Lauren S. Gordon’s burgeoning acting career is proof positive that dreams can come true
- Written by NewsServices.com
Lauren S. Gordon’s burgeoning career as an actor over the past few years is not only proof positive that with a lot of hard work and a bit of serendipity, dreams can indeed come true – but also that it’s never too late to push those long set aside aspirations in motion.
For the Philadelphia bred and based Lauren, all it took was the right sign. In 2017, she spotted a notice on Casting Networks calling for extras on Barry Levinson’s HBO film “Paterno,” starring Al Pacino. While on the set at Citi Field as one of 300 background actors during a game scene, photos were taken of the extras five at a time for an undisclosed purpose. The Oscar winning director chose her and only three others for an upgraded speaking role. Lauren played a wealthy Nittany Club donor’s wife who shook hands with the actor portraying disgraced Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky.
The single line in that movie – incredibly, her first time on a set, other than for commercials - made her eligible for SAG membership, and she’s been on an amazing trajectory since then, playing a wide range of roles which showcase her powerful presence and diversity as a performer. During the shoot, she met a fellow Philly actor who recommended she contact and study under the guidance of master on-camera acting coach John Pallotta in NYC and Philadelphia. While studying under him, she was introduced to top New York casting director Donna McKenna.
These contacts have helped Lauren score a role as a CIA special agent in “The Report” and led to parts on the hit Showtime show “Ray Donovan” and two short films (“Killing Spree” and “Titillated.” In 2019, she played the wife and mother (deceased in the present) of main characters in the film “Bad Education,” starring Hugh Jackman and Emmy and Oscar winning actress Allison Janney.
Through McKenna, she connected with former NYPD officer and celebrity bodyguard turned actor-writer-director Steve Stanulis, who cast her as a casting director in his soon to be released indie film “The Hinsdale House.” He was so impressed with her performance that he gave her an extra scene – and told her she was so natural that he thought she had been acting for years. Stanulis also cast Lauren as the mom of the title character in his 2020 film “Chronicle of a Serial Killer” and as a nurse in “5th Borough.”
Lauren’s director-selected television work has also greatly expanded, with prominent appearances both before and since the pandemic lockdown. These include playing a featured bartender (with lines) on Showtime’s Kevin Bacon-starrer “City on a Hill”; a main character’s wife on HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” an 1880s New York period drama created by Julian Fellowes of “Downton Abbey” fame; the wife of a Greek shipping tycoon on the Fox crime drama “Prodigal Son”; a member of the Royal Family on The CW’s Lucy Hale starring crime drama “Katy Keene”; the friend of a principal actor on CBS’ Tom Selleck-starrer “Blue Bloods”; and the wife of the principal actor on STARZ’ “High Town.” Lauren has also done stand-in work on Showtime’s “Billions” and Apple TV’s “Servant,” executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan.
All of these breakthroughs would have been unimaginable to Lauren earlier in her adult life, when she abandoned her creative instincts and chose the path of academia. After getting her B.A. in communications at the University of Pittsburgh, she followed in the tradition of her attorney father and sister and earned her law degree (at the top of her class) from Widener (now Delaware) Law School. Passing the bar exam on the first try in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, she went on to become a successful attorney in Philadelphia, working for several firms and handling catastrophic medical malpractice and domestic relations cases.
Lauren continued practicing for a time after she married her husband Len Cohen, an established attorney she met while still in law school. When she started having children, she ultimately felt that being a mom was her top priority and she gave up her law practice to raise Alec (now 24, first year grad student at the University of Arizona), her daughter Davi (21, a senior at the University of Maryland) and Eli (16, a junior in high school).
“I liked the fact that I was able to accomplish important things like helping remove children from abusive homes and to more loving, nurturing environments,” Lauren says, “but ultimately, I realized that at heart, I was not a suit and office person. I really loved being a stay-at home mom for all the years that made practical sense. Pursuing acting was always in the back of my mind but there was no time to devote to that for many years, especially when the kids were little.”
To find spiritual balance in her life, as her children got older, she also became a certified Bikram and Baron Baptiste Power Yoga instructor, and went on to teach yoga for several years on the main line of Philadelphia, the area where she lives. She now also incorporates pilates into her exercise regimen, in addition to hot yoga.
With more and more free time on her hands, she gave acting an initial go, signing with the Philadelphia based agency MMA and booking local and regional commercials for everything from car dealerships to beauty creams. This motivated her to sign up with Casting Networks, which booked her on “Paterno” and set her current life path in motion. Prior to the breakthrough “Paterno” experience, when she was non-union, Lauren appeared on several Discovery ID shows, including “Evil Lives Here” and “Dead North,” the latter in a featured role as the lead detective that solves the case presented.
“I feel stimulated and excited every time I walk onto a set and have had the opportunity to meet more amazing people over the last four years than I had met in the previous 20,” Lauren says. “Acting has become very natural to me and I can morph pretty easily into what the casting agents and directors want me to be. It’s exciting having the opportunity to be a completely different person every day and create a fresh persona to bring another person’s reality to life onscreen. I don’t know how it happens, I just draw from all of my life experiences and just form into that person.”
Aside from her family and her daily yoga practice, which keeps her centered and present in every moment, Lauren’s other great passion is dogs – two rescues (a three and a half year old German Shepherd mix named Wentz, named after the former Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Carson Wentz, a husky/lab mix named Skye, and her new French bulldog Finn.
“I love my life as an actor,” Lauren says, “and can’t wait to see what the future holds. My advice to anyone thinking of taking this leap of faith is to think tenacity. Keep at it. Don’t give up and get yourself out there. Even if it’s just background, you never know when your Barry Levinson is coming along. Get your name out there. Have a thick skin. Give it your all, and while you should take your craft seriously, you should also have fun. Be optimistic. Go to classes. Be persistent. You just may find yourself in the right place at the right time and you never know who will see you and give you your next opportunity.”
