Lauren Cohan (born January 7, 1982 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey) is an American-born English actress.
Primarily a character actress, she's best known for her role as Maggie Greene in The Walking Dead, as well as numerous memorable recurring roles in genre television such as The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and Chuck.
Filmography
Film
- Casanova (2005) as Sister Beatrice
- National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj (2006) as Charlotte Higginson
- Disturbed (2010) as Claire
- Death Race 2 (2011) as September Jones
- Reach Me (2014) as Kate
- The Boy (2016) as Greta
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) as Martha Wayne
- All Eyez on Me (2017) as Leila Steinberg
- Mile 22 (2018) as Alice Kerr
- Catwoman: Hunted (2022) as Julia Pennyworth
Television
- Supernatural (2007-08) as Bela Talbot (6 episodes)
- Modern Family (2010) as Receptionist (episode: "Unplugged")
- Cold Case (2010) as Rachel Malone '86 (episode: "One Fall")
- CSI: NY (2010) as Meredith Muir (episode: "Flag on the Play")
- The Vampire Diaries (2010-12) as Rose (6 episodes)
- Chuck (2011) as Vivian McArthur Volkoff (5 episodes)
- The Walking Dead Television Universe as Maggie Rhee, née Greene
- The Walking Dead (2011-18, 2020-22, 144 episodes)
- The Walking Dead: Dead City (2023-, 6 episodes)
- Childrens Hospital (2012) as Lulu Pratt (episode: "British Hospital")
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2013) as Avery Jordan (episode: "Legitimate Rape")
- Archer (2014) as Juliana Calderon (4 episodes)
- Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories (2014) as Stephanie (episode: "The Bathroom Boys")
- The Mindy Project (2016) as Ashley (2 episodes)
- Robot Chicken (2017) as Maggie Greene (episode: "The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who's Walking")
- Whiskey Cavalier (2019) as Francesca "Frankie" Trowbridge (13 episodes)
- Invincible (2021-23) as War Woman (2 episodes)
Video Games
- Destiny (2014) as Exo Stranger
Tropes
- Action Girl: Her most common roles.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Another common character type she usually plays.
- The Cast Show Off: She sings, and she and her on-screen sister Emily Kinney (also a singer) showcased it when they made a duet during the Season 3 premiere of The Walking Dead.
- Dyeing for Your Art:
- Learned fencing while she was doing National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj.
- Learned archery while filming The Quiet Assassin.
- She also learned how to use guns during her stint on Supernatural.
- Fake Nationality: Played with. She's American but grew up on the UK, so she doesn't really count as neither when playing an American or Brit. She does, however, play the Fake Mixed Race on Chuck (Russian-American).
- Ms. Fanservice: She used to be a model (and occasionally still does). Unsurprisingly, her characters tend to be the source of Male Gaze.
- Star-Making Role: She's a familiar face on TV for much of the late 2000s, and then she was cast on The Walking Dead.
- What Could Have Been:
- She initially auditioned for Ruby in Supernatural, but the role eventually went to Katie Cassidy. She still got cast as Bela Talbot, though.
- She had a show titled Heavenly for The CW that was never picked up.
- She was the top choice to play The Huntress on Arrow, but was already committed to The Walking Dead when production began.
- There were plans for her to reprise the role of Martha Wayne, as the Flashpoint Joker along with Jeffrey Dean Morgan as its Thomas Wayne Batman. The plans fell through with the post-Batman v. Superman turmoils of the DC Extended Universe and The Flash ultimately has little to do with Flashpoint at all.
