Laura Harring (born Laura Elena Martínez Harring on March 3, 1964 in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico) is a Mexican American actress and former Miss USA (1985).
Harring lived the first ten years of her life in Mexico, before her family relocated to San Antonio, Texas. At age 16 she convinced her family to let her study in Switzerland at one of the top schools, Aiglon College. She eventually returned to America, settling down in El Paso, Texas and entered the world of beauty pageants. She won the title of Miss El Paso, and soon after, Miss Texas USA. In 1985 she became the first Hispanic to win the Miss USA crown.
She spent the next year traveling through Asia, exploring Europe and working as a social worker in India. It was in Europe that she was introduced to the world of nobility and, in 1987, she married Count Carl-Eduard von Bismarck-Schönhausen. While she retains the title of Countess von Bismark-Schönhausen, the couple divorced in 1989 but still remain friends.
Harring studied theatre at the London Academy of Performing Arts and is skilled in the French style of Commedia dell'arte, as well as in most of the Latin dances, including the Argentine Tango.
She is best known for her performance in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive (2001), opposite Naomi Watts. Controversy arose when Lynch pixelized Harring's pubic area in a nude scene on the DVD release of the film, the only film in which she has appeared nude – one of very few instances of cinematic nudity by a countess.
In 2003 she starred in Mi Casa, Su Casa together with Barbara Eden of I Dream of Jeannie fame.
In 2004, she starred as John Travolta's spoiled wife in the movie adaption of Marvel Comics's The Punisher.
In 2006, she joined the cast of the FX Networks crime drama, The Shield. Her performance on the show earned her a "Jeer" from TV Guide.
