Laura Elena Harring

Laura Elena Martínez Herring better known as Laura Harring is an American-Mexican model-actress. In 1985, she became the first Latina woman to win the title of Miss USA. Her acting career began in the field of film and television. She is popular for her role in the 2001 film Mulholland Drive as Rita. She is also famous for her role in films, which includes Love in the Time of Cholera (2007), The King (2005), The Punisher (2004), Willard (2003), John Q (2002), and The Forbidden Dance (1990). Her birthplace is Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. In her teenage, she went abroad to study at the prestigious boarding school, Aiglon College in Switzerland.

It was here when she met the brother of her future husband of 2 years, before having an amicable separation to pursue her dream of becoming a talented and versatile actor. After graduation, looking forward for her passion for travelling, she took on the task of becoming a social worker in India, where she performed manual labor work, which includes planting trees, building schools, and carrying heavy rocks to fix the extreme soil erosion problem, which hit the foothills of the Himalayas in the mid-eighties. She has tied the knot to Carl-Eduard von Bismarck, great-great-grandson of Otto von Bismarck.

The couple got divorced in 1989 while she still retains the title of Countess von Bismarck-Schönhausen. She has German-Austrian (father), and Spanish-Mexican (mother) ancestry and she currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Laura was the first Latina ever to win the Miss USA crown! Her passions include dancing, world traveling, and Commedia Dell' Arte. She has done many films and played roles in many TV series. She was in the news when she wore a $25,000,000 necklace and $1,000,000 heels to the 2002 Academy Awards, surrounded by four bodyguards. She won a Filmout Audience Award for Best Actress for her role in Drool in 2010. She won an ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for her role in Mulholland Dr. in 2002.

She got nominated in 1998 for ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Soap Opera for her role in Sunset Beach.