Table of Biography
Laura Leighton is a television and film actress from the United States. Laura Leighton is best recognized for playing roles such as Sydney Andrews on the television series Melrose Place (1993–1997) and its continuation (2009–2010), and Ashley Marin on Freeform’s series Pretty Little Liars (2010–2017).
Early Life
Laura Leighton was born on the 24th of July 1968, in Iowa City, Iowa, the United States. She holds US nationality and practices Christianity religion.
Currently, she is 55 years old and has a birth sign of Leo. Her birth name is Laura Diane Leighton. Her ethical background is under review.
Caption: Laura Leighton’s childhood photo with her sister (Source: Instagram)
She might have been raised well by her parent and might fulfilled her necessity for her parents as a child. Very little is known regarding her childhood life, parents’ names, and profession. Similarly, it is unknown whether she has any siblings or not.
Education
Talking about her academics, she attended West High School, in Iowa City, where she was part of several groups. During her school days, she was also a cheerleader and was a member of the school choir group, The Good Time Company. She completed her high school graduation in 1986 and later joined the performing group The Young Americans.
In 1987, she was a member of the group’s ‘Around the World’ inter-country tour. She took her mother’s maiden name, “Leighton” in 1988. She studied business at California State University, Long Beach, California. According to other sources, she dropped out after one semester.
Professional Career
To pursue a career in acting, Laura Leighton moved to Los Angeles. While looking for work, she worked as a waitress at Mezzaluna Restaurant, in Brentwood, California, where she worked alongside TV correspondent Nelson Aspen. During her early career, she modeled and appeared in advertisements for ‘Pizza Hut’ and ‘Dep Hair Gel.’
Breakthrough role
She also worked at a casting agency, where she discovered a position as Jane Mancini’s little sister, Sydney Andrews, in the ‘Fox’ soap opera, “Melrose Place.” She auditioned for the part several times before landing it. Her first major role, Sydney Andrews, established her career in January 1993.
Caption: The poster of the television series, Melrose Place (Source: IMDb)
In the series, she appeared in only two episodes of its first season and later became a regular in its second season. However, she decided to leave the show in 1997 at the end of the fifth season.
During her time in the series “Melrose Place,” she was featured on the covers of popular magazines such as ‘People,’ ‘Entertainment Weekly,’ and ‘Rolling Stone.’
Similarly, she appeared as a model, Carolyn Bryan, in the CBS TV movie “The Other Woman” and as Laurette Wilder in the Fox TV film In the Name of Love: A Texas Tragedy in 1995.
The same year, she appeared as a host for an episode of the show ‘Saturday Night Live’ with the members of the punk-rock band ‘Rancid’ as guests.
Movie debut and later works
She played the recurring role of Sophie Burns in the 1997 TV series “Beverly Hills, 90210.” After doing several TV series. she made her movie debut in 1999 short indie film “Angels, Baby!”
In 2000, she was cast in the romantic comedy film “Seven Girlfriends,” and the thriller “Clean and Narrow,” and the indie film “Sky is Falling.” She played the guest role on TV shows such as “Cupid” (1998), “Early Edition” (2000), and “The Outer Limits” (2000).
Later, she took a break for her family and returned in 2003 playing the role of Cynthia Peterson for six episodes for the Fox serial drama “Skin.” Additionally, she played the main role of Leslie Town in the 2005 crime drama series “Eyes.”
She later appeared as a guest star in several series, including “CSI: Miami” (2006), “Boston Legal” (2006), “Shark” (2007), and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (2007).
Continued appearing in movies and TV series
In the 2004 television film “A Deadly Encounter,” she played Joanne Sanders, a single mother being chased by a stalker. Nora Flannery in “Love Notes” (2007), Cate Madigan in “Daniel’s Daughter” (2008), and ‘Kelly Fariday’ in “Mending Fences” (2009) were her other TV film performances.
She was cast as Gertrude in the 2008 western horror film “The Burrowers.” Meanwhile, she reprised the role of Sydney Andrews in the revived “Melrose Place” appearing in seven episodes from 2009 to 2010.
She played the main role of Ashley Marin in the American mystery teen series “Pretty Little Liars” from 2010 to 2017. In 2018, she played the role of Andie in the TV film “Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane.” Some of her recent appearances are “L.A.’s Finest” (2020), “Dynasty” (2021), and “Fantasy Island” (2021).
Awards
Leighton’s work in “Melrose Place” garnered her a nomination for a ‘Golden Globe Award’ in 1995 for ‘Best Work by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries, or Motion Picture Made for TV.’
In 1995, she was named “Entertainer of the Year” by Entertainment Weekly. In 1996, ‘People’ named her one of the world’s 50 most beautiful people.
Net Worth 2024
According to sources, she has a net worth of over $3 million as of 2023. And, her salary is nearly $352k per year. Leighton has managed to earn such a sum of money through her acting roles in TV series, and TV movies, movies role as well as her modeling career.
Relationship Status
In 1988, Laura Leighton has been married to Doug Savant. With the marriage, the couple has a son named Jack Douglas and Lucy Jane. They also have two more kids from Doug Savant’s previous marriage, Arianna Josephine Savant and Madeleine Marie Savant.
Caption: Laura Leighton wedding photo (Source: Instagram)
She was rumored to have dated Grant Show, but she married Doug Savant. The exact truth is unknown because she has not spoken about the rumors.
Body Measurements
Caption: Laura Leighton posing for a photo (Source: Instagram)
This beautiful actress stands 5 feet 3 inches tall (1.62 m) and weighs around 55 kg (121 lbs). In addition, she has a pair of blue eyes with red hair color and her body measurement is 34-24-34 inches.
Social Media
On her Instagram page ‘@lauraleightonforreal’ there are over 129k followers. Likewise, there are over 199.1k followers on her Twitter page ‘@LauraLeighton’ and she is not present on Facebook.