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Laurie Holden - Making Smart Choices
Summary: Article from Venice Magazine, January 2002.

Laurie Holden: Making Smart Choices

From Venice Magazine, January 2002. See the online version of this article with images here.

by andrew rodgers
photography grove pashley
hair/makeup d. garen tolkin/fred segal beauty/kerastase
stylist david l. turner/fred segal beauty


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Laurie Holden calls herself an ?unknown quantity,? but that?s likely to change after this holiday season. Holden appears opposite Jim Carrey in the highly anticipated film The Majestic, directed by Frank Darabont (The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption).

The Majestic finds Carrey playing a screenwriter in the 1950s whose life begins to spiral out of control. He comes under investigation by the government (on allegations that he was a Communist back in college), loses his job, and, ultimately, his girlfriend. He ends up with amnesia in a small California town where all the locals mistake him for a missing war hero and the long-lost son of the town?s theater owner. Holden plays Adele, a recent law school graduate and the women who loved the long-lost-but-not-forgotten man. She and Carrey?s character embark on a journey to help him recover his memory, while questions start to surface about his true identity.


Holden (who had a recurring part on ?The X-Files? for a couple seasons) knows this is her big break?her introduction to mainstream audiences around the globe. Her character is strong and intelligent, not unlike Holden herself, and her fine performance is sure to garner praise. The movie opens December 21, four days after her birthday.

Venice: Tell us a little about yourself.

Laurie Holden: I was born here but I was raised in Canada. I went to an all girls school most of my life and I have the same closest, dearest girlfriends that I?ve had since I was 12. None of us has changed at all. I love the outdoors. I love anything to do with nature: hiking, horseback riding, sailing, snorkeling, jet skiing, swimming?anything to do with water. And I absolutely love what I do. I love theater and I love film and I feel so blessed to be a part of it.

Did you like being at an all girls school?

It was a lot of fun. I?m not kidding when I say that it was the best time of my life. I loved it because, you know, we wore our little sailor outfits. And we weren?t allowed to wear makeup. So you just kind of fell out of bed and went to school. There was no fussing or worrying about vanity or any of that stuff. And it was cool to excel. It was cool to be smart and it was cool to be athletic and to be on as many teams as you possibly could. So, if anything, it was the greatest environment for a girl to grow up in because she aspired to be the best in everything. Mind you, I had no concept of how the world really was. When you?re surrounded by girls for most of your life, when you don?t have that constant interaction with men, you never really are taught or made to feel like you need to diminish your voice.

So you didn?t subscribe to the idea of a woman?s role in society.

I didn?t really know what that was. And then when I went to university I was pretty outspoken because I was so used to being respected and heard in my high school environment. It was a rude awakening when I realized I was a girl. You know what I mean? Like, I always just kind of thought nothing of men versus women. But when I went to university I realized, ?Wow. There?s the men. There?s the women. This is a very interesting world.?

How have you come to terms with society?s gender roles?

I guess I just learned over the years to really embrace my voice and not feel like I need to downplay who I am or what I believe. I think that sometimes if a woman has a voice she?s perceived as bitchy or headstrong rather than just being bright and articulate.

You studied economics at McGill University in Montreal. How did you come to that?

I?ve always loved math. I?ve always found it really soothing working with numbers. My friends always laugh at me, ?What are you doing, Laurie?? they?ll ask. ?Oh, I?m doing my taxes.? I do my taxes all the time. My business manager used to say to me, ?If you ever give up your day job, come work at our firm.? It?s always been something I?m good at. And Toronto?s a high finance, banking kind of city. So it was a natural course to take. All my friends ended up studying law or going into investment banking, so when I decided after my first year that I wanted to be a thespian, everybody thought I was throwing my life away.

What made you transfer to UCLA and become an actress?

Well, I?ve been acting since I was a kid, and I come from a family of thespians. I think that because my entire family was in the business, I almost rebelled against it in the sense that I did it for fun as a kid, but I was going to do something different. And I think that when I went to university I really realized that I had a voice and that this was my passion and not my family?s. This was something I needed to do for me, and not because it was expected. I think it was the first year that I didn?t do any acting at all. And I think that in not acting at all, I realized that I had a huge void in my life. And then I made the move.

Your father lived in Los Angeles, so it wasn?t like you didn?t have a base of support when you moved, right? It wasn?t like you moved blindly into this.

No, no. It was comforting having some family, but my roots really are in Canada. And like I said, I?m still best friends and in all the weddings of all my girlfriends that I?ve had since seventh, eighth, and ninth grade?some since I was born. So, home is really where your friends are, and your family. It was difficult.

What was your life like after you landed the role of Marita Covarrubias on ?The X-Files??

That was a huge coup. I was in Vancouver when I got cast on that. It was a surreal time because that?s when ?The X-Files? was at its height. I remember when my agent called me for the audition. She said, ?There?s this part that you?re perfect for.? And then I got the sides and it was ?an officious woman in her 30s.? I was just out of college. And Marita Covarrubias sounded, to me, quite ethnic. So I was like, what are you thinking? I really genuinely thought that I didn?t have a shot in hell for this. But I thought it was a really nice opportunity to meet Chris Carter (creator of ?The X-Files?). By the time I got home from the audition the ball was in motion, and it was pretty much a done deal within the day.

Your head must have been spinning at this point.

I couldn?t believe it. It was really a very special time.

Who was the first person you called after getting the part?

Oh, my mom. [laughs]

It?s been about a year since your character last appeared on ?The X-Files.? Are there any plans to bring her back anytime soon?

I don?t think so. I think Marita has had her run. I think I made a very graceful exit. I came out of a coma. Then I killed the ?cigarette smoking man? and then I stepped over his dead body and just walked off into the distance. Who knows what?s around the corner or what the future will bring, but I think right now I?m just focusing on other things.

Let?s talk about this little film that you?re starring in with Jim Carrey. How did you end up getting cast?

Well, last summer I was workshopping a play called ?The Only Game in Town? and Frank Darabont?s president of development spotted me on stage and came up to me afterward and said, ?I think you?re perfect for this movie we?re doing. I?d love to set up a meeting with you and Frank.? And subsequently, I met with him, started in on the audition process, screen tested with Jim, and seven months later, got the gig.

Production on The Majestic wrapped in June, so what has the experience been like to just sit on your thumbs and wait for this film come out?this film that may change your life?

Well, it?s been a really surreal time because I?ve been extremely busy. A lot of people inside the industry have seen the movie already, so I?ve taken a slew of meetings. I?ve read more scripts than you can possibly imagine. And I?m constantly doing theater pieces. So in many ways I don?t feel like anything has changed, even though everything has. Everybody keeps saying, ?Oh my god, your life is going to change.? But it?s like, ?Well, I?m in a movie.? We?ll see.

What was it about The Majestic that appealed to you?

You know you love a script when you can?t put it down and when you never stop reading it. I think I read that script almost 40 times before I started shooting. I knew everybody?s dialogue, because if you read something so many times you know everything. But I just felt that this movie had so much heart and I loved the character of Adele. I loved how strong and pure and openhearted she was. There was no cynicism in the movie. It?s not one of those cutting-edge, cool kind of flicks. In many ways it?s a tribute to old Hollywood and a time where women were really revered and respected. You know, those old movies with Katherine Hepburn and all those wonderful women where they were strong and intelligent and sexy?and they never took off their clothes. Movies like that have always really appealed to me. I loved the witty banter that the men and women had back then. This movie just really captured my heart in the sense that it incorporates so many beautiful ideas about honor and identity and values and respect for our country.

You mentioned that you?ve been getting a lot of scripts lately. Have you noticed any patterns or similarities? Are you worried about getting typecast?

I think right now I?m a bit of an unknown quantity in the sense that the movie hasn?t come out. People who know me from ?The X-Files? have a certain perception and then those that have seen The Majestic have a different perception. And then when I walk in the room, it?s entirely different again.

Are you working on any new films ?

Not at the moment. There are so many factors that go into deciding your next project. It?s what you just finished and really trying to pick something diametrically opposed to that as much as you can to really explore your range. I do know one thing: I want to do a play every year. That is very important to me. I know that is not the Hollywood thing that people want to hear because everyone just wants you in movies back-to-back. But that?s my home, on the stage. I want to do a little bit of everything and I want to be doing this when I?m 80. So I just want to make smart choices and follow my heart.

END