LAURA CAMPBELL is an award winning director, writer, and actor. She grew up in a war torn country. She tried to go into politics but rationalizing war strategy made her cry, so she became a storyteller. She began in theater, devising staged pieces from James Joyce to James Baldwin, performing scandalous one woman shows about finding God through extreme sex acts, and learning with every new project that she's drawn most to complex, character-driven stories that take the air out of the room and shine a light on the unseen parts of painful human experiences. Laura completed her recent short film script, SQUIRREL, at Cill Rialaig, an Irish artists residency in a pre-famine village on the coast of Kerry “at the edge of the world”. So far SQUIRREL has won the Pandora Short Film Grant (2025) supported by Kodak and Panavision, and is in the running for the Cinequest Screenplay Awards, currently placed as a Top 50 Semi-Finalist (2025). Her directorial film debut, PLAY DATE (2024), in which she also stars, is Executive Produced by Academy Award Winner Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea), and Emmy nominee J. Smith Cameron (Succession). PLAY DATE premiered at the Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF) where it won both GRAND JURY PRIZE for BEST SHORT as well as the AUDIENCE AWARD for BEST SHORT. It has gone on to win Outstanding Director at AIFF and HONORABLE MENTION at the Academy Award Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival. As an actor, Laura can be seen on the small screen in a recurring role on ABC’s QUANTICO, as well as many guest star roles on major television shows such as LAW & ORDER, THE GOOD WIFE and BLUE BLOODS. On the big screen you can catch her playing opposite Vince Vaughn in Benedict Andrews’ SEBERG starring Kristen Stewart and Jack O’Connell. Other roles include the wild drifter, Reyna, in the Netflix released feature film DOOMSDAYS, and as title roles in a multitude of short films. As a theatre professional she has worked locally and regionally in theaters across the country from The Clurman in her solo performance off-Broadway to multiple turns at the Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre in Houston. In 2023 she adapted and performed MOLLY BLOOM: REDUX, the final chapter of James Joyce's ULYSSES. Laura was born in Northern Ireland and relocated to the United States at 10 years of age. She attended Tulane University in New Orleans where she received her degree in Theatre Studies, International Relations and Conflict Resolution. She went on to get her Masters Degree in Acting from Columbia University where she studied under some of the greats such as Kristin Linklater, Andrei Serban, and Anne Bogart. For her thesis performance at Columbia Laura worked with Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus to adapt and stage a production of James Baldwin's ANOTHER COUNTRY. Laura is co-founder of DYNAMO STUDIO, a female driven production company creating theatre and film to catalyze conversation around social issues and she is a proud board member of FILM FATALES, a non-profit advocating for all marginalized genders in the film industry.
