Lauren Ambrose

Lauren Anne D'Ambruoso was born on February 20, 1978 in New Haven, Connecticut. She is known for her two-time Emmy Award-nominated TV role as Claire Fisher on HBO's Six Feet Under and as Jilly Kitzinger in Torchwood.

She attended Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, followed by Wilbur Cross High School, High School in the Community, and the ACES Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven. She also trained as an opera singer at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.

During the 1990s, Ms. Ambrose made several guest appearances on TV shows such as Law & Order and The State before making her feature film debut as Vicky in the Kevin Kline-led In & Out in 1997. This was followed by roles in Can't Hardly Wait (1998), five episodes as Myra Wringler in Party of Five (1999), and Psycho Beach Party and Swimming in 2000.

Her big break came as she was cast to play Claire Fisher in the hit HBO series Six Feet Under, appearing in 63 episodes from 2001 to 2005. She earned two Emmy Award nominations in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her efforts in 2002 and 2003.

Since Six Feet Under, her most notable screen credits include the role of Coco Tompkins in The Return of Jezebel James, voicing KW in Where the Wild Things Are, Wanderlust, Grassroots, the role of Debbie Morgan in Dig, the role of Agent Liz Einstein in The X Files, and seven episodes as Jilly Kitzinger in Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Ambrose made her Broadway debut in Lincoln Center Theater's Awake and Sing! in 2006, winning a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. She went on to star as Juliet in The Public Theater's 2007 Shakespeare in the Park production of Romeo and Juliet, earning a Drama League Award nomination, and the following year, she returned to Shakespeare in the Park to take on the role of Ophelia in Hamlet. In 2009, she returned to Broadway to star as Queen Marie opposite Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon in Exit the King.

On March 15, 2018, she returned to work for Lincoln Center Theater under the direction of Bartlett Sher, taking on the iconic role of Eliza Doolittle in the Broadway revival of Lerner & Loewe's musical My Fair Lady at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. She played her final performance on October 20, 2018.