Biography

A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Laura is the daughter of pianist/composer and famed Nashville sideman Bill Pursell. She is a singer, songwriter and actress with 5 full-length recording to her credit:

"It Had to be Swing" - a collection of swing and jazz standards (1998, Netcom Music) "UnKissed" - a collection of pop-flavored country tunes penned by some of Nashville's most prolific writers (1999, Netcom Music) "That's What Christmas Used to Be" - jazz and big band-influenced takes on Christmas holiday standards (2000, Netcom Music) "Somewhere in this Room" - self-penned original songs written to the melodies of Andrew Bonime (2007, Cloudshine Music) "The Very Last Dance Hall Left in L.A" - a jazz/pop treatment of familiar standards, with two original compositions, including the title track (2015, Netcom Music)

Laura began acting in 1992 at the South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa and then moved to the Beverly Hills Playhouse (BHP) in Los Angeles, where she studied with Jocelyn Jones and Jeffrey Tambor. She currently studies with Howard Deutch in the BHP Saturday Master Class.

She was a long time member of the Company of Angels Theater (LA's oldest repertory theater), where she performed in many main stage productions, including "Zastrozzi - The Master of Discipline" which won a Dramalogue Award for Best Ensemble in 1995. She was a member of Theater Geo and subsequently The Production Company, where she appeared in Ed Graczyk's "Blue Moon Dancing" (directed by David Youse) in 2014. That same year she filmed two episodes for the new web series "Living the Dream" (created by Monica Torres, directed by Beth Dewey). The pilot was screened at the Burbank Film Festival and was the "New Media" winner at the Hollywood Festival in New Media in 2015. In the summer 2015, she starred in the Encore! award winning production of "Only the Moon Howls" at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Laura is a figure skater and in 1995 she played Tonya Harding in "Weird Al" Yankovic's video parody of the Crash Test Dummies' song, "Headline News" (the Mmmm Mmmm Mmmmm song). She acted and skated in the video, which aired on MTV. In 1998, she played a small, pivotal role in "The Landlady", starring and produced by Oscar-nominated Talia Shire.
- IMDb mini biography by: Laura Byrnes