Laura Gómez (actress)
Laura Gómez is an American actress, speaker, writer, and director of Dominican origin. She belongs to SAG-AFTRA and lives in New York City. Gómez is best known for her portrayal of the character Blanca Flores, an astute and disheveled prison inmate in the award-winning Netflix series Orange Is The New Black. In the fall of 2012 she won the NYU Technisphere Award for her short film To Kill a Roach.
Early years
Born in the Dominican Republic, she grew up in Santo Domingo working as an actress and reporter. She moved to New York at the age of 21 to study acting. After three years in the United States, she made her entry into theatre and voice work.
Career
In 2011 she was awarded a IX Screenwriting Developing Grant by the Spanish Fundación Carolina. She has studied film at the University of New York, and screenwriting at the Jacob Krueger Studio. She wrote, directed and produced the short films To Kill A Roach - for which she received the NYU Fall 2012 Technisphere Award for Outstanding Achievement - and Hallelujah. She directed and co-produced The Iron Warehouse, written by the playwright Hilary Bettis. She appeared as a guest actor in Law & Order SVU, and played a recurring role in the HBO miniseries Show Me A Hero, and a minor role in the film Exposed.
Currently she is a member of Spanish Repertory Theater, with which she has appeared in critically acclaimed theatrical productions such as Doña Flor y sus dos maridos and La casa de los espíritus. Her voice-over work includes Spanish-language announcer for CoverGirl and Suave, and audiobooks including How the García Girls Lost Their Accent, by Julia Álvarez, and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz.
Awards
- 2011 - IX Screenwriting Developing Grant of the Spanish Fundación Carolina.
- 2012 - NYU Fall 2012 Technisphere Award for Outstanding Achievement for To Kill A Roach.
Filmography
Film
- Sambá as Luna Torres, Dir. Laura Amelia Guzmán-Israel Cárdenas
- Exposed as Eva de la Cruz, Dir. Declan Dale
- Trabajo as Lilí, Dir. Nelson Peña
- Maggie Black as Kim (Co-star), Dir. Stanley Brode
- Hallelujah as Natalia (Lead), Dir. Laura Gómez
- To Kill a Roach as Alicia (Lead), Dir. Laura Gómez
- Pinchos y Rolos (NYILFF) as Elizabeth (Lead), Dir. Freddy Vargas
- Cheesecake and a Tango as Wife (Lead), Dir. Soleidy Méndez
- Víctimas del Poder as Wanda (Lead), Dir. Jorge Lendebourg
- Yo, la peor de todas as Paula (Co-star), Dir. Francisco Lupini
- Nueva York (Tribeca Film Fest) as Nurse (Co-star), Dir. Manolo Celi
- Cleaning Law as Laura (Co-star), Dir. Rob López
- Miniseries de la Vida Real as Wife (Co-star), Dir. Micky Bretón
- The Bohemians as Waitress (Principal), Dir. José Luis Cortés
Television
- 2008 - Law & Order as Claudia, Episode "Challenged"
- 2012 - Sesame Street as Reporter, Episode "Me Am What Me Am"
- 2013 to present - Orange is the New Black as Blanca Flores
- 2014 - Law & Order SVU as Selena Gómez, Episode "Girls Disappeared"
- 2015 - Law & Order SVU as Selena Gómez, Episode "Undercover Mother"
- 2015 - Law & Order SVU as Selena Gómez, Episode "Surrendering Noah"
- 2015 - Show Me a Hero