Born in Los Angeles, California, Laura Marano began her career at a young age, having been inspired by her mother and older sister. The daughter of actress Ellen Marano, who owns the Agoura Children's Theater, Laura joined the theater herself at the age of five. Her older sister Vanessa also acted at the theater, inspiring the youngest of the Marano family to pursue a career as well.
Her first role came soon after, appearing as Kate Malone in seasons two through four of Without a Trace. From there her career grew quickly, landing many guest-starring roles on shows such as Dexter and Huff. Laura continued to branch out, finding her first film opportunity as Young Jackie in The Jacket (2005). That same year, she voiced the lead role of Scout Y on the animated series The X's.
In 2007, at age 11, Laura was cast as herself on the game show Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? for one season, then landed the main role of Gracie Carr on the Fox series Back to You, where she stayed for a year. She also appeared as a young Sarah Silverman on The Sarah Silverman Program between 2007 and 2010. In addition to all of her television success, she appeared in the film Superbad (2007), as the young Becca.
Her most notable role was Ally Dawson on Disney’s Austin & Ally. She starred on the show for four seasons from 2011 to 2016. Although the network only ever planned to make three, the show was so loved they added a fourth per the fans' request.
Laura appeared in the Oscar-nominated film Lady Bird (2017) as Diana Greenway and went on to star in The Perfect Date (2019) as Celia Lieberman, A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish (2019) as Kat Decker, and Saving Zoë (2019) as Echo, in which she starred alongside her sister and co-produced. She also produced and starred in the Netflix film The Royal Treatment (2022) as Isabelle.
In addition to her acting, Laura Marano is also a singer and has been releasing music since 2016. Learning to sing and play the piano when she was nine years old, Laura has always been driven towards music. Releasing her music under Big Machine Records from 2016 to 2018, she decided to leave and start her own music company, Flip Phone Records, in which she now produces music as an independent artist.
She stars in the upcoming Netflix movie Choose Love (2023).
Filmography:
Choose Love (2023)
The Royal Treatment (2022)
The War with Grandpa (2020)
A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish (2019)
Saving Zoë (2019)
The Perfect Date (2019)
Lady Bird (2017)
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015)
A Sort of Homecoming (2015)
Superbad (2007)
Goldfish (2007)
The Jacket (2005)