American actress Laura San Giacomo was born on 14 November 1962, and she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female for her role as Cynthia in the film “S_x, Lies, and Videotape” (1989) and was on the NBC sitcom “Just Shoot Me!” (1997–2003).
Most television viewers know her as the very attractive magazine editor “Maya” in the hit comedy series “Just Shoot Me!”, but she is much more than a TV sitcom star. Laura is also a talented dramatic actress, who has many major films and stage productions credits. Additionally, she is a spokesperson for disability-related causes and a staunch advocate for inclusive education.
Laura has been married twice, and she has a son who has cerebral palsy. There’s just so much to learn about her and her career but let’s see some interesting facts about the award-winning actress first.
10 need to know facts about Laura San Giacomo
- Laura San Giacomo is an American actress of Italian descent born on 14 November 1962 to MaryJo and John San Giacomo.
- Laura grew up in Denville, New Jersey, and she attended Morris Knolls High School before attending Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in Pittsburgh, where she received a fine arts degree.
- Her lifelong passion has always been acting, and she fulfilled it in every form possible, theatre, film, and TV.
- She is also a cousin to Torry Castellano, who used to drum for the rock group The Donnas.
- Married Cameron Dye in 1990 and had a son with him named Mason Dye.
- Laura San Giacomo’s only son Mason Dye suffers from cerebral palsy.
- She is currently married to Matt Adler, and they have been together for over two decades.
- Laura San Giacomo is well recognised for her efforts as an actress, and she has a Golden Globe Award nomination, among others.
- She believes in giving back and is a part of many charitable causes including, advocacy for disability-related causes and a staunch advocate for inclusive education.
- Laura San Giacomo currently lives with her family in the San Fernando Valley, California.
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Early life
Laura San Giacomo is an American with Italian heritage. She was born on 14 November 1962 to MaryJo and John San Giacomo. Her parents are paper mill owners, and they had Laura in West Orange, New Jersey.
Laura grew up in Denville, New Jersey, and she attended Morris Knolls High School. There is no information on Laura having siblings, so she seems more like the only daughter and child of the Giacomo’s.
She attended Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in Pittsburgh, where she received a fine arts degree, specialising in acting. After university, Laura went to New York for about five years.
Career
During an interview with Ability Magazine, Laura San Giacomo revealed that she discovered she wanted to pursue a career in acting during high school. “High school. I knew that I wanted to be an actor. Then it became about whether acting wanted me. So, I gave it a shot. It hasn’t worked out too bad, so far”, she wrote.
Laura discovered acting while she attended Morris Knolls High School. In 1984, she bagged a fine arts degree, specialising in acting, from Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in Pittsburgh. Upon graduation, she moved to New York City and participated in theatres productions.
Laura San Giacomo starred in a couple of stage plays including, “The Wrong Turn” at Lungfish in Los Angeles produced by Garry Marshall-Lowell Ganz; “Three Sisters” by the Princeton/McCarter Theatre production; and in the Italian American “Reconciliation”, regional productions of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, “As You Like It”, “Romeo and Juliet”, and “Crimes of the Heart”.
She even received special recognition for her meticulous acting during a review of the Walnut Street Theatre 1986 presentation of “As You Like It”, getting the only show-interrupting applause of the evening despite playing a minor role.
Laura San Giacomo soon transitioned to film, making her first television appearance in four episodes on three television series during 1987. She appeared in “Crime Story” in 1988 for the episode “Protected Witness” (Season 2 / Episode 13), where she starred as Theresa Farantino, and in “Miami Vice” in 1989 for the episode “Leap of Faith” (Season 5, Episode 19) as Tania Lewis. Prior to that, Laura San Giacomo starred as Louisa Sanchez on the daytime soap opera “All My Children”. Louisa was the Latina common-law wife of Mitch Beck, played by Brian Fitzpatrick, whose presence threatened to thwart his relationship with Hillary Martin, played by Carmen Thomas.
Laura San Giacomo first got her international recognition for her role in Steven Soderbergh’s “S_x, Lies, and Videotape” (1989), it also marked her film debut as a credited actor. She received a Los Angeles Film Critics Association New Generation Award, and also went on to be nominated for the Golden Globe Awards for the film.
A year later, Laura San Giacomo played a supporting cast role alongside Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman”, further cementing herself as a top actress. She also appeared in “Quigley Down Under” (1990), “Vital Signs” (1990), “Under Suspicion” (1991), “Once Around” (1991), “Where the Day Takes You” (1992), “Nina Takes a Lover” (1994), “Suicide Kings” (1997), and a host of others.
Laura San Giacomo continued with films, and in 2001 she landed a starring role in the biopic “Jennifer”. The film was based on a woman who had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Just Shoot Me!
Bringing a child into the world changes many things, and it played a major factor in Laura San Giacomo’s transition back to television from films. Despite having a newborn, San Giacomo was still very much interested in working, but she didn’t want to be away from her newborn son for months at a time as movies would require. Hence, her decision to shift focus to TV shows, which gave her a regular work schedule, and she also didn’t have to travel as much. Fortunately, the CBS Studio Centre – the site of her new television project’s tapings – was located within the vicinity of her San Fernando Valley residence.
It also prompted a new era and perhaps brought about her best-known role as the neo-feminist character Maya Gallo in the sitcom “Just Shoot Me!” (1997–2003). Laura played the role of a smart, hot-tempered, sassy journalist who reluctantly took a job at her father’s fictional glamour magazine Blush.
The series was meant to be centered around Laura San Giacomo’s character, Maya, but the plot soon began to revolve around Dennis Finch’s character, played by David Spade, by Season 3 (1998-1999).
