Born in West Orange, New Jersey, and raised in the neighboring town of Denville, Laura San Giacomo caught the acting bug in high school and went on to earn a fine arts degree at Carnegie-Mellon University, where she focused on acting.

San Giacomo made an impressive film debut playing a barmaid who has an affair with her sister's husband in the 1989 breakthrough independent film sex, lies and videotape. The film won the Palme D'Or grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival and earned the actress the prestigious New Generation Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. She is also well known to audiences for her portrayal of Julia Roberts' wisecracking best friend in the 1990 hit film Pretty Woman.

Her numerous film credits also include the Australian Western Quigley Down Under opposite Tom Selleck, Harold Ramis' Stuart Saves His Family, Under Suspicion opposite Liam Neeson, Once Around with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfuss, Nina Takes a Lover (in the title role), Suicide Kings and The Apocalypse. She recently completed filming Mom's on the Roof, which was produced by Penny Marshall and also stars Elle Macpherson and Adam Arkin.

San Giacomo has also appeared on stage in the off-Broadway productions of Wrong Turn at Lungfish, Three Sisters, Italian-American Reconciliation and Beirut. Her regional theater credits include The Tempest, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet and Crimes of the Heart.

On television, she starred in the highly rated Stephen King miniseries The Stand, the television movie For Their Own Good and cable TV's The Right to Remain Silent, for which she earned a CableACE Award nomination. San Giacomo has also made guest appearances on the series Crime Story, Miami Vice and The Equalizer.

She lives in Los Angeles with her son. Her birthday is November 14.