laura has worked with Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Will Smith, Richard Dreyfuss, Kevin Costner, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Abigail Breslin, Elizabeth Banks, Scott Bakula, Kerry Washington, Walton Goggins, Gene Hackman, Jamie Foxx, Christopher Lloyd, Christina Hendricks, Hayden Christensen, David Morse, Michael Jai White, Kate Bosworth, Ruth Buzzi, Mykelti Williamson, Malcolm McDowell, Lauren Holly, Johnny Knoxville, Josh Charles, Kofi Siriboe, Sammo Hung, Candy Clark, Arsenio Hall, Dick Van Dyke and many more. Directors include Tony Scott, Sam Raimi, Anthony Hemingway, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Todd Holland, Peter Gould, Martin Campbell, Louis Letterier, and Bertrand Blier.

Laura directed Joanna Cassidy and Danica McKellar in the award-winning 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 on the red carpet. Designer Austin Scarlett accompanied her to the event.

Laura 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, Lou Diamond Phillips and more. She is also the author of a coming of age novel, Lemonade Farm, and the amateur-sleuth Charlotte Reade Mysteries series set in New Orleansandhighlighting 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 about her beloved city, LAtoNOLA.com, recounting many of those same events as well as dancing with theNew 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. More recent acting roles include the recurring Marlene in Ava Duverney's Queen Sugar and John Schneider's wife in the multi-award-winning film, Hate Crime (2017).

On May 24, 2014, Laura married Andy Gallagher in the heart of her favorite city, New Orleans, under the arch at Armstrong Park.