Laurene Landon

Early life

Landon was born on March 17, 1957, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and moved to California with her parents at the age of four. As a young woman she entered California State University and began training in their police academy program, but decided that law enforcement was not for her when she came to the realization that she may someday have to use a gun. So she decided to try her hand at acting and began her career as an extra in films.

Acting career

Landon began acting in a bit part in 1979's Bitter Heritage, also released as Naked in My Grave. She was cast as a featured skater in Roller Boogie in that same year.

She gained a small role in 1981's Full Moon High, her first of many collaborations with director Larry Cohen. Landon had spent part of her early career as a model and in 1980 was a runner-up in the Miss Black Velvet pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada.

While there, a casting director told her to go see another casting director in Los Angeles (Rueben Cannon), regarding a feature film called ...All the Marbles. As she found modeling boring and was unable to sit still for hours at a time, she took his suggestion. She starred as Molly in ...All the Marbles, a film starring Peter Falk that had an alternate title, The California Dolls. She described this as her most satisfying role. She was chosen as one of the final four women for the role and was required to undergo rigorous training at a professional wrestling school. Even though she broke her foot during the last match of the tryouts, she and Vicki Frederick won their parts over 2,000 other young actresses trying out, including one young actress named Kathleen Turner. The successful film was the last directing effort by Robert Aldrich (whom she famously referred to as Robert Altman upon meeting him for the first time).

Landon went on to play Velda, right-hand woman to private eye Mike Hammer, in the 1982 film I, the Jury. She appeared as a stewardess in Airplane II: The Sequel. She is also known for appearing in science fiction and fantasy films such as Hundra, Yellow Hair and the Fortress of Gold, and Maniac Cop.

Recent success

Off movie screens since 1990, the 5' 9" Landon returned to film acting in 2005 appearing as "Birdy" in the television movie Masters of Horror: Pick Me Up, directed by Larry Cohen, and in the films Stand Up and Knife to a Gunfight. In August 2008 she was slated to begin filming Alien Vampz, for Monolith Pictures, playing a major role as Assistant U.S. Attorney Theresa Van Helsung, of the ancient and eccentric vampire-hunting Van Helsung family. She has been offered subsequent roles in two other film projects for Monolith, including Alien Vampz 2, the sequel to the first film (2009). Sometimes credited as Laureen Landon, one of the roles in the offering from Monolith Pictures is as a divorcee in a comedy named Strap-Off, which was scheduled to be filmed in the latter part of 2008. Recently, she starred opposite George Lazenby in Hunter, played Detective Higgins in Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance, and had a supporting role in the feature film Day Out of Days, directed by Zoe Cassavetes. She also just completed Sky, starring opposite Diane Kruger and Norman Reedus. She is currently filming Future Punks, along with a starring role in Syndicate Smashers opposite Mel Novak.

Personal life

Landon is single and never married, citing "Never met a man who wanted to follow me around with a mop and a can of Lysol the rest of his life—I'm a serial slob." She is still active in Hollywood as an actress, rescues pit bulls, and is also an award-winning lyricist authoring rap music for the L.A. Metro Transit Authority video and a new song being played often on KROQ called "Captivity". She also enjoys writing screenplays in her spare time.